The Long Climb
The long climb. That is what I call this stage of the FI journey. All but one thing is paid off. We’ve only got the mortgage left. There’s only $172K to pay off. “Only” that. No big deal right? 😅 But once that is paid off (one day), we will be debt-free. So, we are on the long climb to that goal.
In my mind, I see it as scaling a huge mountain called “Debt Free”. Every time you pay off a debt, you hit a cool rest stop where you get to party, crash, and then keep going. Once you are down to one thing left, there are no more rest stops. You still have milestones (ie. Getting the mortgage under $175K) which are awesome, but you don’t have the full-blown party rest stops anymore. Only the mountaintop of “Debt Free”. It’s a good thing. Just means that when we do hit the top, it’s going to be the biggest party ever!
I did the math today, and, based on my more standard pay, we have six more years left of paying off our mortgage. Since I have been making more than that as of late, that will decrease that number gradually. Can we get the mortgage paid off in five years or less? Fingers crossed!
Feature Photo by Ales Krivec on Unsplash
I have a feeling you’ll get it paid off in less than 5 years!
Thanks! I hope so. I was trying to leave room for this market to slow down a bit, which will definitely affect my pay. I’m probably overcompensating, but that’ll be a happy surprise for next year. 🙂
Thanks for reading!
The goal is in sight! and I agree you’ll maybe pay it off in less than five years. We fast tracked the last bit by splitting all bonuses for a year 50/50 between the mortgage and investing and then evaluating the break even point of the lower emergency fund requirements of a post mortgage expenses and when the remaining mortgage equaled our e-fund overage we ploughed the full amount over to the bank for the payoff.
Thanks! I hope we can pay it off in less than five years. Being paid off by the end of 2025 would be amazing.
I honestly never even thought of the e-fund overage. That is a solid point. Currently, I have it set up to be able to pay the mortgage for a year, but that wouldn’t be necessary if it’s paid off. Thanks for that!
Thanks for reading! 🙂