How much debt you have? Mortgage and student loans included.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:800k mortgage on a 1.4 house. Nothing else.

Nothing else, says the person almost a million dollars in debt!

they didn't say anything about their total net worth, even setting aside the equity in the house which more than covers their debt. You do understand how 800k in unsecured debt (credit cards, student loans) is very different than a loan on an asset where they still have more than 40% equity?

I've got a 1.2 mortgage on a 2.2M house at a 2.5% rate, no other debt. Plenty of assets elsewhere. and to answer someone else's question, PITI is 7100.

This. We have $700k in mortgage debt, on a house worth about $1.3m (or something like that, it may be more, prices are going nuts these days), at 2.625% interest, and no other debt. I have no intention of paying it off before retirement, or even after I retire, at that rate. I suppose we could have prioritized paying it off, but that would have been supremely ill-advised, both in the abstract and as life turned out - we need the greater liquidity to pay for some costly medical treatments and therapies.

The anti-debt evangelicals are just so myopic.

We paid off our house and it’s freeing so we can pay for other thing like medical. The difference is living under our means. Our house is ver small and under $400k, yours is worth three times what ours is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do people have such low mortgage balances in the DC area? Are the people responding people who have owned their homes 20+ years?

I think this thread is getting more responses from people pleased with their lack of debt.

Like me! Zero. Paid off mortgage on $1m property by age 35, paid off $75k student loans by age 27.

I value a debt-minimal life because it allows us to be able to afford private school comfortably on a 250k HHI, as well as decent travel a few times per year. We pay cash for vehicles.

Nothing to be proud of. You poured money into an illiquid vehicle that was likely to appreciate anyway and you could take out extremely cheap debt to cover, missing out on putting all that extra free cash flow into the stock market, which has had a massively historic run up, nearly doubling. You’d have enough cash in the market now to more than pay your house note and would be sitting on - 2.5%-3% rate.

You lost millions in net worth. But at least you can brag about being debt free!

You are probably from family money.

I grew up very, very poor with a lot of insecurity in my life. I now never have to worry about money again. I literally never think about it. It automatically transfers into different accounts and savings vehicles, and I spend what I want, which is modest.

It has been incredibly freeing. I spend my time with my family and friends instead of worrying about managing investment property/funds. It’s wonderful.

[Anonymous]

500K house and about 6K car.

[Anonymous]

Zero. Paid off mortgage a couple years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:800k mortgage on a 1.4 house. Nothing else.

Nothing else, says the person almost a million dollars in debt!

they didn't say anything about their total net worth, even setting aside the equity in the house which more than covers their debt. You do understand how 800k in unsecured debt (credit cards, student loans) is very different than a loan on an asset where they still have more than 40% equity?

I've got a 1.2 mortgage on a 2.2M house at a 2.5% rate, no other debt. Plenty of assets elsewhere. and to answer someone else's question, PITI is 7100.

This. We have $700k in mortgage debt, on a house worth about $1.3m (or something like that, it may be more, prices are going nuts these days), at 2.625% interest, and no other debt. I have no intention of paying it off before retirement, or even after I retire, at that rate. I suppose we could have prioritized paying it off, but that would have been supremely ill-advised, both in the abstract and as life turned out - we need the greater liquidity to pay for some costly medical treatments and therapies.

The anti-debt evangelicals are just so myopic.

We paid off our house and it’s freeing so we can pay for other thing like medical. The difference is living under our means. Our house is ver small and under $400k, yours is worth three times what ours is.

Not in the DC area, huh?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:800k mortgage on a 1.4 house. Nothing else.

Nothing else, says the person almost a million dollars in debt!

they didn't say anything about their total net worth, even setting aside the equity in the house which more than covers their debt. You do understand how 800k in unsecured debt (credit cards, student loans) is very different than a loan on an asset where they still have more than 40% equity?

I've got a 1.2 mortgage on a 2.2M house at a 2.5% rate, no other debt. Plenty of assets elsewhere. and to answer someone else's question, PITI is 7100.

This. We have $700k in mortgage debt, on a house worth about $1.3m (or something like that, it may be more, prices are going nuts these days), at 2.625% interest, and no other debt. I have no intention of paying it off before retirement, or even after I retire, at that rate. I suppose we could have prioritized paying it off, but that would have been supremely ill-advised, both in the abstract and as life turned out - we need the greater liquidity to pay for some costly medical treatments and therapies.

The anti-debt evangelicals are just so myopic.

We paid off our house and it’s freeing so we can pay for other thing like medical. The difference is living under our means. Our house is ver small and under $400k, yours is worth three times what ours is.

Not in the DC area, huh?

I don’t know where that poster lives but you can find fixer-uppers in my Silver Spring neighborhood for $400-450k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do people have such low mortgage balances in the DC area? Are the people responding people who have owned their homes 20+ years?

I think this thread is getting more responses from people pleased with their lack of debt.

Like me! Zero. Paid off mortgage on $1m property by age 35, paid off $75k student loans by age 27.

I value a debt-minimal life because it allows us to be able to afford private school comfortably on a 250k HHI, as well as decent travel a few times per year. We pay cash for vehicles.

Nothing to be proud of. You poured money into an illiquid vehicle that was likely to appreciate anyway and you could take out extremely cheap debt to cover, missing out on putting all that extra free cash flow into the stock market, which has had a massively historic run up, nearly doubling. You’d have enough cash in the market now to more than pay your house note and would be sitting on - 2.5%-3% rate.

You lost millions in net worth. But at least you can brag about being debt free!

You are probably from family money.

I grew up very, very poor with a lot of insecurity in my life. I now never have to worry about money again. I literally never think about it. It automatically transfers into different accounts and savings vehicles, and I spend what I want, which is modest.

It has been incredibly freeing. I spend my time with my family and friends instead of worrying about managing investment property/funds. It’s wonderful.

You know why I came from family money? Because my parents, grandparents, and great grandparents could all build wealth by utilizing leverage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do people have such low mortgage balances in the DC area? Are the people responding people who have owned their homes 20+ years?

I think this thread is getting more responses from people pleased with their lack of debt.

Like me! Zero. Paid off mortgage on $1m property by age 35, paid off $75k student loans by age 27.

I value a debt-minimal life because it allows us to be able to afford private school comfortably on a 250k HHI, as well as decent travel a few times per year. We pay cash for vehicles.

Nothing to be proud of. You poured money into an illiquid vehicle that was likely to appreciate anyway and you could take out extremely cheap debt to cover, missing out on putting all that extra free cash flow into the stock market, which has had a massively historic run up, nearly doubling. You’d have enough cash in the market now to more than pay your house note and would be sitting on - 2.5%-3% rate.

You lost millions in net worth. But at least you can brag about being debt free!

You are probably from family money.

I grew up very, very poor with a lot of insecurity in my life. I now never have to worry about money again. I literally never think about it. It automatically transfers into different accounts and savings vehicles, and I spend what I want, which is modest.

It has been incredibly freeing. I spend my time with my family and friends instead of worrying about managing investment property/funds. It’s wonderful.

You know why I came from family money? Because my parents, grandparents, and great grandparents could all build wealth by utilizing leverage.

Leverage works both ways: it can help you get rich faster, but it can also make poor faster. If your investments don’t work out, you could go to zero there but still be left with the debt on the house.

I’ve watched every six-hour Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting going back to 1994. Buffett says over and over and over again that Berkshire Hathaway could be worth a lot more if they had used more leverage but that it wasn’t worth it. He has noted that 99% of the time you come out ahead, but 1% of the time you go bankrupt, citing as an example the 1998 implosion of Long Term Capital Management, a company that was filled with talent and even had two Nobel Prize winners on staff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do people have such low mortgage balances in the DC area? Are the people responding people who have owned their homes 20+ years?

I think this thread is getting more responses from people pleased with their lack of debt.

Like me! Zero. Paid off mortgage on $1m property by age 35, paid off $75k student loans by age 27.

I value a debt-minimal life because it allows us to be able to afford private school comfortably on a 250k HHI, as well as decent travel a few times per year. We pay cash for vehicles.

Nothing to be proud of. You poured money into an illiquid vehicle that was likely to appreciate anyway and you could take out extremely cheap debt to cover, missing out on putting all that extra free cash flow into the stock market, which has had a massively historic run up, nearly doubling. You’d have enough cash in the market now to more than pay your house note and would be sitting on - 2.5%-3% rate.

You lost millions in net worth. But at least you can brag about being debt free!

You are probably from family money.

I grew up very, very poor with a lot of insecurity in my life. I now never have to worry about money again. I literally never think about it. It automatically transfers into different accounts and savings vehicles, and I spend what I want, which is modest.

It has been incredibly freeing. I spend my time with my family and friends instead of worrying about managing investment property/funds. It’s wonderful.

You know why I came from family money? Because my parents, grandparents, and great grandparents could all build wealth by utilizing leverage.

Leverage works both ways: it can help you get rich faster, but it can also make poor faster. If your investments don’t work out, you could go to zero there but still be left with the debt on the house.

I’ve watched every six-hour Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting going back to 1994. Buffett says over and over and over again that Berkshire Hathaway could be worth a lot more if they had used more leverage but that it wasn’t worth it. He has noted that 99% of the time you come out ahead, but 1% of the time you go bankrupt, citing as an example the 1998 implosion of Long Term Capital Management, a company that was filled with talent and even had two Nobel Prize winners on staff.

Cool story. We are talking about using leverage to buy, primarily, a residence. Not a company.

Besides, on average, Berkshire leverages up to about 60% through its insurance businesses.

Buffett isn’t a financial genius because he made all this money without leverage, he’s a genius because he used insurance policies to borrow money at well below market rates while being better than the rest of the industry and risk mitigation (for example, they would have lost their shirt if they were as bad at insurance as AIG).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do people have such low mortgage balances in the DC area? Are the people responding people who have owned their homes 20+ years?

I think this thread is getting more responses from people pleased with their lack of debt.

Like me! Zero. Paid off mortgage on $1m property by age 35, paid off $75k student loans by age 27.

I value a debt-minimal life because it allows us to be able to afford private school comfortably on a 250k HHI, as well as decent travel a few times per year. We pay cash for vehicles.

Nothing to be proud of. You poured money into an illiquid vehicle that was likely to appreciate anyway and you could take out extremely cheap debt to cover, missing out on putting all that extra free cash flow into the stock market, which has had a massively historic run up, nearly doubling. You’d have enough cash in the market now to more than pay your house note and would be sitting on - 2.5%-3% rate.

You lost millions in net worth. But at least you can brag about being debt free!

You are probably from family money.

I grew up very, very poor with a lot of insecurity in my life. I now never have to worry about money again. I literally never think about it. It automatically transfers into different accounts and savings vehicles, and I spend what I want, which is modest.

It has been incredibly freeing. I spend my time with my family and friends instead of worrying about managing investment property/funds. It’s wonderful.

You know why I came from family money? Because my parents, grandparents, and great grandparents could all build wealth by utilizing leverage.

I don’t even want that kind of wealth. I don’t want my kids to value wealth above all else. I want them to value education, friendships, and strong values. They have everything they need and some things they want. That is enough.

[Anonymous]

Zero. Early 60s and looking at retirement in a few years. Definitely risk averse so prefer carrying no debt at this time of our lives. House, student loans and cars all paid off. No family money, no inheritances coming that we know of.

[Anonymous]

$590K of a $1.4M house. No other debt.

[Anonymous]

About 650K debt on a 1M mortgage.

41.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do people have such low mortgage balances in the DC area? Are the people responding people who have owned their homes 20+ years?

I think this thread is getting more responses from people pleased with their lack of debt.

Like me! Zero. Paid off mortgage on $1m property by age 35, paid off $75k student loans by age 27.

I value a debt-minimal life because it allows us to be able to afford private school comfortably on a 250k HHI, as well as decent travel a few times per year. We pay cash for vehicles.

Nothing to be proud of. You poured money into an illiquid vehicle that was likely to appreciate anyway and you could take out extremely cheap debt to cover, missing out on putting all that extra free cash flow into the stock market, which has had a massively historic run up, nearly doubling. You’d have enough cash in the market now to more than pay your house note and would be sitting on - 2.5%-3% rate.

You lost millions in net worth. But at least you can brag about being debt free!

You are probably from family money.

I grew up very, very poor with a lot of insecurity in my life. I now never have to worry about money again. I literally never think about it. It automatically transfers into different accounts and savings vehicles, and I spend what I want, which is modest.

It has been incredibly freeing. I spend my time with my family and friends instead of worrying about managing investment property/funds. It’s wonderful.

You know why I came from family money? Because my parents, grandparents, and great grandparents could all build wealth by utilizing leverage.

I don’t even want that kind of wealth. I don’t want my kids to value wealth above all else. I want them to value education, friendships, and strong values. They have everything they need and some things they want. That is enough.

Very hard cope.

[Anonymous]

450k mortgage on 1.2m house
44 y/o