Tuesday, June 28, 2016

I Paid Off My Mortgage!!

On August 18, 2015, I had made two big decisions: to pay off my mortgage as quickly as possible and to contribute $3,000 per year to my Roth IRA account.  On that same day, I also set a goal to pay off my mortgage by the end of 2019.  It has now been a little under a year and I have done it!  I have officially paid off my mortgage today!  I can't even describe how wonderful the feeling is... it's like this weight has been lifted off my shoulders.  I feel this sense of freedom and joy I never imagined I would feel.  I now can sleep better knowing that if something were to happen to me or I were to lose my job (God forbid), at least my family would have a roof over their head.

When you're the sole breadwinner, there's always the fear of losing your job because you never know how long it might take for you to find another job.  And while you're searching for a new job, there's this daily pressure of making sure you have enough money to cover your bills.  Now that this debt is gone, the worry of losing my job is nowhere near as great as before.  Thank and praise the Lord for enabling me to pay off my mortgage much quicker than I imagined.  Words cannot express how great I feel today.

Now that I have paid off my mortgage, I have depleted pretty much all my cash so I'll have to rebuild it up to a decent amount in case of emergencies.  Once I have done that, I will begin aggressively investing in dividend growth stocks (I'm so pumped about this).  The other good news is that even though I told myself I would invest only $3,000 to my Roth IRA on August 18, 2015, I still ended up contributing the maximum $5,500 to my Roth IRA for the 2015 tax year.  And now that I have paid off my mortgage, I plan on maxing out my Roth IRA and my spouse's Roth IRA every year, beginning with this tax year (assuming I will have saved enough money for the emergency fund and still have $11,000 leftover to invest).

In any case, I'm so happy to be debt free and to have my mortgage paid off much earlier than I expected!  I'm also really excited about the future when I can commence investing hardcore in dividend growth stocks.  Looking back, I'm so glad I made the decision to aggressively pay off my mortgage as soon as possible.

6 comments:

  1. Good move, I have been doing the same thing myself. I haven't set any goal but I figure I can do it in the next few years. Technically I could do it now since I only owe about $23,000 after paying down another $3500 in principal last weekend but I don't want to tap my savings. I figure with the interest rate I have @ 5.375% that paying it down is just as good as getting a 5.375% dividend yield except there's zero risk involved. I can't wait to have that burden lifted off my back. Thanks for the update.

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    1. Hi Captain Dividend,

      I agree with you that paying down your mortgage with a 5.375% interest rate is the same as getting a 5.375% dividend yield with no risk involved. And a stable 5.375% dividend yield is difficult to come by. When you finally pay off your mortgage, the feeling of owning your home free and clear is wonderful. Based on your accelerated principal payment of $3,500, you should be done within a year.

      Thanks for stopping by and commenting.

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  2. Completely awesome goal achieved. I'm also in the pay it off early camp. May God bless you and your family!

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    1. Hi Anonymous,

      Thank you! It was such a great feeling making that last and final payment.

      I'm also glad to know another person who is in the pay it off early camp. Best of luck to you in paying it off as soon as you can! God bless!

      Thanks for stopping by and commenting.

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  3. Great Job Brother.

    Paying off your mortgage is such a huge accomplishment. I work in the construction industry and many of my colleagues carry their mortgage into retirement. I can't imagine the stress of doing that.

    Like you said, you no longer have to fear about a disruption in your income and loosing your families dwelling place. Awesome.

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    1. Hi Steve Divi,

      Paying off my mortgage early is a decision that I'm thankful I made since it has greatly lifted a burden off my shoulders, especially since I am the sole breadwinner in the family. I completely agree with you; I can't imagine the stress of carrying a mortgage into retirement.

      Thanks for stopping by and commenting.

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