Life would be wonderful without any mortgage payments in retirement.  However, pulling a large amount out of your IRA or 401k to pay off your home loan could have some drawbacks. 

Jonathan Clements of the Wall Street Journal provides some other ideas including an income annuity strategy

Things get trickier when dealing with individual retirement accounts and 401(k) plans. An AARP study found that many departing employees cash out their 401(k), often using the money to pay down debt.

But this is foolish, because a big 401(k) withdrawal would likely trigger a huge income-tax bill. Instead, you're better off slowly tapping your 401(k) or IRA to make your regular monthly mortgage payments. That way, you would also continue to enjoy the mortgage-interest tax deduction.

If this strategy makes you nervous, consider using a chunk of your IRA or 401(k) to buy a "period certain" immediate-fixed annuity, says Rich Lindsay, a senior vice president with Symetra Financial in Bellevue, Wash. Let's say you have 15 years left on your mortgage. To ensure you can make those payments, you could buy an annuity that will kick off 15 years of monthly income.