…kind of a bummer that I can’t tell anyone in my family because half of them (including my parents) will look at me like an ATM whose job it is to set myself on fire in order to keep them warm.
Congrats!
I feel this pain. Congratulations. Throw that payment into a savings account if you can.
100% that’s the plan
I already have a fair amount going into my Roth 401k every check, so my focus in recent years has been building up early retirement savings. I’m on track to be able to retire in my mid-to-late 50’s, but if the investments I picked do well, could be earlier. Hoping for the best.
Oh you have money now? Can I borrow some?
Edit: it will be over 15 years before I pay off one of my 15 student loans.
Yep, that’s why I bit the bullet and did the bulk payment on mine when I had the chance instead of reinvesting or spending the money elsewhere. They’re structured in such a predatory way that, to me, it made sense to be rid of it.
I’m sorry to hear you’re stuck with them for a while. I was too.
I would love to do that too, but im not able to save up enough for any of them. I looked into bankruptcy and that wouldnt resolve them. My best bet is for the world to end. I can’t even unalive myself to get rid of them since the big ones have cosigners.
Yeah. :(
I was in that position until March 2020. It’s awful and I wish we had the power to change it.
Feels good. The only debt I have is my mortgage, too, since I paid off my car about four years ago.
I haven’t looked at my loan amortization, but I should only have about three years left on the mortgage. That means I can leave the house to my son without any debt, and I’m happy that I can do that.
If kids got to choose their parents, our species would go extinct in one generation.
That’s awesome!
My plan is just to tack on the money for this bill to the money I put in my early retirement fund every check. I’m hoping to be able to retire in my 50’s and have 30-50 years to just enjoy my time in any way I like. We’ll see. :)
Congratulations and very well done! Take a breath and enjoy your achievements :)
I haven’t seen or talked to the part of my family who treated my dad that way since I was 18 and the divorce proceedings started. My dad my not be rich, but at least he’s free.
If you haven’t been used to the extra money yet, tru and keep making the ‘paynents’ but to something to your benefit, like a saving account or to stocks or towards an objective like a holiday or other big purchase.
Once you are used to not having the payments to make, it becomes harder to save. Of you never have the money on your account, it becomes easier.
Congratulations.Every step helps, and it sucks that your family can’t cheer on your victories. So, one internet stranger to another: good job, stay strong, work on that mortgage. Life is better without the sword of debt hanging over your head.
I’ve heard the phrase “set myself on fire to keep them warm” and variants thousands of times in my life. This is the first time I’ve heard it where I really felt it.
Congrats on the payoff, friend! It’s a great feeling and welcome to the club.
I’m proud of you. It’s hard work to dig out from debt, and you did it.
Congratulations! I’d suggest the next step is to start building up your savings and investments. A nice goal to aim for is to have enough saved up to pay off the mortgage (not necessarily to pay off the mortgage but having enough saved up that you could is very rewarding).
Congratulations that’s huge news! I bet you had to do a bunch of work to get this point.
NGL, writing that check this week hurt a little, but worth it.
Good job! It sucks to be poor but it can also be difficult to do just a little better than the rest of the family. They can think like “you always have it easy” and assume you can easily afford anything they can’t or don’t want to pay for.
The reason why I was able to do this was that I live way beneath my means. My car has actually been “on loan” for two years now to my parents.
Congrats!!! Big achievement and I bet it’s a huge weight off your back. Sorry you can’t tell your family but at least you can tell waaaay more people on the internet of reaching such a big goal. :)
