After mindlessly paying on a mortgage month after month, year after year, in August 2018, I wrote my first blogpost “Merry Christmas 2024!” about a plan to pay off the mortgage early. I commenced extra mortgage payments in January 2019 and posted about it: “Mortgage Free“. There were a few hiccups along the way, but momentum grew. I finished the journey ahead of schedule on October 21st, 2021: Mortgage Free. Tetelestai!
During my journey, I followed the mortgage-free treks of others online. Some were still on their way, some had fallen off the trail, and others had made it to the mountain top. For those who made it, I enjoyed reading or listening to their reflections on being mortgage free. Most were jubilant. Some pointed out minor downsides such as the ironic credit score drop that follows the last mortgage payment. A few shared that being mortgage-free did not turn out to be all they thought it would be.
What is my primary take away after being mortgage free for one year?
Let me tell you a short story. I volunteered to pull weeds at Himmel Park one morning. A gentleman pulling weeds along side me shared that he was retired. He half-joked that he didn’t know how he ever had time to work. My fellow weed picker explained now that he was retired, he was busier than ever volunteering, working on projects, enjoying hobbies, and traveling. He had no time for a job!
Along similar lines my reflection on being mortgage free is that I don’t know how I ever afforded a mortgage! Looking back on twelve months of being mortgage free, I find several categories where I spent more than I spent on a typical year’s worth of mortgage payments (in no particular order):
- Home maintenance and improvements
- Summer vacation
- Education (wife’s graduate school and son’s high school)
- Investing in the markets
With those spend categories and the plethora of life’s other expenses, I don’t know where a mortgage would fit.
Good thing I don’t have one.
With Love,
P. Gustav Mueller, author of The Present
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