$60k paid off in 3.75 years!

[Villanelle]

Woohooooooooo!  Just sent the final payment ($826) for our HELOC balance pay off!! Our goal was to pay it off in 5 years, and we thought that was fairly aggressive, and we did it in 75% of that time!  So happy to have it gone.

We took money out of the HELOC to refi our mortgage when we couldn't get a lower rate through a traditional bank because it is no longer owner occupied since we moved overseas.  My parents lent us most of the pay off amount (with monthly payments and interest), and the HELOC covered the rest.    So this wasn't crazy consumer sucka debt, but I'm thrilled to be done with it.  The rate was very low but adjustable, so we felt there was some risk and we wanted it *gone*. 

Now I have to automate some investments to put into the market the monthly dollars freed up by this.  Trying to decide if we want Trad IRA or Roth. Great problems to have!

[dave_the_wave]

Feels good huh? Just paid off all my debt about a week ago as well. Great job!!!

Here's a great resource Radram gave me when planning investments.
http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/taxes/tirataxable-vs-rothtaxable-vs-taxable-only/

Read the reply by MDM in the thread. You probably know most of it but it was very informative to a noob like me :)  Congrats!!

[acroy]

Badass, congratulations!!

[Villanelle]

Feels good huh? Just paid off all my debt about a week ago as well. Great job!!!

Here's a great resource Radram gave me when planning investments.
http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/taxes/tirataxable-vs-rothtaxable-vs-taxable-only/

Read the reply by MDM in the thread. You probably know most of it but it was very informative to a noob like me :)  Congrats!!

Congrats to you too!

Thanks for the link.  This tax/IRA stuff confuses me.  I know our marginal tax rate, but our effective tax rate is wonky because so much of his pay is untaxed, and I can't figure out if that matters.  Maybe I need to start a thread.

[financiallypossible]

Congrats to you too!

Thanks for the link.  This tax/IRA stuff confuses me.  I know our marginal tax rate, but our effective tax rate is wonky because so much of his pay is untaxed, and I can't figure out if that matters.  Maybe I need to start a thread.

A big congrats on paying off your debt.

Do you have the option to do both a traditional (via 401k or a 403b) and a Roth IRA?

If not, then the decision really depends upon your current tax bracket and how much you already have in traditional vs Roth accounts.

[Villanelle]

Congrats to you too!

Thanks for the link.  This tax/IRA stuff confuses me.  I know our marginal tax rate, but our effective tax rate is wonky because so much of his pay is untaxed, and I can't figure out if that matters.  Maybe I need to start a thread.

A big congrats on paying off your debt.

Do you have the option to do both a traditional (via 401k or a 403b) and a Roth IRA?

If not, then the decision really depends upon your current tax bracket and how much you already have in traditional vs Roth accounts.

No 401k, but in some ways, I guess the TSP is sort of like a 401k in that it is an employer-sponsored retirement system.  It has a Roth option, and a regular (non tax advantaged) option.  We currently max that (the Roth side) and will continue to do so.  After that, it gets fuzzy for me.  We can do Roth or traditional IRAs.  (The Roth TSP does not effect our Roth IRA eligibility or limit.)

We have almost nothing in trad IRA accounts--just something from a rolled over 403b.  We've got very roughly $200k in Roth accounts. 

[JT]

That's brilliant news - well done!  My debt is on the house at $118K, but 3 years ago it was $180K.  We've both paid off a similar amount!  WooooHooooooo!