Mortgage Payoff Club!!

[Able was I ERE]

Just got a "Satisfaction of Mortgage" in the mail today!   After almost 11 years from purchase, and 2 rates-can-never-go-lower refinances, it's finally completely paid off.   

[boarder42]

Those who have paid their mortgages off should consider cash out refi at today's rates.  Its a great inflation hedge. Plus u will make more investing than the interest

[Debts_of_Despair]

I just registered to get in on this action!

Since I've been a homeowner, 2015 was the first year where we didn't have any car loans or student loans between us.  Now it's time to get serious about ridding ourselves of the mortgage!  Started out with 92k when I bought the house eight years ago.   When I made my first principal-only payment in March I was at 77k.  I'm already down to 67k.  In a good month without any unexpected expenses, I can throw 4k in principal at it.  When I get down to 20k, I'll be pulling that amount from my rainy day fund to make one final balloon payment.  I hope to be completely done with it in a little over a year.

Anyway, I was pretty excited when I realized I could make this happen and this thread is good motivation to keep me going.  I will be posting update!

[Debts_of_Despair]

Pay week!  Down to 65.3k.

[Neustache]

Starting Mortgage:  123K
Current Balance: 122K

Just made my first extra payment of $1300...new mortgage balance is $119,800.00

Ahem....back on topic.

Made my August extra payment...new balance is........ $117,719.00   Woot!  Sent $1900 to the mortgage, plus Augusts regular payment.  Goal is to hit 80% LTV by my birthday in January. We shall see.

Okay, so not going to hit my original goal - had to pay cash for a roof replacement for our rental, plus my husband took up hunting ($$$) hopefully we can really be serious about this going forward.  And my hubby owes me..oh...like 10 deer before he can give up his new hobby. 

Current principal:  $113,199.00

Not terrible for having to shell out almost six grand in unplanned expenses.  My revised goal is to get this down to 80% by my next birthday, Jan 2016.  We have to pay for some foundation repairs to our current house, also, that's why I'm almost a year off of my original goal.

Current amount:  $111,523

Pretty sure I'll reach our goal of 104K by Jan 2016 if not before - although I am changing up strategies a bit and maxing out IRAs for tax savings and then throwing additional towards the mortgage.  Will make the mortgage payoff slower, but the tax savings and investing earnings will be worth it!

[boarder42]

Starting Mortgage:  123K
Current Balance: 122K

i really hope you're maxing out all tax advantaged account before dumping money into a mortgage


Just made my first extra payment of $1300...new mortgage balance is $119,800.00

Ahem....back on topic.

Made my August extra payment...new balance is........ $117,719.00   Woot!  Sent $1900 to the mortgage, plus Augusts regular payment.  Goal is to hit 80% LTV by my birthday in January. We shall see.

Okay, so not going to hit my original goal - had to pay cash for a roof replacement for our rental, plus my husband took up hunting ($$$) hopefully we can really be serious about this going forward.  And my hubby owes me..oh...like 10 deer before he can give up his new hobby. 

Current principal:  $113,199.00

Not terrible for having to shell out almost six grand in unplanned expenses.  My revised goal is to get this down to 80% by my next birthday, Jan 2016.  We have to pay for some foundation repairs to our current house, also, that's why I'm almost a year off of my original goal.

Current amount:  $111,523

Pretty sure I'll reach our goal of 104K by Jan 2016 if not before - although I am changing up strategies a bit and maxing out IRAs for tax savings and then throwing additional towards the mortgage.  Will make the mortgage payoff slower, but the tax savings and investing earnings will be worth it!

[hdatontodo]

Current amount:  $111,523...Pretty sure I'll reach our goal of 104K by Jan 2016 if not before...

I don't know if you get paid on this schedule, but a number of people will get 3 pays in December since January 1 is a Friday and becomes a December pay for some (like me, which should be part of our final mortgage payment in January.)

[dandypandys]

i 'think' I'm in too. my rate is 5.9% and 86k to go.
since i am crap at stocks, and don't know anything about it, although i am learning right now on this forum (thanks!) is this not a wise decision?

[birdman2003]

i 'think' I'm in too. my rate is 5.9% and 86k to go.
since i am crap at stocks, and don't know anything about it, although i am learning right now on this forum (thanks!) is this not a wise decision?

You could always open a taxable investment account, add money and grow it until it surpasses the 86k mortgage balance.  Then you liquidate the account, pay taxes on your gains, and then "retire" your mortgage.

Otherwise you could send in extra principal payments as you accumulate cash, and get a "guaranteed" 5.9% rate of return (which is close to the historical average for the stock market).

[dandypandys]

i 'think' I'm in too. my rate is 5.9% and 86k to go.
since i am crap at stocks, and don't know anything about it, although i am learning right now on this forum (thanks!) is this not a wise decision?

You could always open a taxable investment account, add money and grow it until it surpasses the 86k mortgage balance.  Then you liquidate the account, pay taxes on your gains, and then "retire" your mortgage.

Otherwise you could send in extra principal payments as you accumulate cash, and get a "guaranteed" 5.9% rate of return (which is close to the historical average for the stock market).

Thank you bird man! i have a Q.. if i have a 403b with transamerica through my work, should i do it with them since i can see those Vanguard stocks i have some already, or do a separate thing with Vanguard where it is not coming straight off my paycheck tax free? Not sure if Transamerica 403b account lets me set up other things like this.. thought i can ask them too. I know nothing! learning much! Also, can you put money in to Vanguard and then get it out any time you like?

[Neustache]

Current amount:  $111,523...Pretty sure I'll reach our goal of 104K by Jan 2016 if not before...

I don't know if you get paid on this schedule, but a number of people will get 3 pays in December since January 1 is a Friday and becomes a December pay for some (like me, which should be part of our final mortgage payment in January.)

We get an extra paycheck in May and October - but the October one usually gets eaten up with property taxes (about $700 - thank goodness this will keep going down each year as our cars age!) Christmas ($500) and other normal budget stuff (food/giving/sitar lessons).  But yes, I should still, even with all of that, have about $900 extra to throw at either the mortgage or maxing out our IRAs.  Woot!  Love three paycheck months, but especially the one I get in May as the only odd thing that comes out of that is our life insurance which is about $500 and then the rest goes to our current goal.

[ACLR8R]

Just found this thread, so I thought I would toss my numbers in as well.

Trying to become more mustachian since I found MMM about 8 months ago. Luckily we bought our house at the bottom of the recession and only owed $121k. I refi'd last year to a 15yr at 2.75%, then I sold my FF Cobra, and my C6 Corvette and have dropped 70k or so and we are down do 50k left. Hoping to have it paid off by June 2016!

I know for most the math doesn't work out, when comparing it to investing but I always wondered, what if the house then becomes a rental property. Do the numbers get better?

Our plan is to pay this house off and then buy another and rent this one out. Yes we will have another mortgage, but the rent from our current house will pay for the mortgage on the next plus $3-400 per month. So we would still have our mortgage paid for, essentially, but increase our income by $3-400 per month.

I feel like that is a pretty good return on our money, especially when you factor in the house appreciating in value by 3-10% each year as well. (this house has already gone from 161k to 240k in value in 4 years due to the housing market recovering).

I know we got lucky in our timing, but I figure that has to be on par with investing the $121k, or is there a hole in my thinking somewhere?

[boarder42]

Just found this thread, so I thought I would toss my numbers in as well.

Trying to become more mustachian since I found MMM about 8 months ago. Luckily we bought our house at the bottom of the recession and only owed $121k. I refi'd last year to a 15yr at 2.75%, then I sold my FF Cobra, and my C6 Corvette and have dropped 70k or so and we are down do 50k left. Hoping to have it paid off by June 2016!

I know for most the math doesn't work out, when comparing it to investing but I always wondered, what if the house then becomes a rental property. Do the numbers get better?

Our plan is to pay this house off and then buy another and rent this one out. Yes we will have another mortgage, but the rent from our current house will pay for the mortgage on the next plus $3-400 per month. So we would still have our mortgage paid for, essentially, but increase our income by $3-400 per month.

I feel like that is a pretty good return on our money, especially when you factor in the house appreciating in value by 3-10% each year as well. (this house has already gone from 161k to 240k in value in 4 years due to the housing market recovering).

I know we got lucky in our timing, but I figure that has to be on par with investing the $121k, or is there a hole in my thinking somewhere?

If the math doesnt work out for it not being a rental it still doesnt work out when it is a rental.  Essentially at a 2.75% rate you're just burning money putting it in your mortgage as your rate is under the avg inflation rate. 

[ACLR8R]

Just found this thread, so I thought I would toss my numbers in as well.

Trying to become more mustachian since I found MMM about 8 months ago. Luckily we bought our house at the bottom of the recession and only owed $121k. I refi'd last year to a 15yr at 2.75%, then I sold my FF Cobra, and my C6 Corvette and have dropped 70k or so and we are down do 50k left. Hoping to have it paid off by June 2016!

I know for most the math doesn't work out, when comparing it to investing but I always wondered, what if the house then becomes a rental property. Do the numbers get better?

Our plan is to pay this house off and then buy another and rent this one out. Yes we will have another mortgage, but the rent from our current house will pay for the mortgage on the next plus $3-400 per month. So we would still have our mortgage paid for, essentially, but increase our income by $3-400 per month.

I feel like that is a pretty good return on our money, especially when you factor in the house appreciating in value by 3-10% each year as well. (this house has already gone from 161k to 240k in value in 4 years due to the housing market recovering).

I know we got lucky in our timing, but I figure that has to be on par with investing the $121k, or is there a hole in my thinking somewhere?

If the math doesnt work out for it not being a rental it still doesnt work out when it is a rental.  Essentially at a 2.75% rate you're just burning money putting it in your mortgage as your rate is under the avg inflation rate.

My thinking (again could be flawed), but once the house is rented and it is bringing in around $1400 per month that's 16,800 per year. Which using the $121k payoff amount is almost 14% per year. Now I know you have to account for taxes and a month or two every couple of years that it isn't rented ( I have another property that was vacant two months in the past 3 years). But I would say a conservative 7-9% annually, and that still isn't factoring in appreciation of the home itself which has been almost 50% over the last 4 years (I know that wont continue, but home prices in Gilbert have been recovering very well).

What am I missing?

[dandypandys]

I've decided I'm in! yay! Gonna send a huge check to them this week :) take me down to 68k owed. Then we are going to put an extra 1000 towards it every month. yippee.
We want to sell it in a few years maybe 3, once we have it paid off and have cash for a downpayment on another house.

[birdman2003]

I've decided I'm in! yay! Gonna send a huge check to them this week :) take me down to 68k owed. Then we are going to put an extra 1000 towards it every month. yippee.
We want to sell it in a few years maybe 3, once we have it paid off and have cash for a downpayment on another house.

Sounds like a good plan.  If you did want to open an account with Vanguard (or any other broker) it would be separate from any other retirement plans offered through your work.  You would link it to your bank and transfer money to your Vanguard account which can then be used to buy your favorite funds.  You can sell them at any time, but most of the funds have a minimum required balance (if your account is at $5000 and you decide you need to pull out $4000 for an emergency, you can't sell $4000 worth of funds unless the minimum balance for that fund is $1000. Most of the funds have a minimum of $3000).  When you sell funds and transfer the money back to your bank, you'll pay taxes on the gains at tax time.  So don't spend it all. *smile*

But yeah, I would probably do what you describe and just send in an extra $1000 principal payment to your mortgage owner every month.

[dandypandys]

I've decided I'm in! yay! Gonna send a huge check to them this week :) take me down to 68k owed. Then we are going to put an extra 1000 towards it every month. yippee.
We want to sell it in a few years maybe 3, once we have it paid off and have cash for a downpayment on another house.

Sounds like a good plan.  If you did want to open an account with Vanguard (or any other broker) it would be separate from any other retirement plans offered through your work.  You would link it to your bank and transfer money to your Vanguard account which can then be used to buy your favorite funds.  You can sell them at any time, but most of the funds have a minimum required balance (if your account is at $5000 and you decide you need to pull out $4000 for an emergency, you can't sell $4000 worth of funds unless the minimum balance for that fund is $1000. Most of the funds have a minimum of $3000).  When you sell funds and transfer the money back to your bank, you'll pay taxes on the gains at tax time.  So don't spend it all. *smile*

But yeah, I would probably do what you describe and just send in an extra $1000 principal payment to your mortgage owner every month.

Thanks! You just answered all my Q's i had swilling in my head and on another thread :)

[boarder42]

Just found this thread, so I thought I would toss my numbers in as well.

Trying to become more mustachian since I found MMM about 8 months ago. Luckily we bought our house at the bottom of the recession and only owed $121k. I refi'd last year to a 15yr at 2.75%, then I sold my FF Cobra, and my C6 Corvette and have dropped 70k or so and we are down do 50k left. Hoping to have it paid off by June 2016!

I know for most the math doesn't work out, when comparing it to investing but I always wondered, what if the house then becomes a rental property. Do the numbers get better?

Our plan is to pay this house off and then buy another and rent this one out. Yes we will have another mortgage, but the rent from our current house will pay for the mortgage on the next plus $3-400 per month. So we would still have our mortgage paid for, essentially, but increase our income by $3-400 per month.

I feel like that is a pretty good return on our money, especially when you factor in the house appreciating in value by 3-10% each year as well. (this house has already gone from 161k to 240k in value in 4 years due to the housing market recovering).

I know we got lucky in our timing, but I figure that has to be on par with investing the $121k, or is there a hole in my thinking somewhere?

If the math doesnt work out for it not being a rental it still doesnt work out when it is a rental.  Essentially at a 2.75% rate you're just burning money putting it in your mortgage as your rate is under the avg inflation rate.

My thinking (again could be flawed), but once the house is rented and it is bringing in around $1400 per month that's 16,800 per year. Which using the $121k payoff amount is almost 14% per year. Now I know you have to account for taxes and a month or two every couple of years that it isn't rented ( I have another property that was vacant two months in the past 3 years). But I would say a conservative 7-9% annually, and that still isn't factoring in appreciation of the home itself which has been almost 50% over the last 4 years (I know that wont continue, but home prices in Gilbert have been recovering very well).

What am I missing?

your thinking is extremely flawed.  its not just the pay off amount ROI you need to look at its the entire value of the home.  Meaning what you could sell it for.  if your home is worth anymore than 70k which it is... it doesnt even meet the 2% rule of renting.  at 1400 a month.  Not to mention just the amount of capital you're tossing in the trash paying it off any faster than minimum payments and investing the rest in other properties or the stock market.  Home appreciation typically keeps up with inflation.  you bought at a bottom so it has been higher.  but you will come out miles ahead selling that house and putting it into a smarter investment.  and also by not paying it down.  Paying down ALL debt is probably one of the biggest flaws of people on this site.  A mortgage at your rate is costing you 2-3 years of FIRE by paying it down vs investing the money in more property or stock investments.   And your house is not currently rentable its worth way too much for the rent you would bring in.   

post actual numbers

Home value - ???
assumed rental income - 1400
what you owe is not relevant.  only the rate which we already have.
what is your expected FIRE annual income
what do you currently have in savings

i can do the math and show you how bad an idea you're currently contemplating.  assuming that you bought it for around 140-150 and it has appreciated like you say ... you should not be renting this place even based on original purchase price. 

[ACLR8R]

Just found this thread, so I thought I would toss my numbers in as well.

Trying to become more mustachian since I found MMM about 8 months ago. Luckily we bought our house at the bottom of the recession and only owed $121k. I refi'd last year to a 15yr at 2.75%, then I sold my FF Cobra, and my C6 Corvette and have dropped 70k or so and we are down do 50k left. Hoping to have it paid off by June 2016!

I know for most the math doesn't work out, when comparing it to investing but I always wondered, what if the house then becomes a rental property. Do the numbers get better?

Our plan is to pay this house off and then buy another and rent this one out. Yes we will have another mortgage, but the rent from our current house will pay for the mortgage on the next plus $3-400 per month. So we would still have our mortgage paid for, essentially, but increase our income by $3-400 per month.

I feel like that is a pretty good return on our money, especially when you factor in the house appreciating in value by 3-10% each year as well. (this house has already gone from 161k to 240k in value in 4 years due to the housing market recovering).

I know we got lucky in our timing, but I figure that has to be on par with investing the $121k, or is there a hole in my thinking somewhere?

If the math doesnt work out for it not being a rental it still doesnt work out when it is a rental.  Essentially at a 2.75% rate you're just burning money putting it in your mortgage as your rate is under the avg inflation rate.

My thinking (again could be flawed), but once the house is rented and it is bringing in around $1400 per month that's 16,800 per year. Which using the $121k payoff amount is almost 14% per year. Now I know you have to account for taxes and a month or two every couple of years that it isn't rented ( I have another property that was vacant two months in the past 3 years). But I would say a conservative 7-9% annually, and that still isn't factoring in appreciation of the home itself which has been almost 50% over the last 4 years (I know that wont continue, but home prices in Gilbert have been recovering very well).

What am I missing?

your thinking is extremely flawed.  its not just the pay off amount ROI you need to look at its the entire value of the home.  Meaning what you could sell it for.  if your home is worth anymore than 70k which it is... it doesnt even meet the 2% rule of renting.  at 1400 a month.  Not to mention just the amount of capital you're tossing in the trash paying it off any faster than minimum payments and investing the rest in other properties or the stock market.  Home appreciation typically keeps up with inflation.  you bought at a bottom so it has been higher.  but you will come out miles ahead selling that house and putting it into a smarter investment.  and also by not paying it down.  Paying down ALL debt is probably one of the biggest flaws of people on this site.  A mortgage at your rate is costing you 2-3 years of FIRE by paying it down vs investing the money in more property or stock investments.   And your house is not currently rentable its worth way too much for the rent you would bring in.   

post actual numbers

Home value - ???
assumed rental income - 1400
what you owe is not relevant.  only the rate which we already have.
what is your expected FIRE annual income
what do you currently have in savings

i can do the math and show you how bad an idea you're currently contemplating.  assuming that you bought it for around 140-150 and it has appreciated like you say ... you should not be renting this place even based on original purchase price.

Lo, I think throwing it in the trash might be a tad extreme, but here are my numbers.

Home value - $240,000
assumed rental income - 1400
what you owe is not relevant.  only the rate which we already have.
what is your expected FIRE annual income- Shooting for 30-50k, but wife and I will still be working part time at hobbies we enjoy. Only need about 20k in investment income.
what do you currently have in savings- $30k in cash in the bank, but approx $200k (not including equity in primary residence) , between 403b, Precious Metals, Roth, IRA, equity in other rental property, and State retirement (both teachers).

Ages 32, and 27.

I have a feeling this is going to hurt :)

Not planning to pay the rental off early, that is at 2.375%

[boarder42]

that home is worth 240000 ... meaning if you sold the home vs renting.  you would have 240k to invest in a good investment.  This home renting at 1400 is not that investment.  lets just use the annual market returns which can grow tax sheltered til you withdraw.  and lets pull out inflation so lets say 7% annual returns. that gives you 16,800.  you may say its the same as the house ... yes but you're not accounting for the fact that a good rule of thumb for rentals is to assume 50% goes to other things.  so you're making half that on you rental.  and you have to worry about tennants and working on the house and fixing it up each time and managing your property.  all to get less than half the return of just sitting it in a taxable account and putting it in VTSAX. 

Most people follow a 2% rule (most successful real estate investors)  you arent even at a 1% rule on this house.  Go read bigger pockets forum and you can learn alot about owning rentals.

[ACLR8R]

that home is worth 240000 ... meaning if you sold the home vs renting.  you would have 240k to invest in a good investment.  This home renting at 1400 is not that investment.  lets just use the annual market returns which can grow tax sheltered til you withdraw.  and lets pull out inflation so lets say 7% annual returns. that gives you 16,800.  you may say its the same as the house ... yes but you're not accounting for the fact that a good rule of thumb for rentals is to assume 50% goes to other things.  so you're making half that on you rental.  and you have to worry about tennants and working on the house and fixing it up each time and managing your property.  all to get less than half the return of just sitting it in a taxable account and putting it in VTSAX. 

Most people follow a 2% rule (most successful real estate investors)  you arent even at a 1% rule on this house.  Go read bigger pockets forum and you can learn alot about owning rentals.

OK, I see one of the major differences in our thinking. I am looking at the investment I have made in the house of $121k, and you are looking at the value of the home $240k.

I do manage my properties and luckily in that last 4-5 years of doing it I have been no where near the 50% rule, probably no even 10%. Could be luck or doing my due diligence in the application process. I honestly spend less than 10 hrs per year managing.

I appreciate your perspective.

[boarder42]

selling that house and buying a house that costs less and has higher return to value is your 100% best option.  Doing what you're doing you are better off investing in vtsax.  its not a prespective its simple math

[ACLR8R]

selling that house and buying a house that costs less and has higher return to value is your 100% best option.  Doing what you're doing you are better off investing in vtsax.  its not a prespective its simple math

Thanks I'll keep that in mind, there really aren't any less expensive houses in my area so I will just continue on my path. Might not be the absolute best way to do it, but being mortgage free by 33 isn't the end of the world either :)

I appreciate your input, even if it did seem a bit condescending.

[boarder42]

selling that house and buying a house that costs less and has higher return to value is your 100% best option.  Doing what you're doing you are better off investing in vtsax.  its not a prespective its simple math

Thanks I'll keep that in mind, there really aren't any less expensive houses in my area so I will just continue on my path. Might not be the absolute best way to do it, but being mortgage free by 33 isn't the end of the world either :)

I appreciate your input, even if it did seem a bit condescending.

+

then why ask the question if you just wanted a yes man .

[hdatontodo]

[January] $99K mortgage balance...
[April] balance ... $40K. ...

June 1, $31.6K. Need to increase the next 7 payments by $25 to finish in January 2016.

[asauer]

Was able to throw another couple grand at the mortgage this month.  Down to 131K!

[hdatontodo]

[January] $99K mortgage balance...
[April] balance ... $40K. ...

June 1, $31.6K. Need to increase the next 7 payments by $25 to finish in January 2016.

Quite impressive, you already got all the cash sitting still in another account or you just pull a NFL paycheck?

I read posts here once in a while and figure that some of you throw on your mortgage more than our gross familial income. The special thing about you guys is not to repay the morgage fast but to dont follow the royal lifestyle (including housing) that your collaterals probably run.

The Mrs and I can just afford to scrape together the $5K payment from our paychecks. Only one of my 2 monthly checks had been needed prior. Getting OT @40/hr take-home covers a dinner out that was not in the budget. I have nil in savings but she has some. I plan to replenish savings next year.

At the peak of the market, the Mrs had gotten this house for $285K with a 30 year mortgage by herself before I came along. She had been renting out a room. My coming into the picture initially led to refi to a 15 year loan with some extra principal on top. It was about a year ago that I started really making big extra payments on the principal (after we finished the prepaid MD 529 for the kid.)

[latetotheparty1977]

I've decided I'm in! yay! Gonna send a huge check to them this week :) take me down to 68k owed. Then we are going to put an extra 1000 towards it every month. yippee.
We want to sell it in a few years maybe 3, once we have it paid off and have cash for a downpayment on another house.

Sounds like a good plan.  If you did want to open an account with Vanguard (or any other broker) it would be separate from any other retirement plans offered through your work.  You would link it to your bank and transfer money to your Vanguard account which can then be used to buy your favorite funds.  You can sell them at any time, but most of the funds have a minimum required balance (if your account is at $5000 and you decide you need to pull out $4000 for an emergency, you can't sell $4000 worth of funds unless the minimum balance for that fund is $1000. Most of the funds have a minimum of $3000).  When you sell funds and transfer the money back to your bank, you'll pay taxes on the gains at tax time.  So don't spend it all. *smile*

But yeah, I would probably do what you describe and just send in an extra $1000 principal payment to your mortgage owner every month.

Thanks! You just answered all my Q's i had swilling in my head and on another thread :)

Forgive me, beginner question here: but what do you do if you do want to get your full amount of money out of the Vanguard brokerage account? You would get no gains on the money that is below the $3k minimum?

[Debts_of_Despair]

Pay week!  Down to 65.3k.

61k at time of this post.

[birdman2003]

I've decided I'm in! yay! Gonna send a huge check to them this week :) take me down to 68k owed. Then we are going to put an extra 1000 towards it every month. yippee.
We want to sell it in a few years maybe 3, once we have it paid off and have cash for a downpayment on another house.

Sounds like a good plan.  If you did want to open an account with Vanguard (or any other broker) it would be separate from any other retirement plans offered through your work.  You would link it to your bank and transfer money to your Vanguard account which can then be used to buy your favorite funds.  You can sell them at any time, but most of the funds have a minimum required balance (if your account is at $5000 and you decide you need to pull out $4000 for an emergency, you can't sell $4000 worth of funds unless the minimum balance for that fund is $1000. Most of the funds have a minimum of $3000).  When you sell funds and transfer the money back to your bank, you'll pay taxes on the gains at tax time.  So don't spend it all. *smile*

But yeah, I would probably do what you describe and just send in an extra $1000 principal payment to your mortgage owner every month.

Thanks! You just answered all my Q's i had swilling in my head and on another thread :)

Forgive me, beginner question here: but what do you do if you do want to get your full amount of money out of the Vanguard brokerage account? You would get no gains on the money that is below the $3k minimum?

If you had $2900 and the fund minimum is $3000, your money would be sitting around idle until you transfer another $100 to meet the fund minimum investment.  Once you have $3000 in your account, you can buy $3000 worth of shares.  For example, if the mutual fund was worth $44 a share, you could buy $3000 worth of that fund and have 68.182 shares in your account (68.182*44 = 3000).  Then a few months later, the fund price has increased from $44 per share to $49 per share.  Now your 68.182 shares are worth $3340.92 (68.182*49 = 3340.92).  You can't pull out more than $340.92 from this mutual fund or else your balance would be below the required minimum of $3000.  If you had an urgent need for $500, you would need to sell all your shares of the mutual fund.  That's why you shouldn't put money into a mutual fund unless you can leave it alone and let it grow.

[birdman2003]

More on topic, I am now below $60k left on my mortgage!

[Heckler]

$27,610 remaining. 8 months to go!

[Money Badger]

Mrs. Indentured and I have the goal of payoff in 5 years on a $249k mortgage without gutting our current stash. 

Under $210K by year-end or bust!

Slow and steady...  Threw the bonus at the mortgage (but decided to beef up the kid's 529 plans to cushion us from the college years instead of just paying down principal now at an unsustainable rate later)...   Now $239,500 half way through the year...   Putting passive income into it and the paydowns are starting to make notable positive momentum to the tune of $30 a month or so since we started accelerating a year ago...   So tracking to be around $225K by year end.    Sounds silly, but also as a Trekkie, I'm keeping Frugal Toque's "Jean Luc Picard" post on mortgage freedom bookmarked on my phone for inspiration.

[KBecks2]

We're putting $1600 on the mortgage this month.  Balance will be about $112k.  I'm trying to put our extra on this and get it done. 

[rjbf65]

I'll join.

Started June 2014 at 71k.

It's currently $55k.  Goal is to finish it off by next June.   Have 20k in cash that would finish it off by then.  We are currently investing 15% as well.   Basically doing the Dave Ramsey plan.   

[LanceThrustington]

I'm in too

Started in Feb with about 90K. 50% share of a $560k house in Melbourne Australia, interest rates are about 4.7% here
so its an easier decision to pay it off now rather than ivest.

Trying to smash down the loan ASAP preferably before the end of 2016 to then start saving for a family / future

down to 66,400 as of today.

Average wage, just funneling everything into it.

[Rheagar]

I'm in.

We bought our house in Nov 2015, mortgage of ~123k. We have ~117k left on the mortgage, but we are squirreling money away in  an ETF with the intent of paying off the mortgage in one lump sum once we have enough. The rationale is that we can hope to earn more in the market than we would save on interest, so we are sort of finding a happy medium in the pay it off/don't pay it off debate.

We currently have ~62k in that account, so 55k left to go! My very optimistic goal is April of next year. Hoping for bonuses to help out!

[Debts_of_Despair]

Pay week!  Down to 65.3k.

61k at time of this post.

Now at a little over 50k.  Wife is a teacher and gets a lump sum check at the end of the school year.  Put all of it into mortage.

Right now I'm ahead of schedule.  This is way easier than I thought it would be so far.

[WWMD]

Ok,

I'm in. I have been waffling over this for years now, just steadily saving. At this point in time if I got a rate of return of over 3.25% on my investments it would make sense to keep the money there and not pay off the mortgage. When all is said and done, my current loan would land me 10 years from now having paid $30,000 in interest. Nothing to sneeze at, but not an insurmountable loss.

BUT, I see a lot of benefits to paying off the mortgage instead:

• No debt—you just can't beat no debt on the books.
• I still don't trust the market. I have investments there now and I will continue to put investments there after I pay off the mortgage, but I feel like you just never know.
• The freedom of not having a monthly payment would mentally provide me with more job/life flexibility.

I have about $60,000 to go if I want to keep a year's living expenses worth of savings/investments on deck for safety.

I believe it. No matter how many times I look at it and the financials tell me to invest instead, I believe in the peace-of-mind power of a mortgage-free existence.

[JD_]

Midway through 2015, we got it down to $144k.  Our goal for 2015 was to cut it to $128k by year end.  Now aiming for $120k!

-JD

[asauer]

Woohoo!  Down to 124,600!  This marks our half way point through the mortgage.  All down hill from here!

[Farmgirl]

20 payments left.  I can't wait.  The game changes seriously for us after that.

[Alfred J Quack]

Pay week!  Down to 65.3k.

61k at time of this post.

Now at a little over 50k.  Wife is a teacher and gets a lump sum check at the end of the school year.  Put all of it into mortage.

Right now I'm ahead of schedule.  This is way easier than I thought it would be so far.

Wow, you're going quite fast, nearly 15k in a few monts 0_0;

Ours is doing well too, got a tax return and made some smaller payments so we're down to just under 33k. 4.5k to go this year which should be easy!

[hdatontodo]

[January] $99K mortgage balance...

July 7, $27K left. 6 more payments from Aug->Jan. I hope my job holds out.

[Fiveyearclub]

Hi.  SW engineer here.  Income $140k.  $106k left on a 10 year fixed on $117k.  Property worth $350k.  Originally purchased in 2009, 30 year fixed on $122k.  What a waste!  Refinanced in 2014.  I want to start a business, so I want to minimize living expenses.  Really difficult in San Jose, CA.  Instead of thinking about my life as arbitraged percentages, I just want to maximize my chance of success to start a business that allows me to make more money than the stock market could ever return.  I will always need a place to live, so might as well get it out of the way now.

Instead of paying the mortgage directly, I think I will just pile up money over the next 18 months, just in case I end up moving for some unknown reason... Job change, whatever.  With a monthly principal portion around $850 in theory I will be putting around $5700 total toward the mortgage.  I will also be selling from my hoard of collectibles, worth $50k-$100k to accelerate the process.  $2000 a month and I finish in 12 months.  I have spent a lot of money... But at least it was on physical items I can resell.

I have around $35k in investments outside retirement for safety. I think I can finish this before the end of 2016 as long as I sell enough stuff.  It's kind of a bummer to be doing this alone, but I guess it has freedom also. 

I'll be 31 when this finishes.  Houses here are $750k or more, and my net worth will be only around $450k including the $350k condo.  Too high a percentage in real estate!  I've really had to change my expectations about what having a family will eventually be like.  3 people in 784 sq. ft.  Just have to keep reminding myself that it would be normal in Hong Kong.

I've really changed my life a lot in the last 18 months.  Attached is a graph showing how I paid off my debt and then started saving like crazy.  My name is five year club because I think a comprehensive, meaningful program can be developed to help people completely change their money and happiness situation in about 5 years.  1 is too short and 20 is too long.  I'm 1.5 years in, and so far it's kicking ass!  It's more fun to do it with other people...

[plainjane]

And we're under 30k, 1 year left in the term (our second 5 year term), just over 1 year left on amortization.  We're doing some extensive exterior work on the house in August so we have a decent contingency fund set aside if something horrible is found (the house is a century old, so it's best to assume something will be found).  If that goes smoothly, we'll throw the contingency at the mortgage and be done that much sooner. 

[Comar]

I'm joining in.

I have a house in Iceland. Bought it for 123k dollars (16.5 million icelandic crowns) in 2012. Started making extra payments early last year and am now down to 88.4k dollars. Currently I throw about 560 dollars at it each month. I have also thrown some extra cash at the mortage, such as tax repayments and such.

From the start I have used the strategy of adding to the payments each month. Each downpayment reduces the monthly mortage payment so for the next downpayment I have added the extra dollars the mortage payment has been reduced. Call it a snowball strategy?

My goal is to KO the mortage in 5 years. I'm turning 30 this month and want it finished before I turn 35.

[frizzywhiskers]

Halfway through 2015 update:

Starting mortgage = $435,000, 5 year term @ 3.26% (starting Sept. 30, 2013)
Goal = Full Mortgage Payoff by end of 5 year term (Sept. 30, 2018)

Progress:
- Mortgage amount as of December 25, 2014:  $380,819
- Mortgage amount as of April 2, 2015: $359,144
- Mortgage amount as of July 9, 2015: $324,055

We are hammering this baby down!  We are on track for a balance of about $285,000 by year end if all goes as planned and pushing hard for a Sept. 2018 finish.  We've paid off over $110,000 since we started in 2013, while continuing to invest for retirement - whoot!!

[PharmaStache]

Hi!  We are not paying off our mortgage super aggressively, but still want to pay it off early.

2009: 165k
2014: 110k
2015: 90k
2019: Goal to be at 0 (to coincide with our current 5 year term ending)

[Bee21]

Newbie here- I'm totally in! The plan is to pay off the last 25k by the end of the year and be mortgage free. I live w a very non-mustachian Husband and paying off the mortgage early is the only investment decision I managed to persuade him to make.