s/o debt poll

[♥ms.pacman♥]

just mortgage plus one of our cars (the Ody)..the other car was paid for up front. no student loans..i had almost none and DH was adamant about paying his off before buying a car.

it's hard to compare debt amounts though...not all debt is "bad" like CC debt (high interest). as i mentioned in another thread, if you have some debt (like mortgage or car payment) and the interest rate is really low, it may actually be better to keep that and use the money to invest (401k, college fund) instead of paying that off right away, because you can likely make more money in the long run.

[hellokitty]

Just our mortgage and I got a new (used) honda ody a couple months ago that is financed through a low rate.

[echoesofspring]

Just a mortgage we're paying down as quick as possible (minus keeping a healthy emergency fund). I know that runs counter to a lot of thinking these days, that money is "free" right now and you can invest, etc. But it's not free, the price is risk, and both DH and I are really risk adverse, at least when it comes to debt. I like knowing that if something terrible happened health wise or with the economy we could get by for a long time on way reduced or next to no income.

The other day I found myself looking at some depression era photos for a project. They made me so sad, wondering if that's where we're headed in the near future. I hope not, but I want to be prepared if we are. DH read somewhere that one of the best ways to be prepared is to be prepared to not have work. I think the thing that saved my family during the depression was that even if they couldn't sell what they were growing (nobody was buying), at least their farms were paid for.

[kozachka]

Our mortgage is more than 80% paid off, and we could pay it down even further, and even pay it off entirely, but we prefer to have a very large liquid position in case of an emergency or as a down payment for a new house or to buy a new car. We are renting the house out, and renting ourselves, plus our rate is very low, so there is no compelling reason for us to pay off our loan.

[kijip]

We owe on the house. Which should be paid off sometime in our early to mid 40s. We have no other debt, unless you count the $155 I pay the orthodontist each month for another 18 months for the metal mouth I am living with. It is interest free and the downpayment plus 20 month plan was the same price as the pay in full at the beginning.

[niccig]

We have car and mortgage but in 4 months the car will be paid for..then just mortgage. We would love to refi, but don't have enough equity in the house. Money is tighter as I'm back in school, so we have that tuition payment + DS's tuition. We hope to not take out loans for my schooling, but we may look at that if it means we can put that money to refi the house. When I'm done and working, we should be able to quickly recoup what we've put in to schooling for me, as it pays better than my old job did, and it's possible to take on extra hours when need to have more money.

Hopefully, in 3 years we'll be in better spot.

[crl]

Just a mortgage we're paying down as quick as possible (minus keeping a healthy emergency fund). I know that runs counter to a lot of thinking these days, that money is "free" right now and you can invest, etc. But it's not free, the price is risk, and both DH and I are really risk adverse, at least when it comes to debt. I like knowing that if something terrible happened health wise or with the economy we could get by for a long time on way reduced or next to no income.

The other day I found myself looking at some depression era photos for a project. They made me so sad, wondering if that's where we're headed in the near future. I hope not, but I want to be prepared if we are. DH read somewhere that one of the best ways to be prepared is to be prepared to not have work. I think the thing that saved my family during the depression was that even if they couldn't sell what they were growing (nobody was buying), at least their farms were paid for.

I can definitely see this point of view. For us, if we buy in CA (state laws vary on this) and are careful about how we finance we can turn the keys over to the bank and walk away if necessary. They would not be able to come after us for any other money. So our worst case planning includes the possibility of walking away from a house to live with relatives (both sets of parents have large, paid for houses in other parts of the country) or pursue a job elsewhere and having the cash to do that. Cash is a lot more portable than a house.

Catherine
Catherine

[niccig]

Cash is a lot more portable than a house.

I've seen this with older friends around retirement age that got laid off or salary significantly cut. They have a lot of equity in their homes, even in this housing market, but can't get it out of their house. The lesson they both have told us is to spend some money on the house, eg. we will need to do our kitchen at some point, but keep in mind if some of that money will be better put elsewhere, so do less to the house. I think of this when I consider how soon to get rid of the mortgage.

I too would like to have no mortgage, but I would only be comfortable putting more into it, if I already have lots of money in other baskets too. I think Dave Ramsey is the pay off mortgage after fully funded retirement? I think we'll get there on the house, but we need me to finish school, then use that extra money to amp up the other savings, and then turn attention to the house.

We're in position of needing to put more money into house to refi..it does scare me to keep putting extra in as our cushion is less (we do have emergency fund, but all extra is to mortgage and not other savings), but when we crunch the numbers it's better long term if we can drop our rate, but I do worry if we'll need that extra cash in short-term, and it'll be stuck in the house with no access to it. I still waiver on the risks of this.

[joules]

We're in position of needing to put more money into house to refi..it does scare me to keep putting extra in as our cushion is less (we do have emergency fund, but all extra is to mortgage and not other savings), but when we crunch the numbers it's better long term if we can drop our rate, but I do worry if we'll need that extra cash in short-term, and it'll be stuck in the house with no access to it. I still waiver on the risks of this.

This is our situation too. Our payments will be almost $100 less each month....but this is because of all the money we're putting in to refi. It was a really hard decision to make. I'm hoping it's the right decision.

[elephantmeg]

mortgage for about 120K