Mortgage Payoff Club!!

[Dutch Comfort]

@Money Badger, we're using tax refunds to do additional repayments. Our post-tax investment accounts are not high enough to repay. And when we pay it in full in two years, we have to pay a penalty to the bank (I definitely do not want that.....).
So currently, we're funding our pre-tax investment (retirement) fund with after tax funds. This way, we get a tax refund and use the refund to repay the mortgage (example: we put 1000 in the pre-tax investment fund (which we can only access once retired), we get a tax refund of EUR 500 and we put this towards the mortgage, leaving us with a 1000 investment fund and a 500 less mortgage). We can only fund till a max of EUR 5,000 this year, so I'm first doing this pre-tax investment fund, so I have a nice refund next year!
I just calculated the savings rate that I should have (just for fun) to pay it in 2 years..... this would be >90%..... not a real opportunity at this moment! But we stick to our plan and try to direct as much funds as possible towards the mortgage. Let's kill it!

[Money Badger]

Wow... 50% tax refund on investment funds?   Gives new meaning to the old cliche phrase "Go Dutch!"  ;-)    Sounds like you have a great plan and agree that 50% return on money is better than mortgage interest!

[Dutch Comfort]

Wow... 50% tax refund on investment funds?   Gives new meaning to the old cliche phrase "Go Dutch!"  ;-)    Sounds like you have a great plan and agree that 50% return on money is better than mortgage interest!

There is a maximum to this tax refund. But I can add appr. EUR 2-3K per year to this investment fund (it is depending on the amount which is added to your Company pension scheme and maxed to around EUR 5K per year, but you can have a backlog of around 5 years..... very sophisticated tax rules...... but in any case, when you dig into the rules and comply, you can have a great refund!) and you can only access the fund from your "government retirement date", which is currently around 67 years. But anyway, the funds stay in my own account, so this is my first "investment of choice" and it will give a great retirement plus in 20 years time!

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Congrats, @CheapScholar !

We're not done, but we did make some huge progress on our mortgage this week, so I'll share. Please note, we live in a VHCOL in the bay area, and despite the way the numbers sound, we do not own even close to a fancy house. It's fine, but this is all about location.

-Bought a house for $2.65M in February of 2017
-Put $650k down, mortgage for $2M
-It's been our goal to hit the half way mortgage point in four years
-We squeezed in just a month over that, and are sitting at a mortgage of $820k, as of yesterday
-We've also done substantial remodeling (cash) in the house. House is now worth $3.2M+, and we plan to live here for the next four years or so, until the kids are out of high school
-The next goal is to get the mortgage to $500k, and recast it, so we can comfortably live off of my husband's salary. I expect this to take 12-18 months

So much has changed since I posted last! We sold our vacation home (unexpectedly, due to a huge COVID price surge) & I made the last mortgage payment today! We've paid off $2.65M in 4.5 years. I'm so happy! Can't wait to see the official mortgage balance hit zero. We will definitely be going out to eat, and opening champagne.

Other updates. Zillow currently has our house at the ~$3.9M mark, which continues to be crazy nuts. And, we may decide to stay in the area. We've explored a few other places, and while we may want smaller over time, prices have gone up to the point that even smaller may be expensive enough to re-set our tax base to something that makes it not worth while, if we stay in the area. In California, your property tax point is set at the time you buy, and capped until you sell/die. 

[couponvan]

Congrats, @CheapScholar !

We're not done, but we did make some huge progress on our mortgage this week, so I'll share. Please note, we live in a VHCOL in the bay area, and despite the way the numbers sound, we do not own even close to a fancy house. It's fine, but this is all about location.

-Bought a house for $2.65M in February of 2017
-Put $650k down, mortgage for $2M
-It's been our goal to hit the half way mortgage point in four years
-We squeezed in just a month over that, and are sitting at a mortgage of $820k, as of yesterday
-We've also done substantial remodeling (cash) in the house. House is now worth $3.2M+, and we plan to live here for the next four years or so, until the kids are out of high school
-The next goal is to get the mortgage to $500k, and recast it, so we can comfortably live off of my husband's salary. I expect this to take 12-18 months

So much has changed since I posted last! We sold our vacation home (unexpectedly, due to a huge COVID price surge) & I made the last mortgage payment today! We've paid off $2.65M in 4.5 years. I'm so happy! Can't wait to see the official mortgage balance hit zero. We will definitely be going out to eat, and opening champagne.

Other updates. Zillow currently has our house at the ~$3.9M mark, which continues to be crazy nuts. And, we may decide to stay in the area. We've explored a few other places, and while we may want smaller over time, prices have gone up to the point that even smaller may be expensive enough to re-set our tax base to something that makes it not worth while, if we stay in the area. In California, your property tax point is set at the time you buy, and capped until you sell/die.

But when you turn 55 you can roll over your tax base into the next property, so it won't hurt at all to downsize then.

[Money Badger]

Another day, another day debt free!   After almost 3 full years, it NEVER gets old.   C'mon, guys, who else is close or considering it?

[swaneesr]

6 months for us.

No debt, watching the extra cash pile up.

No worries.

SwaneeSR


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Alfred J Quack]

@Nederstash: same country I think...... can you try to even out the interest ("rentemiddeling" in Dutch)? This will result in lower monthly payments, while you can still get to the maximum yearly repayments.

I never tried to get a lower interest, I just paid off full steam (was done in 7 years). After 5 years the fixed interest was done and so we could pay off however much we wanted.

You can always go up to Kifid with a claim that the sum calculated as fine is not actually the amount they are losing profit on. I've seen some messages on another forum that the bank simply said that the current interest is 1% and the old one is 4% so the differing 3% is smeared out over the new fixed interest period. Iirc this isn't allowed.

[Huskerfan]

Recently graduated from
The $75k-50k club.  Starting Mortgage Debt (July 2019) :  $90,835.26
(Not total mortgage... that was around $179k)

Beginning Mortgage Debt This Month: $42891
Paid Mortgage Debt This Month :  $2711
Ending Mortgage Debt : $40725

****Descriptive Text *****
$2166 off of principle

Well, I see this as being a December 2023 payoff, if my calculations stay the same. This will remain our goal; even if I have to submit for my retirement a bit early due to medical stuff.  Hopefully that doesn’t take place though.  I’d like a few years of good earnings beyond having a mortgage.

[Money Badger]

You can always go up to Kifid with a claim that the sum calculated as fine is not actually the amount they are losing profit on. I've seen some messages on another forum that the bank simply said that the current interest is 1% and the old one is 4% so the differing 3% is smeared out over the new fixed interest period. Iirc this isn't allowed.

Are refinancing with lenders in other EU countries allowed?  It's amazing that the Danish system attempts to lock you into servitude if you're fortunate enough to pay early or refinance the loan.  It's such an easy computer transaction and such an easy change to whatever financial bond/security instrument has the loan to "market adjust"to the reality.   Think about it, the same bonds/security instruments have to adjust every day to interest rate normal fluctuations... why could they not adjust to principal debt amounts behind the securities as well?

[Alfred J Quack]

You can always go up to Kifid with a claim that the sum calculated as fine is not actually the amount they are losing profit on. I've seen some messages on another forum that the bank simply said that the current interest is 1% and the old one is 4% so the differing 3% is smeared out over the new fixed interest period. Iirc this isn't allowed.

Are refinancing with lenders in other EU countries allowed?  It's amazing that the Danish system attempts to lock you into servitude if you're fortunate enough to pay early or refinance the loan.  It's such an easy computer transaction and such an easy change to whatever financial bond/security instrument has the loan to "market adjust"to the reality.   Think about it, the same bonds/security instruments have to adjust every day to interest rate normal fluctuations... why could they not adjust to principal debt amounts behind the securities as well?

Don't know in the rest of the EU but in the Netherlands the bank basically holds you to your contracted interest period. Quit faster? Pay a fine.

It's the bank's win either way though the fine should not be higher than the actual loss of the broken contract. Some banks basically calculate the differens of contracted interest vs current interest x remaining contract period = fine.

However, when the interest rate is higher than the fixed interest you are usually let go without a fuss because the bank can re-loan the same amount for a higher interest.

[Dagnab1t]

We paid off our mortgage last month choosing to go the route of no debt. It feels amazing to have no debt. Financially speaking, investing that money may have been a better choice in the long run. Mental health speaking, I have never felt this free. I can not wait to hit FI.

[swaneesr]

We paid off our mortgage last month choosing to go the route of no debt. It feels amazing to have no debt. Financially speaking, investing that money may have been a better choice in the long run. Mental health speaking, I have never felt this free. I can not wait to hit FI.

Congratulations! 

We felt the same way.

SwaneeSR


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Trifle]

We paid off our mortgage last month choosing to go the route of no debt. It feels amazing to have no debt. Financially speaking, investing that money may have been a better choice in the long run. Mental health speaking, I have never felt this free. I can not wait to hit FI.

Congratulations!  We felt the same way too.  It never gets old either. 

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Congrats, @CheapScholar !

We're not done, but we did make some huge progress on our mortgage this week, so I'll share. Please note, we live in a VHCOL in the bay area, and despite the way the numbers sound, we do not own even close to a fancy house. It's fine, but this is all about location.

-Bought a house for $2.65M in February of 2017
-Put $650k down, mortgage for $2M
-It's been our goal to hit the half way mortgage point in four years
-We squeezed in just a month over that, and are sitting at a mortgage of $820k, as of yesterday
-We've also done substantial remodeling (cash) in the house. House is now worth $3.2M+, and we plan to live here for the next four years or so, until the kids are out of high school
-The next goal is to get the mortgage to $500k, and recast it, so we can comfortably live off of my husband's salary. I expect this to take 12-18 months

So much has changed since I posted last! We sold our vacation home (unexpectedly, due to a huge COVID price surge) & I made the last mortgage payment today! We've paid off $2.65M in 4.5 years. I'm so happy! Can't wait to see the official mortgage balance hit zero. We will definitely be going out to eat, and opening champagne.

Other updates. Zillow currently has our house at the ~$3.9M mark, which continues to be crazy nuts. And, we may decide to stay in the area. We've explored a few other places, and while we may want smaller over time, prices have gone up to the point that even smaller may be expensive enough to re-set our tax base to something that makes it not worth while, if we stay in the area. In California, your property tax point is set at the time you buy, and capped until you sell/die.

But when you turn 55 you can roll over your tax base into the next property, so it won't hurt at all to downsize then.

@couponvan - the ability to roll over the tax base at 55 was really interesting. Our current county does offer this (only 10 counties in California currently offer this, it looks like), and this would definitely influence where we might move

[couponvan]

Congrats, @CheapScholar !

We're not done, but we did make some huge progress on our mortgage this week, so I'll share. Please note, we live in a VHCOL in the bay area, and despite the way the numbers sound, we do not own even close to a fancy house. It's fine, but this is all about location.

-Bought a house for $2.65M in February of 2017
-Put $650k down, mortgage for $2M
-It's been our goal to hit the half way mortgage point in four years
-We squeezed in just a month over that, and are sitting at a mortgage of $820k, as of yesterday
-We've also done substantial remodeling (cash) in the house. House is now worth $3.2M+, and we plan to live here for the next four years or so, until the kids are out of high school
-The next goal is to get the mortgage to $500k, and recast it, so we can comfortably live off of my husband's salary. I expect this to take 12-18 months

So much has changed since I posted last! We sold our vacation home (unexpectedly, due to a huge COVID price surge) & I made the last mortgage payment today! We've paid off $2.65M in 4.5 years. I'm so happy! Can't wait to see the official mortgage balance hit zero. We will definitely be going out to eat, and opening champagne.

Other updates. Zillow currently has our house at the ~$3.9M mark, which continues to be crazy nuts. And, we may decide to stay in the area. We've explored a few other places, and while we may want smaller over time, prices have gone up to the point that even smaller may be expensive enough to re-set our tax base to something that makes it not worth while, if we stay in the area. In California, your property tax point is set at the time you buy, and capped until you sell/die.

But when you turn 55 you can roll over your tax base into the next property, so it won't hurt at all to downsize then.

@couponvan - the ability to roll over the tax base at 55 was really interesting. Our current county does offer this (only 10 counties in California currently offer this, it looks like), and this would definitely influence where we might move

The new rule expanded this benefit to ALL of CA, not just those 10. So even more interesting.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@couponvan - oooh, even better! Thanks for sharing. We are checking out a few different potential retirement locations, and my husband is close to being able to use this benefit, so it's great to know.

[Trifle]

@MaybeBabyMustache — I just realized I missed your payoff announcement. Huge congratulations!  How are you feeling, almost two months afterward now?

[MaybeBabyMustache]

 @Trifele  - thanks for asking! It's definitely so freeing & reduces a bunch of mental stress/overhead. That said, we opted to pay off our mortgage when we sold our vacation house, & didn't save for taxes. This was an intentional strategy, to save the interest on the mortgage. We're currently in the process of saving for the tax payment, so we've diverted our previous mortgage payments to tax savings. Once that's "done", it will be crazy to see the difference in our budget, and how much we're able to save.

[Dutch Comfort]

Update on our mortgage:
   
Original: 120,000 repayment date 06/01/33
May2021: 71,000 repayment date 03/01/33
June2021: 69,000 repayment date 12/01/32
October 2021: 67,000 repayment date 12/01/32

Goal: repayment in May 2027?

No additional payments (just the standard ones) done in this quarter. Still funding my pre-tax pension with post-tax funds for a nice refund next year. I can still add around EUR 2K this year, so I'm working on that first! When there is anything left or if I get a bonus (fingers crossed), I can still decide on an additional payment.

[Money Badger]

@Dutch Comfort,   Only 67K Euro left?   You've educated us on the various penalties of early payoff on the primary and secondary loan balances in Holland BUT....   Please just kill this debt with some other equity you have at hand... Just for emotional benefit of us all!   If it costs a bit extra, think of the value of your freedom from another 12 years of interest payments on such a small balance in the grander scheme of life (hopefully!).   Good fortune!

[SwordGuy]

We paid our mortgage off about a year ago and it's awesome.   Reduced our retirement living costs by about $18k a year.  That's a lot of fun money that we freed up!

I'm glad we held off on paying it off early until after we were retired because those invested dollars made paying off the mortgage a whole lot easier.

[Vashy]

Graduated from the 50-75k mortgage payoff club and joining this thread.

We took the original 90% mortgage for a 220k house back in 2010. Initial monthly payments were about 1,100, but we (I) aggressively re-mortgaged, plus the base rate kept plunging and the house appreciated in value after the "crash", and is now worth about 550k. Just the remortgaging left us with a nice chunk of leftover change, and we both had solid pay rises during the period (Mr Vashy's salary doubled and mine tripled). I had always overpaid a bit - sometimes I just wanted "round numbers", but with the excess cash sloshing around, we've made a bit more of an effort. Current monthly payments are sub-300.

At the November 2019 remortgage, we had just under 100k in principal outstanding, and we've now down to 50k. The goal is to kill the mortgage over the next two years. We can do 20k a year fairly comfortable, and I think we can stretch to 25k/year. We could do it faster but we also need to pad our cash savings (i.e. Vanguard S&S ISAs). We might also have to take on some debt again because we need a new roof and while we're at it, a loft conversion (would be a wise investment and also improve our quality of life, especially if we continue to work from home), because the house is very small.

Also, I have a freelancer side gig and have been eyeing the possibility to do that full time, but I'm not super comfortable with having a variable income while we still have debt, so the mortgage payoff day opens up a definite chance that I stop doing that 8-to-5 and do something else.

[Money Badger]

@Vashy,  Both Congrats so far and Welcome to the danger zone!   It's so easy to take the foot off the gas or "treat" yourself at this point and end up going backwards.   I did it after paying off our home and kicked myself 7 years trying to pay off the big spendypants house.  Instead, we downsized, paid for a new place cash and put the remainder in the market that pays us every month.   Think about the lifestyle that's crept up as your salaries increased so dramatically.    Why not save for that new roof to pay cash?   Put off the lifestyle add from the loft and kill that debt in 1 year next instead?   Be "naughty" and take a bit of your stash to pay off the debt so your cash flow goes up dramatically in a year to dollar cost average back into the market with the cash flow or pay cash for that loft upgrade in a year.  Seriously, never, ever, never go backwards.   It's an amazing place to be free.

[alcon835]

Wow!!!! You are so close!

If you're only two years away you can act like it's a kid and start counting down in month! Only 24ish left to go?

[Vashy]

@Money Badger - Thank you! That's true about "treating yourself" - I was looking at cars (small, electric), and getting a driver's license (my old one has lapsed and is from a different country), but we've managed without for the past 16 years or so, so that would  be a little self-indulgent, even though it would massively increase my sense of freedom, ie being able to just just into a car and visit friends or go to the beach without having to navigate the many issues of public transport.

I did consider moving into a larger house, but luckily there's nothing on on the market in this area after the massive real estate bonanza of the past year, so there wasn't even anything to look at (or pine for) online. Ultimately, our tiny size works, but getting the loft done would again very much improve overall quality of life. And there's the bathroom/kitchen - both could use upgrades - they are 20-30 years old, and the shower is kind of crap. It would be so nice to be able to stand up straight while showering (the shower is installed under the eaves and the previous owner was a lot shorter than either of us). So yeah, there's at least 3-4 things I could spend a lot of money on right now, but we'll take that one at a time and after the mortgage. Hopefully the roof will be fine for those next two years...

The main lifestyle creep I see is really spending on food, but I've already rolled back a lot of eating out (pandemic helped, but so did working out just how much money we were spending in the local coffee shops). I might need to adjust again, this time in terms of food deliveries, but a quick back-of-the-envelope calculation still puts us at two years to payoff - mostly because we need to save up for the gap between desired retirement (at 50) and the time we can draw our private (pre-tax) pensions (55-57), and that money needs some time in the market. Mr Vashy is already doing a good job putting money into his Vanguard account, and every six months or so I get him to put some money he has just sitting in his account into the mortgage or into investments (let's say he's not the proactive money manager in the team). So mostly about finding the right balance. That said, once we have the work on the loft agreed, I do hope to pay as much cash as possible.

I do motivate Mr Vashy by telling him just how much cash we'll have left over once those two years of overpayments will be done. We both sleep easier without debt.

[Vashy]

Wow!!!! You are so close!

If you're only two years away you can act like it's a kid and start counting down in month! Only 24ish left to go?

I think that would make me too anxious - but I have the "remaining" amount written down on the whiteboard in the kitchen where we see it at all times. I might add a "freedom date" to it. :)

[marcus_aurelius]

In July 2019, we owed almost $400K on our mortgage (SF Bay Area, bought the house for $980K in 2011). We paid it off last month (used bonuses from my + wife’s jobs, plus some RSUs that had vested). I was in two minds for a long time about arbitrage (borrowing at 2.5% interest and investing in the stock market) and people told me I would regret it, but I’m super happy to be 100% mortgage free. In fact, we can FIRE today if we wanted!

For all those who're on the accelerated path to paying off the mortgage, stick with it and all the best! The grass on the lawn does feel different under your feet, and let me tell you it's totally worth it.

[Vashy]

In July 2019, we owed almost $400K on our mortgage (SF Bay Area, bought the house for $980K in 2011). We paid it off last month (used bonuses from my + wife’s jobs, plus some RSUs that had vested). I was in two minds for a long time about arbitrage (borrowing at 2.5% interest and investing in the stock market) and people told me I would regret it, but I’m super happy to be 100% mortgage free. In fact, we can FIRE today if we wanted!

For all those who're on the accelerated path to paying off the mortgage, stick with it and all the best! The grass on the lawn does feel different under your feet, and let me tell you it's totally worth it.

Congrats! How wonderful! Just the inspiring post I needed this morning. :)

[Huskerfan]

Recently graduated from
The $75k-50k club.  Starting Mortgage Debt (July 2019) :  $90,835.26
(Not total mortgage... that was around $179k)

Beginning Mortgage Debt This Month: $40725
Paid Mortgage Debt This Month :  $2411
Ending Mortgage Debt : $38850

****Descriptive Text *****
$1875 off of principle

Well, I see this as being a December 2023 payoff, if my calculations stay the same. This will remain our goal; even if I have to submit for my retirement a bit early due to medical stuff.  Hopefully that doesn’t take place though.  I’d like a few years of good earnings beyond having a mortgage.

[talltexan]

@Huskerfan , if you can keep up $2,400 per month, you could be done by Dec. of 2022; are you planning to downshift?

[Huskerfan]

@Huskerfan , if you can keep up $2,400 per month, you could be done by Dec. of 2022; are you planning to downshift?

I was just thinking my DEC 2023 seemed off. 
We are planning to stay on that $2400 clip, as I have a large pay raise coming within the next 6 months so it makes sense to keep it going. 
I calculate around 20 months left; but that’s just back of the napkin math and not really figuring in the smaller amounts of interest towards the end of the loan. 

But the $2400 a month; which will drop $1875 or so off of principle is the likely scenario for the rest of our loan. 

[Vashy]

Goal: Pay off mortgage completely by end-2023

Original mortgage: 200,000 (May 2010)
November 2019: c100,000
Most recent re-mortgaging (@1.04%, tracker, early October 2021): 51,000
Current: 45,500

Put lump sum of company profits/dividends into the mortgage and was happy to kill 10% of the outstanding balance. Current goal is to get much closer to 40,000 by end-2021, maybe even hit that number before the year is up. I might drop in some cash savings, but I'm loathe to sacrifice my emergency fund.

[twistedfirestarter]

Just paid off the remaining balance on our mortgage, I know it's not the most efficient use of funds but it feels great!

[swaneesr]

Just paid off the remaining balance on our mortgage, I know it's not the most efficient use of funds but it feels great!

Congratulations!

Maybe not the most efficient, but a wonderful feeling and risk reducer.

SwaneeSR


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Askel]

Hi folks!

I've been a big proponent of mortgage payoff and paid off my last one early so definitely don't want to open the don't pay off your mortgage early can of worms in this thread. But I do want to make you all aware of this: The I bond rate just hit 7.12% https://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/research/indepth/ibonds/res_ibonds_ifaq.htm

I consider this safe enough to use as part of a strategy in paying down my current mortgage while making a little extra interest on the side.   

Best of luck! Having done it before I can say paying off that mortgage early is worth it, keep plugging away- and maybe this will help you find a couple extra bucks in your pocket when you do.   

[talltexan]

Thanks for sharing this. A lot of people I know first learn about I-Bonds from Larry Kotlikoff's retirement discussions (he has several books), and Prof. Kotlikoff would certainly be in the "Mortgage Payoff Club".

[Huskerfan]

Starting Mortgage Debt (July 2019) :  $90,835.26
(Not total mortgage... that was around $179k)

Beginning Mortgage Debt This Month: $37175
Paid Mortgage Debt This Month :  $2211
Ending Mortgage Debt : $35492

****Descriptive Text *****
$1683 off of principle


Goal is to continue at the current pace; but it may ramp up to paying an additional $500 a month for principal. As of right now, quick numbers show around a 20 month payoff.  Ultimately with an extra $500… that may bump it to 15 months.  We may shoot for 12 months but that means taking a few hard looks at the numbers.

[Anon-E-Mouze]

We aren't firmly in the "don't pay off your mortgage" club, but our very large mortgage has been a source of some anxiety in the past two years, especially since we're aiming to Fat FIRE around 2024-2025.

We live in a very HCOL area and our original mortgage (when we bought the house in the spring of 2018) was 940K on a 1.3M house.

2021 has been a good year. Among other things, I managed to renew our mortgage at the beginning of the year for a 4-year term at 1.69%, compared to the 3.29% rate we'd paid for the first 3 years of the mortgage.

(This is Canada, where shorter mortgage terms are normal. Our standard fixed-rate mortgage also gives us the option of paying down 15% of the original principal (15% of $940K) every year plus doubling each mortgage payment, if we want to.)

As of the end of 2021, the outstanding principal is about $648K - my goal had been to get the mortgage below 50% of the original purchase price and we achieved that in December.

For the next few years, we'll throw some tax return money at the principal but otherwise only make our scheduled payments. (However, those scheduled payments are for a mortgage with a 12-year amortization, with accelerated bi-weekly payments.) That should get the mortgage down to about $575K by year-end 2022, 500K by the end of 2023 and 425K by the end of 2024.

[ZsaZsa]

I see where the bank cleared the check for the mortgage. House is paid off after 24 years, six years early. Last month paid off 2020 chevy equinox, 5 years early on 6 year loan. I feel so relieved...like the weight of the world has been lifted from my shoulders. We owe nothing to nobody.

[alcon835]

I see where the bank cleared the check for the mortgage. House is paid off after 24 years, six years early. Last month paid off 2020 chevy equinox, 5 years early on 6 year loan. I feel so relieved...like the weight of the world has been lifted from my shoulders. We owe nothing to nobody.

Congratulations @ZsaZsa that is amazing!!! I love your "we owe nothing to nobody", I can't wait until I can say the same. Between now and then I'll live vicariously through you! Please post again in a few month once the fruits of no mortgage, no debts really starts to hit you!

[mastrr]

I see where the bank cleared the check for the mortgage. House is paid off after 24 years, six years early. Last month paid off 2020 chevy equinox, 5 years early on 6 year loan. I feel so relieved...like the weight of the world has been lifted from my shoulders. We owe nothing to nobody.

Nice job!

[Vashy]

Goal: Pay off mortgage completely by end-2023

Original mortgage: 200,000 (May 2010)
November 2019: c100,000
Most recent re-mortgaging (@1.04%, tracker, early October 2021): 51,000
Current: 45,500

Put lump sum of company profits/dividends into the mortgage and was happy to kill 10% of the outstanding balance. Current goal is to get much closer to 40,000 by end-2021, maybe even hit that number before the year is up. I might drop in some cash savings, but I'm loathe to sacrifice my emergency fund.

I'm adjusting the goal somewhat because I need to build my Vanguard balance, and I'm now the only one paying off the mortgage because Mr Vashy needs to build his pre-tax pension. We're now at 41,000 and aim to be done by end-2025, ie our FI/RE date.

[Duke03]

First time posting in here.  I currently owe 45k on my house but want to pay it off before my birthday later this year.  Current plan is to continue making payments that knock the principal down by $1300 each month.  If I reduced my emergency fund by 80%, I could pay it off today and I go back and forth with myself each month if maybe I should do this and just get rid of the mortgage now....

[SwordGuy]

First time posting in here.  I currently owe 45k on my house but want to pay it off before my birthday later this year.  Current plan is to continue making payments that knock the principal down by $1300 each month.  If I reduced my emergency fund by 80%, I could pay it off today and I go back and forth with myself each month if maybe I should do this and just get rid of the mortgage now....

@Duke03 , when making a major decision like this, I plan to succeed and I also plan to fail.

Planning to succeed in this case is easy.  How much will paying it off early save you in interest?   How much in earnings in your spent emergency fund will you have to forego?  Net $ effect of this choice?  Does paying off your mortgage earlier help you reach an important life goal you can't achieve whilst paying the mortgage?      If the answers are favorable, the plan is workable and reasonable.

Planning to fail takes a bit more mental effort.  What could go wrong?    Since it's your emergency fund and you know why you have it, i.e., you know the kinds of things that could go wrong, how would you fare if they did?

So, let's look at a triple-whammy.   You just lost your job thru sickness, injury or the economy tanks.   You can't get another one at a vaguely decent income for six months to a year.   Maybe you have to move hundreds of miles away when you do find that job.

Can you weather that triple-whammy with your reduced emergency fund and reduced monthly expenses?   If not, can you accept that and move on, or will it drag down your ability to prosper for years afterwards?   If I can't handle that, is there something in the plan I can change to mitigate those bad effects down to a level I can live with?

Hope that helps.

[swaneesr]

I see where the bank cleared the check for the mortgage. House is paid off after 24 years, six years early. Last month paid off 2020 chevy equinox, 5 years early on 6 year loan. I feel so relieved...like the weight of the world has been lifted from my shoulders. We owe nothing to nobody.

Wow. Congratulations!  You owe no one. 


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[Dutch Comfort]

Update on our mortgage#1 (we have 2 mortgages, but want to get rid of this one ASAP!):
   
Original: 120,000 repayment date 06/01/33
October 2021: 67,000 repayment date 12/01/32
January 2022: 64,000 repayment date 10/01/32

Goal: repayment in May 2027?
With our modest salaries, we shaved another 2 months off! Feeling so relieved every time we saved enough and we can do an extra month prepayment so our repayment date comes forward. As soon as we hit the repayment date, this will free so much monthly money, which we can then either dedicate to mortgage #2 or to our stash! I'm so much looking forward to this day...... this is a huge thing to look forward to. Only 64K to go (and no, we do not have that kind of money readily available at our combined savings, unfortunately.....).

[alcon835]

Congratulations on the awesome progress, @Dutch Comfort !!! I love watching mortgages go down, down, down!

[Nederstash]

I put 5000 into the mortgage last week and another 10,000 a few weeks before that. Honestly feels great! Now at 156k. Home is valued at 400k. I'd love to sell and get something with a garden but alas... can't buy a house for a normal price around here!

Mortgage is now sitting at a comfy 145k and home value shot up to 450k. Unfortunately, the houses I'd like to buy shot up in price as well...

[Vashy]

Goal: Pay off mortgage completely by end-2023

Original mortgage: 200,000 (May 2010)
November 2019: c100,000
Most recent re-mortgaging (@1.04%, tracker, early October 2021): 51,000
Current: 45,500

Put lump sum of company profits/dividends into the mortgage and was happy to kill 10% of the outstanding balance. Current goal is to get much closer to 40,000 by end-2021, maybe even hit that number before the year is up. I might drop in some cash savings, but I'm loathe to sacrifice my emergency fund.

I'm adjusting the goal somewhat because I need to build my Vanguard balance, and I'm now the only one paying off the mortgage because Mr Vashy needs to build his pre-tax pension. We're now at 41,000 and aim to be done by end-2025, ie our FI/RE date.

Sub-£40k!