Author Topic: We did it! The mortgage is gone! Its paid off!  (Read 10962 times)

minimalistgamer

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Re: We did it! The mortgage is gone! Its paid off!
« Reply #50 on: February 08, 2017, 04:57:43 AM »
All that money was just 1's and 0's in a computer somewhere, that represented bondage to your mortgage company. You have now cast off the yoke of that bondage, and well done! You are much more free than you were before.

You are indeed right. I can't ever go back to having a mortgage again! lol.

It reminds of the quote from the bible - The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.

I am not one of those people that believe rich people are evil or anything, but I did feel like a servant to the lender, now that I think about it!

Lochi21

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Re: We did it! The mortgage is gone! Its paid off!
« Reply #51 on: February 08, 2017, 05:48:49 AM »
I definitely get it Gamer.  Some people (including me) have debt-aversion hard wired into their DNA and removing the mortgage is the biggest debt most of us will have in our life.  And the biblical quote does not fall on deaf ears with me.

I also get your fear.  I'm very close to dropping a large lump sum (125K) to pay off my own mortgage and I'm starting to get cold feet.  Not because I think it's wrong or foolish but because I know it won't be as grandiose as I've built it up to be these past 2 years.  In the end, it's just a transfer of money as Headwind said and another step on our quest for FIRE.

I guess one of the things that gets me is that this large sum of money is huge to me but means very little to the bank.  It's like something bigger should happen when that final payment occurs!! 

It's probably because I've obsessed about this for so long and it took an enormous commitment to get to a 60% savings rate and this large sum of money.  Plus, there is definitely an ego-factor. Like what I'm going to do should be shared with and celebrated by everyone that knows me - which of course we don't do because most people never speak about their personal finances.  That's probably why we like sharing our anonymous stories on a forum like this with people who are so similar.


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Re: We did it! The mortgage is gone! Its paid off!
« Reply #52 on: February 08, 2017, 09:56:40 AM »
Fantastic Gamer! Any move like this is a positive, and don't let anyone second guess your decision. This one statement of yours stuck out to me a little:
I am hoping there won't be emergencies!

That makes it sound like you don't have a big emergency account. My own advice is to use a Roth account. You can withdraw the principal without penalty or taxes in the event of an emergency. And if you don't need it, it all continues to compound.

If you are as risk averse about the stock market as you sound, you can even consider the new MyRA accounts: it's a Roth account that carries government backing and offers a guaranteed interest rate. You are limited to $15,000 total, but that should cover quite a few emergencies. www.MyRa.gov.

minimalistgamer

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Re: We did it! The mortgage is gone! Its paid off!
« Reply #53 on: February 09, 2017, 05:48:42 AM »
That makes it sound like you don't have a big emergency account. My own advice is to use a Roth account. You can withdraw the principal without penalty or taxes in the event of an emergency. And if you don't need it, it all continues to compound.

Thank you very much!

I do have an emergency account. I have two actually.

In one account, I have $2000, which is readily accessible, and another account with $30,000 which is not so easily accessible.

I try not to ever have to touch my retirement accounts. I am maximizing my retirement accounts at the moment, so I think I am OK in that department.

jessicat

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Re: We did it! The mortgage is gone! Its paid off!
« Reply #54 on: February 09, 2017, 06:16:14 PM »
Lochi21
I so agree with you.  There at the very least should be confetti dropping from the ceiling!  And a crowd of people clapping for us when we do it.  So glad we paid off ours.

headwinds

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Re: We did it! The mortgage is gone! Its paid off!
« Reply #55 on: February 09, 2017, 07:06:56 PM »
Lochi21
I so agree with you.  There at the very least should be confetti dropping from the ceiling!  And a crowd of people clapping for us when we do it.  So glad we paid off ours.


Just Joe

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Re: We did it! The mortgage is gone! Its paid off!
« Reply #56 on: February 10, 2017, 07:57:51 AM »
I always wonder if a person could throw a mortgage burning party these days. With the behavior discussed in the Comedy section of this forum - a MMM participant might discover themselves surrounded by a bunch of grumps and woe-is-me'rs.

That is our next big goal. Mortgage free.

tightwaddy

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Re: We did it! The mortgage is gone! Its paid off!
« Reply #57 on: February 10, 2017, 08:39:26 AM »
I doubt we would have made as many sacrifices if we had elected to invest instead, as it doesn't resonate emotionally as much.

I like how you framed this--I hadn't thought about it that way precisely, but it was absolutely true for us.  We had a printout of a house on our freezer for 1+ years and every $5K principal allowed us to color in a new square.  We started selling things, doing mini side-hustles, avoiding take-out, etc. just to make sure we could cross off a square each month.  The 'stach is so important, but at the time it didn't have the same power over us.  Now that the house is paid off, it's totally motivating to max the contributions but we're not quite as devoted to it as we were those silly squares.

headwinds

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Re: We did it! The mortgage is gone! Its paid off!
« Reply #58 on: February 10, 2017, 08:47:52 AM »
I like how you framed this--I hadn't thought about it that way precisely, but it was absolutely true for us.  We had a printout of a house on our freezer for 1+ years and every $5K principal allowed us to color in a new square.  We started selling things, doing mini side-hustles, avoiding take-out, etc. just to make sure we could cross off a square each month.  The 'stach is so important, but at the time it didn't have the same power over us.  Now that the house is paid off, it's totally motivating to max the contributions but we're not quite as devoted to it as we were those silly squares.

I too am a visually motivated person. I like your idea of putting it up on the fridge. I run spreadsheets which make graphs which I update every day, and I just love to see the little lines move up.

Whatever motivates you to do the right thing, is a good plan! :)

bzzzt

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Re: We did it! The mortgage is gone! Its paid off!
« Reply #59 on: February 10, 2017, 09:51:02 AM »
I always wonder if a person could throw a mortgage burning party these days. With the behavior discussed in the Comedy section of this forum - a MMM participant might discover themselves surrounded by a bunch of grumps and woe-is-me'rs.

That is our next big goal. Mortgage free.

I actually thought about it, but couldn't think of very many people who wouldn't feel like we were bragging (we're in our early 30s) or would then see us as people with money to lend (immediate family).

Paying off my mortgage was partially depressing when I came to that realization (can't share it with many people), but it was fantastic when I was unemployed/underemployed for 8 weeks last year. The only impact was my savings rate went down. Woe is me... ;)

farmecologist

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Re: We did it! The mortgage is gone! Its paid off!
« Reply #60 on: February 10, 2017, 01:39:56 PM »
I always wonder if a person could throw a mortgage burning party these days. With the behavior discussed in the Comedy section of this forum - a MMM participant might discover themselves surrounded by a bunch of grumps and woe-is-me'rs.

That is our next big goal. Mortgage free.

I actually thought about it, but couldn't think of very many people who wouldn't feel like we were bragging (we're in our early 30s) or would then see us as people with money to lend (immediate family).

Paying off my mortgage was partially depressing when I came to that realization (can't share it with many people), but it was fantastic when I was unemployed/underemployed for 8 weeks last year. The only impact was my savings rate went down. Woe is me... ;)

I agree...when we paid the mortgage off, we didn't really tell anyone.  It was an awesome feeling, but a bit anti-climactic.

To the author - just make sure to invest the $$$ that you were previously using to pay the mortgage off.  That really worked out great for us.

minimalistgamer

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Re: We did it! The mortgage is gone! Its paid off!
« Reply #61 on: February 10, 2017, 04:32:37 PM »

I actually thought about it, but couldn't think of very many people who wouldn't feel like we were bragging (we're in our early 30s) or would then see us as people with money to lend (immediate family).

Paying off my mortgage was partially depressing when I came to that realization (can't share it with many people)

This is exactly how I feel. Only my wife knows that we paid off the mortgage. No one in my family or even my closest friends know that we are debt free.

I wish I could share our "success" with other people but I don't even know how to begin. My family will think I am wealthy and make a lot of money. In reality, they make more than I do, but their lifestyle is just insanely expensive compared to mine.

It still sucks though. Part me wants to tell them, but I don't think anything good can come out of it.

Josiecat

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Re: We did it! The mortgage is gone! Its paid off!
« Reply #62 on: February 10, 2017, 05:13:04 PM »
You should consider putting a mortgage button on your newel post.

A tradition from Nantucket that you may find in other New England homes; the mortgage button. When the mortgage was paid off, the papers were burned and the ashes placed in a prominent stairway's newel post, then the post topped with a piece of scrimshaw, often with the owner's initials etc but originally was plain. Now often made of ivory, not whale bone, and is common to be installed upon sale or construction and not stuck down until mortgage paid off.

minimalistgamer

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Re: We did it! The mortgage is gone! Its paid off!
« Reply #63 on: February 10, 2017, 06:31:36 PM »
You should consider putting a mortgage button on your newel post.

A tradition from Nantucket that you may find in other New England homes; the mortgage button. When the mortgage was paid off, the papers were burned and the ashes placed in a prominent stairway's newel post, then the post topped with a piece of scrimshaw, often with the owner's initials etc but originally was plain. Now often made of ivory, not whale bone, and is common to be installed upon sale or construction and not stuck down until mortgage paid off.

You should consider putting a mortgage button on your newel post.

A tradition from Nantucket that you may find in other New England homes; the mortgage button. When the mortgage was paid off, the papers were burned and the ashes placed in a prominent stairway's newel post, then the post topped with a piece of scrimshaw, often with the owner's initials etc but originally was plain. Now often made of ivory, not whale bone, and is common to be installed upon sale or construction and not stuck down until mortgage paid off.

I will definitely look into it. I am not sure if I should advertise the fact that I paid off the mortgage...I mean I am very young compared to most of the households here...not sure if it will come across as bragging...

However, I would love to have an ornament signifying mortgage being paid off. Thanks a lot for the suggestion.

Metric Mouse

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Re: We did it! The mortgage is gone! Its paid off!
« Reply #64 on: February 10, 2017, 07:07:52 PM »
You should consider putting a mortgage button on your newel post.

A tradition from Nantucket that you may find in other New England homes; the mortgage button. When the mortgage was paid off, the papers were burned and the ashes placed in a prominent stairway's newel post, then the post topped with a piece of scrimshaw, often with the owner's initials etc but originally was plain. Now often made of ivory, not whale bone, and is common to be installed upon sale or construction and not stuck down until mortgage paid off.

You should consider putting a mortgage button on your newel post.

A tradition from Nantucket that you may find in other New England homes; the mortgage button. When the mortgage was paid off, the papers were burned and the ashes placed in a prominent stairway's newel post, then the post topped with a piece of scrimshaw, often with the owner's initials etc but originally was plain. Now often made of ivory, not whale bone, and is common to be installed upon sale or construction and not stuck down until mortgage paid off.

I will definitely look into it. I am not sure if I should advertise the fact that I paid off the mortgage...I mean I am very young compared to most of the households here...not sure if it will come across as bragging...

However, I would love to have an ornament signifying mortgage being paid off. Thanks a lot for the suggestion.
Nothing wrong with a little bragging after such an awesome accomplishment!

headwinds

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Re: We did it! The mortgage is gone! Its paid off!
« Reply #65 on: February 11, 2017, 07:02:01 AM »
I'm curious, did you refinance first and then pay extra? Or just pay extra?

Looking at 10 yr fixed rates, they are significantly lower than the rate I'm paying now.

minimalistgamer

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Re: We did it! The mortgage is gone! Its paid off!
« Reply #66 on: February 11, 2017, 08:23:27 AM »
I'm curious, did you refinance first and then pay extra? Or just pay extra?

Looking at 10 yr fixed rates, they are significantly lower than the rate I'm paying now.

No, I did not refinance. My loan was for 15 years at 3% and I just paid it off in full. I kept it simple :)

Lochi21

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Re: We did it! The mortgage is gone! Its paid off!
« Reply #67 on: February 11, 2017, 10:51:48 AM »
Anyone else doing this mortgage payoff with kids in their formative years? 

We have a 13 yr old son who has been fully on-board with our plan and making many sacrifices with us these past 2 years.  I'm beginning to believe the educational benefits of this mortgage elimination/savings rate plan will be more rewarding to him than it was to us.  I've floated the idea of him never having a loan in his life and he seems to understand why that would be "Awesome Dad".  He's even brought up on his own how important it would be to find a wife "like Mom" who embraces many of the characteristics of a "Mustachian".


minimalistgamer

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Re: We did it! The mortgage is gone! Its paid off!
« Reply #68 on: February 11, 2017, 11:16:58 AM »
Anyone else doing this mortgage payoff with kids in their formative years? 

We have a 13 yr old son who has been fully on-board with our plan and making many sacrifices with us these past 2 years.  I'm beginning to believe the educational benefits of this mortgage elimination/savings rate plan will be more rewarding to him than it was to us.  I've floated the idea of him never having a loan in his life and he seems to understand why that would be "Awesome Dad".  He's even brought up on his own how important it would be to find a wife "like Mom" who embraces many of the characteristics of a "Mustachian".

Good on you for teaching these values to your son. I am sure he will benefit greatly from this.

ubermom4

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Re: We did it! The mortgage is gone! Its paid off!
« Reply #69 on: February 11, 2017, 05:32:30 PM »
Congratulations!! Great job.

Josiecat

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Re: We did it! The mortgage is gone! Its paid off!
« Reply #70 on: February 11, 2017, 05:54:22 PM »
It's funny you said 'brag'.  The mortgage buttons are actually nick named 'brag buttons'. 

ubermom4

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Re: We did it! The mortgage is gone! Its paid off!
« Reply #71 on: February 11, 2017, 07:49:13 PM »
Congratulations!! Great job.

jessicat

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Re: We did it! The mortgage is gone! Its paid off!
« Reply #72 on: February 11, 2017, 08:15:17 PM »
We have six kids.  All six were home when we paid it off.  A few months later my oldest left home.  It has made it so my kids have been taught much better about money.  We also took the kids on a cruise to celebrate paying our house off.  And yes we paid cash for the cruise.  The kids helped color in our chart on a big piece of poster board.  We paid ours off last April.  I love being completely debt free.  We had stuff we needed to do on our house once it was paid off.  Now it is done and we funded our roths last year and this year already.  I am trying to get my dh to make a chart for retirement because I am also visually oriented.  Best thing we did for our kids because they are seeing an example of how to be wise with money in a very stupid world.

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Re: We did it! The mortgage is gone! Its paid off!
« Reply #73 on: February 11, 2017, 08:59:41 PM »
Congrats Gamer!  Awesome job!!  Enjoy knowing you no longer (and never will?) have any bloodsuckers taking your hard earned cash.
Ha! You want to see bloodsucking, just watch what happens if you can't pay your taxes. A paid-off mortgage does not mean the end of payments. Utilities and property taxes never go away. Better to have a bunch of money available for things that wear out or break,  plus property taxes, which are guaranteed to increase steadily over the long haul.

farmecologist

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Re: We did it! The mortgage is gone! Its paid off!
« Reply #74 on: February 12, 2017, 09:21:09 AM »
Congrats Gamer!  Awesome job!!  Enjoy knowing you no longer (and never will?) have any bloodsuckers taking your hard earned cash.
Ha! You want to see bloodsucking, just watch what happens if you can't pay your taxes. A paid-off mortgage does not mean the end of payments. Utilities and property taxes never go away. Better to have a bunch of money available for things that wear out or break,  plus property taxes, which are guaranteed to increase steadily over the long haul.

Yes...I'm astonished to see what we pay in Property taxes...and we live in a 'cheaper' area of the country!  I have heard horror stories about how much some folks on the east coast pay.  Truly outrageous.

 


Just Joe

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Re: We did it! The mortgage is gone! Its paid off!
« Reply #75 on: February 12, 2017, 11:57:42 AM »
Nothing wrong with a little bragging after such an awesome accomplishment!

To be honest our society could probably benefit from more people bragging a little and proving that things like this can happen with some planning and follow through.

I guess everyone would have to be really firm with the family that might suddenly appear with loan requests. Yes, the mortgage is paid off but we have to fund our retirement. And then ask them how they have planned their retirement funding - which of course they probably haven't done.
« Last Edit: February 12, 2017, 12:03:09 PM by Tasty Pinecones »

Lochi21

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Re: We did it! The mortgage is gone! Its paid off!
« Reply #76 on: February 12, 2017, 06:50:42 PM »
We have six kids.  All six were home when we paid it off.  A few months later my oldest left home.  It has made it so my kids have been taught much better about money.  We also took the kids on a cruise to celebrate paying our house off.  And yes we paid cash for the cruise.  The kids helped color in our chart on a big piece of poster board.  We paid ours off last April.  I love being completely debt free.  We had stuff we needed to do on our house once it was paid off.  Now it is done and we funded our roths last year and this year already.  I am trying to get my dh to make a chart for retirement because I am also visually oriented.  Best thing we did for our kids because they are seeing an example of how to be wise with money in a very stupid world.

Thanks for sharing this Jessicat!  I was wondering if anyone else had seen this nice ancillary benefit. 

I also really liked your idea of creative visuals for everyone in the house to see.  I wish we would have done something similar these past 2 years.  I'm definitely planning on doing this with our next financial goal.

minimalistgamer

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Re: We did it! The mortgage is gone! Its paid off!
« Reply #77 on: February 14, 2017, 05:45:43 AM »
Thanks everyone for your kind words. I appreciate it.

We have six kids.  All six were home when we paid it off.  A few months later my oldest left home.  It has made it so my kids have been taught much better about money.  We also took the kids on a cruise to celebrate paying our house off.  And yes we paid cash for the cruise.

What you did is awesome! I might copy your method of putting up a chart to stay focused on our future goals. Good on you for celebrating paying off your house! We haven't done anything big to celebrate our mortgage payoff yet. I want to wait for next paycheck before we celebrate.

Ha! You want to see bloodsucking, just watch what happens if you can't pay your taxes. A paid-off mortgage does not mean the end of payments. Utilities and property taxes never go away. Better to have a bunch of money available for things that wear out or break,  plus property taxes, which are guaranteed to increase steadily over the long haul.

You are absolutely right. This is not the end of payments. However, I had enough of a cushion to be able to pay off the house. I just didn't feel like needlessly paying interest to the bank when I am not going to drop $100k which I have sitting in a CD, into the stock market. It did not make any financial sense.

Now, I still think the logical thing to do would be to invest in the market, which is very likely to do better than 3%, but I just couldn't do it. I wanted to be debt free. This is not something I can explain with logic. :)

minimalistgamer

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Re: We did it! The mortgage is gone! Its paid off!
« Reply #78 on: February 15, 2017, 08:21:42 AM »
Tsk, tsk... you're not supposed to time the market :)

Congratulations!  The perfect is the enemy of the good.  You made a good choice.

Absolutely. I don't intend to time the market at all. I am just going to contribute at the beginning of the year to my RothIRA, and then every month, in addition to 401k contributions, I am going to contribute to my taxable investment account.

Prefect is indeed the enemy of good. I never would have done anything if I was waiting for the perfect time.

jade

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Re: We did it! The mortgage is gone! Its paid off!
« Reply #79 on: February 15, 2017, 08:24:47 AM »
Well done! :) Great to hear. We did ours 2 years ago and it was such a great feeling! I appreciate it (and my husband who's idea it was!) even more as time goes by and our outgoings are lower meaning we can save much more!

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Re: We did it! The mortgage is gone! Its paid off!
« Reply #80 on: February 15, 2017, 11:58:27 AM »
I always wonder if a person could throw a mortgage burning party these days. With the behavior discussed in the Comedy section of this forum - a MMM participant might discover themselves surrounded by a bunch of grumps and woe-is-me'rs.

That is our next big goal. Mortgage free.

We threw a mortgage -burning party. We had a big party, and burned an effigy of our mortgage in the chiminea. It was fun, and it did feel good to celebrate the accomplishment. So have the party!

minimalistgamer

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Re: We did it! The mortgage is gone! Its paid off!
« Reply #81 on: February 18, 2017, 01:04:43 PM »
Sadly, no one knows about us paying off the mortgage. I want to tell my family about it, but I don't think anything good can come out of it. I am not telling my friends because I don't feel its the right to let my friends in on this secret and not my family.

I will go out and celebrate with my wife though. We will be doing a lot of quiet celebrating! :)

 

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