Paid Off 2 Years Early: 100% Debt Free!

Congrats, good job!

 

Congrats to you!
My '02 Tundra helped me get debt free, paid it off in 3.5 years and drove the snot out of it for 13.5 more years without payments. Saved for my current truck the whole time, and paid it off in 11 months because I kept that 02 for what felt like forever. Don't get distracted by the shiny, as long as it's reliable, keep it and do the maintenance, you will save a bundle. I was able to pay off what credit card debt I had and now I pay cash and have even built up an emergency slush fund. Thank you my 02 Tundra. In 15~20 years maybe I will buy a new one, if I am lucky enough to still be vertical. If you look at what living on credit cards does, it's basically paying double for everything by the time you pay off the debt, which many people can't do because the interest just keeps piling up. Debt is the monster that eats your future.

 

Congrats on payoff and I’m a firm believer in Dave Ramsey.

 

The great thing about a tundra is by the time it’s paid off it’s just about broken in.

 

Dave Ramsey puts out some good info. Now to invest the extra money that you don't have to use to pay off debts. It adds up fast.

 

Man, congratulations to you and your family!

 

Love it! Well done!

 

Congrats! It's a great feeling.

 

Congrats! We started working the Dave Ramsey steps a while back and got everything paid off (except house) about a year and a half ago, which just happened to be in the nick of time for when things got ugly during the Covid layoffs and shut downs. Not stressing about the bills made it way easier to navigate through.

 

Congrats OP! Ramsey is the way to go if you're in debt. We're teaching our kids to save up for all their stuff as well (eg. first vehicle.)

But once you have money in the bank you'll probably want to borrow again. My taxable account made about 20% profit last year, I'd be crazy to pull "cash" out to pay for a truck when I can borrow the money for 2%. Same with my house, I'd be nuts to pay it off early when it's at 2.5%.

 

Good for you! Drive it for the next decade and stay debt free. Very smart.

 

… and as an aside to this opening thread, I didn’t mean to come across as a proud d*** who’s advertising that he paid off debt (I am proud, but I’m not advertising it because of that). I wanted to maybe encourage someone else who may think they’re can’t do likewise because… they most certainly can. I can say this much (without getting political) as an active-duty military officer that our country is nearing the precipice of a colossal world of hurt. It would behoove everyone to position themselves as best they can financially, even if it means selling assets off. Okay, end of rant (other than to attach something I put on a board in my office this morning—setting it as the photo to this post)

 

To the last post.

Corporate (publicly traded) finance and National finance don’t work the same way as personal finance.

Personal there is a horizon at retirement unless you plan to work til you die and have a bankrupt estate. So in this case being debt free is key to a secure retirement.

A large publicly traded company or a country doesn’t have that same horizon. As long as the debt can be serviced and rolled over it can be sustained essentially forever. Now if over the long term the interest payments grow faster than revenues you have a problem.

In our county’s case as long as GDP grows faster than debt service over the long run the debt isn’t an issue. And at a time of historically low interest rates borrowing big right now isn’t as much of a problem as it may seem for the worlds largest economy. In major downturns such as covid one could actually argue that not spending enough could actually make you worse off in the long run. Some economist theorize that that is why the 2008 crash was so painful for so long. The spend to get out was not big enough and as a result the economy struggled to recover the jobs quickly and we just lumbered along. Jobs means growth which means revenues to service the debt.

Applaud you for getting debt free. On a personal level it’s the most prosperous way to live for most people. Not that simple for a country like the United States

 

This is not the place for this discussion, but you are misrepresenting an awful lot of details.

 

Please leverage yourself as much as possible, please buy new cars and trucks and houses and vacations. Please continue with sheep mentality that everyone has debt and that's the way it is. I love the 30% plus annual returns in QQQ. I made more money last year than I did my first 12 years of employment as an engineer in the well compensated petrochemical industry. Oh I don't carry any debt but I want you to (how the rich get richer). I live in the same house I bought in 1998 and drive a 19 year old Lexus everyday. So where am I today, absolutely tired of living in a mouse house with zero room for my toys, lol.

In all seriousness you can own allot of things which cost nothing in the end to own if you know what to buy. Between 2015 and 2021 I have purchased and sold over 12 dirtbikes, jet skis, atv's. I owned them all for free, sold for more than I paid for them and got free use (100's of hours). The key is knowing how to work on stuff yourself!!. Owned 3 Superformance Cobra's. Great toys they only go up in value. Made $5-$10K on each one I owned and truth be told today they are all worth $10K more than I sold them for! If you want to know what its like to be a movie star buy one, people will not leave you alone while you are driving them, they can be violent beast though. Another commodity is Rolex Submariner's. Paid $3500 for a used one back in 2009. Just sold for $7400. Wanted a new Submariner with MSRP of $8500 but supply is so whacked they are $11K, simple answer, I am not buying one right now, I will wait 2 years and when things level off I will pick one up.

As I have turned into a grumpy old man I have learned the following if you don't own it, it can't cause you problems. Some boats are to big. The worst looking cars are usually the most reliable. Nothing like having your house paid off. You can never have to much money. Without health you have nothing.

Exceptional effort on paying off debt, now keep it that way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Except for our Tundras of course!

 

I'm curious, you said tundra and $73K ??
Did you buy a Tundra or a Land Cruiser?
And what was 73K on it, I haven't seen a tundra in 2021 with that price tag.

 

“truck and stupid”

truck and other stuff to total $73K.

 

Congrats!!! Imagine how much money you freed up every month from here on out. This is why I drive a paid for 08 instead of a newer model with a loan.

 

Just made my last payment on the Tundra today....

In addition, made call to the bank to initiate a recast on my mortgage, as I have been making additional principal payments every month.
Plan is to make the same same payments or slightly more with the goal of this going towards the principal.

To be debt free....

 

outstanding—crush it!

 

Congratulations it’s a great feeling I was happy when I paid mine off. Don’t pay money for any of his services or any other financial adviser, the process to being debt free is so simple there’s no secret formula. Just don’t spend more than you make and don’t get into more debt, pay off smaller debts first and have a good savings account.

 

Key to accumulating wealth is don't make others wealthy. Shop car insurance and home owners every single year. Protest property taxes every single year. Switch companies. Do you own repairs. If you are smart enough to participate on this forum you are smart enough to research your own plumbing, paint, flooring issues. Never forget time plumber quoted me $1600 on a job, he said it would take a couple hours. I was like $800/hr, I happy to take 16 hours at $100 hour. In the end took me 9 hours. Lexus wanted $500 for transmission solenoid said installation would be another $500. Found one at pick a part for $10 and did install in 1 hour and $75 in trans fluid and filter. I can go on and on and on............

 

It amazes me people will put up their own fence (back breaking work) to save $500. Thats cool. I can save $500 sitting in a chair calling different insurance companies.