I just don't want to look back 15-20 years down the road and wish I had invested my money better.
It's not what you are doing with the money you are investing that you will regret. It's the money you
didn't invest because you are spending it on stupid things that you will regret. Ask me how I know.
Look, I know you want to focus on your investments - that is way sexier than looking at expenses. But you are trying to fill up a bathtub and you haven't plugged the drain yet.
As for the vehicles, we have a 17 F150 w/ 52k km on it and a 17 Tucson w/ 45k km on it. We are in a negative equity position as they're only 2 years old and as stated above I was told that paying off a 0% car loan early isn't the best option as you could invest that extra money instead.
The vehicles are 2 years old, so we'll need another year or so to get in the positive on them.
Ah, yes - this sounds like what I was saying a year ago. Finally I realized that the car had already lost the value, I just hadn't paid for it yet. But I would have to pay for it eventually. I would never "get positive" - I would just pay the debt and pay high insurance and gas prices while I was doing it. I finally decided to rip the band-aid off and just do it.
And you know what's worse than paying off a 0% loan early? Paying a loan on a vehicle that you don't need to own in the first place. Again, you're focusing on the wrong things - just like the salesman at the dealership wanted you to. You are all wrapped up in hanging onto the fact that you save maybe $1,000 of interest per year if didn't have a 0% loan, and ignoring the fact that you bought a vehicle that depreciated over $8,000 a year in the first few years of ownership. Ouch.
I'm assuming your F150 loan was around $48,000 for 72 months, and the payments are around $650 a month. Is that close? The gas cost is probably around $200 a month based on the km you drive and an estimated fuel use of 12L/100km at $1.25 a litre. And what's insurance in Ontario? Maybe another $200 a month? Let's ignore maintenance for now. So that's over $1000 a month for your truck. And the SUV has got to be about the same. So $2,000 a month for vehicles. That. Is. A. Ton. Of. Money. At your income level you're bringing in how much a month - $9,000? That means almost 25% of your income is going to vehicles. That is crazy.
Dude, I'm literally you 13 years from now. We have very similar income and DB pension pictures. You are right - with each person making $100K you don't have to try to hard to have extra money rolling around. You can afford to have fancy vehicles and it won't kill you. It seems like at first blush you aren't a total disaster and are banking a decent amount. You could literally do nothing and be totally fine. I'm in the same boat.
But I'm telling you, there is a better way. A way that makes you resistant to lifestyle creep. A way that insulates you from the stuff life is going to throw at you - kids in the future, a spouse's illness, having to help aging parents, unforeseen difficulties, or maybe an opportunity to do something super awesome like travel the world that will cost money you won't have.
What if you took your $16,000 in your savings account, and saved up a few months of your extra cash flow, and bought something else that would depreciate at a slower rate, cost less insurance, and most importantly - is completely paid off. Now you are plugging the drain and creating even more cash flow. Some people here will tell you to buy a $5,000 car. I didn't do that, and I don't think you'll do that. There's some very, very good cars out there for $15,000 to $20,000 that will put you in a way better position. And, yes, you'll end up paying a few grand to get rid of your truck. It will sting, but you might as well get the pain over with. Cause you know what else is going to sting - in three years from now you'll still be throwing out $650 a month for a truck that by then will be 5 years old and have 100,000 km on it.
I know, I know, your mind just flooded with a thousand reasons not to get rid of your truck and/or SUV. Just keep thinking about it. Let the idea rattle around for a while. Challenge yourself to think differently. You might find that you see some opportunity you didn't see before.
For me, I hemmed and hawed for close to a year before pulling the trigger. It wasn't until I listed the car for sale that I actually came to peace with it, and then I wished I had done it a year ago. I threw good money after bad due to my reluctance. I hope you don't make the same mistakes.
Another thing, I would highly recommend listing out all of your monthly expenses in a case study. You'll get a ton of great advice of little things that add up. Like cancelling your alarm system. Not paying for an exterminator. Looking at your house insurance and increasing your deductible. Realizing that $50 a week house cleaner is costing you $1,300 a year. All these little things - $10 here, $20 there - that add up to substantial amounts of money that totally eclipse whatever you would save on your quest for lower MERs. Even if you make zero changes, it's great to have a baseline so that you can monitor your lifestyle creep. When I did that we found thousands of dollars a year of savings. Thousands. It was gross. And I still have work to do.
If nothing else, consider getting a home equity line of credit to serve as your emergency fund if you need it, and then put that $16,000 to work in a TFSA. But I think you should try to broaden your perspective a bit.