Congratulations!!!!!!!! That is a big deal.
Also finances ruin friendships unfortunately, the further success ive found in life the more frustrated ive been that their are so few people you can truly share those successes with and it not be met with judgment.
I completely agree. I witnessed this first hand shortly after the wife and I got married and one day decided we wanted to start putting money away for a home of our own rather than renting. We had to start saying "no" to some of the things our friends were doing and prioritizing our time and money. Friendships faded and we quit getting calls to do things, then even moreso when we started saving for a detached shop after getting all of the hospital bills paid off from our son's birth.
Then years later after being settled into our home and me and my wife starting our side business and working a lot of hours the friendships we had made more recent also began to fade. As people were advancing in their careers and allowing lifestyle inflation to settle in with new cars, RV's, boats, new homes, etc. we stayed where we were and paid our home off by the age of 37.
We were at a neighborhood block party and people were talking about their new cars or vacation homes and when asked what we were doing as we were still driving our 15+ year old vehicles and what I thought was a nice life, I just mentioned we were stockpiling money and had just paid our home off. I think that was a mistake because friendships didn't just fade, they were fractured at that point for some reason. People didn't like that, not sure why, maybe because it made them take a closer look at their own choices, who knows.
But I learned very quickly there are three things you simply don't talk about with anyone other than your spouse; you're love life, your finances and your next move. Those things are simply no one's business.
Thanks Mike!
I agree that the low interest makes it easier to go back to paying a mortgage loan. But it's not quite the same as no loan. Being 43 currently I got a little while before we retire, so the plans are to save and build on the current home as it's our "home base" as I call it for now. I'm told this is the forever home, but I question that currently. We will see what the future holds.
Cody, I think this being our forever home was the ONLY reason I allowed myself to go back in debt. I thought at 48 years old there is no way in hell I'd go back to a mortgage, but I swallowed my pride and signed on the dotted line. The wife and I did our usual "pro's & con's" list as well as prayed about it before and now looking back it was the best decision we made. Our portfolio was still able to be funded and will net us a nice retirement as well as still allow us to get out of the rat race a bit earlier than most, although not quite as early as we had originally planned.
That being said, I don't think I would be happy at our last home as the neighborhood was deteriorating at a terrible rate and I could feel my blood pressure rise each and every day driving into our subdivision. People moving in just didn't care and those that remained started caring less and less about their properties and everything else associated with what the neighborhood used to be. Best decision for our health and wealth was to get the hell out.
