We recently have become mortgage-free! I have been reflecting, planning and honestly enjoying life just a bit more. Now that we are debt-free, I have started to dream and plan our next financial goals. A goal that would hopefully take us the next 10 years to achieve.
Reflecting on our mortgage-free journey
We were able to pay off our mortgage early due to intentional planning. It was our goal to be debt-free as soon as possible. We threw all of our extra money at the mortgage, but we still made everything else balance.
How We Paid Off our Mortage in Less than 10 Years
Over the past 10 years, we put money towards our RRSPs and the kids’ RESPs, bought a van and had our basement developed. We didn’t take very many vacations and that was okay since the kids were still quite young. Money was saved by eating at home and bringing our lunches to work. We took some gains from investing in the stock market to pay for some of our expenses.
The pandemic gave us the opportunity to save even more money. My husband had to work from home and thus we didn’t have to pay extra for childcare and saved gas money. We didn’t take any vacations at all during the pandemic.
Having a budget to guide us definitely made it possible for us to become debt-free.
We feel relieved, proud, and excited. It’s that feeling when you have achieved a goal that you have been working on for so long.
Planning for the future
Okay, this may sound a bit odd, but I had fun revising our budget since we no longer have a mortgage payment.
We started to figure out what financial goals we wanted to achieve over the next 10 years. I gave ourselves a slightly higher spending allowance for personal spending and started saving up for a new car and for vacations. We definitely increased our savings for retirement. We will continue to use a budget to guide our savings and spending.
Being debt-free opened up the door to plan for financial independence (FI). I’m starting to learn and plan for this new journey! It’s kind of exciting. I am learning from the others who have walked this path. Grant Sabatier, Peter Adeney (Mr. Money Moustache), Kristy Shen and Bryce Leung, and Brandon (Mad Fientist) are a few who have inspired me.
So far the biggest takeaway is that people can retire early (’30-’40s), but you need to take time to also enjoy life and the journey towards FI. We are no longer in our 30’s, but I certainly don’t plan on working till I am 65.
To me, financial independence is working at a job because we want to work and not because we have to work. The possibilities that financial independence offers seem amazing.
Lifestyle Design
My kids are growing up very quickly and I am grateful that we don’t have a debt to hold us back. We want to spend money on experiences with our kids such as their extra-curricular activities and travelling. I feel that we can slow down from the daily grind and hustle and enjoy life a bit more. I look forward to figuring out how to “retire early” and enjoy our lives to the fullest.
We have been mortgage-free for almost half a year now. I’ve taken the time to reflect on our debt-free journey. I’m happy to say that it’s more fun to plan our future with “early retirement” on the map!
不知道说啥,开心快乐每一天吧!
人生不如意十之八九,开心最重要!