When Will You Celebrate "D-Day" (Debt-Free Day)?

[CountDeMoney]

Let's see should be debt free by Nov of 2013, but then thinking i need a new car as of 4 cars have the newest is 1993

You still driving that little 4 cylinder hoopdie you brought to Pennsylvania that one time?

[Caliga]

buying REITs

Good plan.

[Malthus]

Malthus: FU.

I'll have you know that as the smoke of burning mortgage documents wafts unto heaven ... I'll be thinking of you. 

[garbon]

Car is paid off, flat is rented (bubble and all that) and I never buy on credit.

I think I buy almost everything on credit. I like my reward points/cashback.

Ditto; I use either my Amazon or Discover card to buy everything and just pay it off at the end of the month.

Yep. Never carry a balance so it is a win-win.

[DGuller]

I can see how for people near retirement age being debt free can be a good thing, but for people in their twenties it usually means they either have very rich parents or are lazy layabouts who have accomplished nothing.

That's an idiotic attitude that fuels debt bubbles.  Debt is dangerous, and individuals are not limited liability corporations.  They have utility curves, and they can't tolerate bankruptcy well.  If I were 100% richer, my life wouldn't be materially different, but it sure as hell would be materially different if I were 100% poorer.  It doesn't mean that you shouldn't ever take on debt, but it does mean that you should approach the decision on take on debt very carefully.

[Malthus]

Yep. Never carry a balance so it is a win-win.

My opinion exactly.

Credit cards as ways to accumulate points & perks = good.

Credit cards as a way to borrow money at very high interest rates = bad.

[Brazen]

I'm scheduled to pay off my mortgage when I'm 65, the year I retire

I stand to inherit the best part of a house sometime before then which should improve my prospects somewhat.

My ex and I found we could pay off our mortgage with our endowment shortly before we went our separate ways and split the value of the house, d'oh!

I got an interest-free credit card as a way to buy a laptop and TV on free instalments, but I seem to have forgotten I was broke and put more on it so I won't have paid it off by the time the interest-free period is up, so I'll need to get another deal and transfer the balance.

I keep telling the youths I work with to get credit cards. Even if they only put one thing a month, like a grocery shop, then pay it back it's the only way they'll get a credit rating and get a mortgage.

[Valmy]

Credit cards are super dangerous for me.  I just spend more when I have them and especially tempting when unexpected expenses pop up.  I can see how the super disciplined out there can manage them but NEVER AGAIN.

[garbon]

I keep telling the youths I work with to get credit cards. Even if they only put one thing a month, like a grocery shop, then pay it back it's the only way they'll get a credit rating and get a mortgage.

My mother had us get credit cards as soon as we could for that purpose.

[Berkut]

We are making progress.

Re-financed a couple years ago at 4.375% for 15 years, house will be paid of in 9.5 years at the current payment rate.

Just paid off the wifes car loan. Still have my car loan, and my student loan.

Money that was going towards the wife's car payment will now be moved to the student loan payment.

Should be debt free when the house is paid off.

[Iormlund]

I can see how for people near retirement age being debt free can be a good thing, but for people in their twenties it usually means they either have very rich parents or are lazy layabouts who have accomplished nothing.

I can't tell you how many thirty-somethings I know who are enslaved to their mortgages right now, after following that same logic.

[Malthus]

I can see how for people near retirement age being debt free can be a good thing, but for people in their twenties it usually means they either have very rich parents or are lazy layabouts who have accomplished nothing.

I can't tell you how many thirty-somethings I know who are enslaved to their mortgages right now, after following that same logic.

Being enslaved to a mortgage has one upside - it can work as a sort of forced savings, making your average spendthrift young adult save money they would, if left to themselves, blow. I know lots of happy thirty-somethings with no mortgage who live paycheque to paycheque and find themselves 40-somethings without any savings. They could have taken all that cash they saved by not having a mortgage and saved it in another form, but most people don't. 

Not that I think real estate is the best investment out there ...

[Valmy]

Being enslaved to a mortgage has one upside - it can work as a sort of forced savings, making your average spendthrift young adult save money they would, if left to themselves, blow. I know lots of happy thirty-somethings with no mortgage who live paycheque to paycheque and find themselves 40-somethings without any savings. They could have taken all that cash they saved by not having a mortgage and saved it in another form, but most people don't. 

Being enslaved to a mortgage generally means one of two things though right?

Either: A. you are way underwater because you borrowed against it OR you bought when the realestate market was high and now it crashed.

or

B. Your mortgage is such a huge percentage of your income you cannot save or meet your expenses.  So you have to borrow or live hand to mouth.

House poor as we say over here.  Also Euros do tend to save money so they may not even be getting the forced savings advantage that tends to save us hyper consuming North Americans.

[Malthus]

Being enslaved to a mortgage has one upside - it can work as a sort of forced savings, making your average spendthrift young adult save money they would, if left to themselves, blow. I know lots of happy thirty-somethings with no mortgage who live paycheque to paycheque and find themselves 40-somethings without any savings. They could have taken all that cash they saved by not having a mortgage and saved it in another form, but most people don't. 

Being enslaved to a mortgage generally means one of two things though right?

Either: A. you are way underwater because you borrowed against it OR you bought when the realestate market was high and now it crashed.

or

B. Your mortgage is such a huge percentage of your income you cannot save or meet your expenses.  So you have to borrow or live hand to mouth.

House poor as we say over here.  Also Euros do tend to save money so they may not even be getting the forced savings advantage that tends to save us hyper consuming North Americans.

Well, there is certainly *never* any reason to borrow more than you can afford. The "real estate market crashed" only matters if you plan on reselling in the near future.

I took "enslaved" to mean more simply that they have to work to pay the mortgage.

[Ed Anger]

Poors.