Paying Off The Mortgage Early = A Flexible Life
Everyone I know who has significant freedom has a paid-off mortgage. This is a goal my wife and I have for 2008. We’re already debt free, but it’s never really felt like it because of our mortgage payment; it still feels like bondage.
Now I don’t get into the “Keep the mortgage because it’s a good tax break” argument. To me, that’s just plain stupid. If you want to stay in debt, go ahead. Stay a slave. Stay in bondage. We refuse.
Within three years, my wife and I want our business and personal lives totally outsourced and automated. With our mortgage paid off, we’ll only have a few bills.
1. Car and House Insurance — $250.00/month
2. Electric Bill — $250.00/month
3. Gas Bill — $70.00/month
4. Kids’ Private School — $1,300/month
5. Trash Pickup — $18.00/month
6. Water — $40.00/month
As you can see, we’ll maintain our current lifestyle for just under $2,000 per month, and most of that is our son and daughter’s private school bill. All of the bills above–except our water bill–are on automatic payment.
Since we have a two and three-year-old in school, we can’t just pick up and take a vacation whenever we feel like it. So we’re limited to mini-vacations, Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks, and their three-month summer breaks.
By having our mortgage paid off, this considerably simplifies our lives. Now, all I have to do is see if I can pay all our bills one year in advance. But I don’t see this being a problem. I know our kids’ private school allows this payment method, and I’m positive the others would be okay with it too.
We’ll also be outsourcing our mail to Earth Class Mail. This is an online postal service that scans images of incoming envelopes so we can see them online. We can then choose to have the contents of those envelopes scanned into a PDF file, shredded, forwarded, or recycled. In fact, we’re going to have both our personal and business mail handled this way. Once we do this, our outsourced life will advance to an entirely new level.
Every decision I make and every action I take is toward personal freedom and flexibility. If it can’t be automated and requires my personal presence, I usually decline whatever “it” is. Another question I constantly ask myself on a daily basis is this one: “If I decide to get on a plane right this minute and fly to Germany for a month, will everything still be okay?”
The answer should always be yes. If it’s not, I find a way to outsource everything and pay someone to do whatever it is that is holding me back from that freedom.
It’s all about flexibility and freedom. And paying off the mortgage is just another step toward that.
