When Will You Be Debt Free

[2China2009]

Good question for everyone. I am debt free now. Mortgage October 2023 at the age of 50. I can taste freedom soon. I have 2 kids to put through college. By having my mortgage paid off I can help them stay debt free from all student loans. I owe much of my success to Dave Ramsey.

 

[tvguy]

I was debt free 2000 to 2018, including mortgage. Bought a car last June. 5 year loan that I hope to have paid off this year.

 

[Pharmgirl123]

I sadly have over 100K in student loan debt because I decided to go to medical school but realized half way through that I HATED the medical field. I don’t think I’ll ever be debt free!

On the bright side- I pay off my credit cards every month, don’t have a mortgage, and will pay off my car that I bought last summer by December!

 

[runwad]

We were debt free July 2016 when we paid off our house, best feeling ever!! But we have 3 kids, 2 in college now, one to graduate this year another to start in the fall. We won't really feel rich until the 3rd is done with college in 4 years, then it'll really be a celebration

 

[Eeyore daily]

I don’t think I will ever truly be debt free. I have a student loan of $20k that I’m trying to pay it down but I did pay off my car recently. Just feel that as soon as one loan is done another one comes in. I don’t own a house yet and I know I’ll eventually need a bigger car for a family but a girl can dream!

 

[DLgal]

Eh, I consider us debt free already because our net worth is greater than our debts. We have a car loan now, but that's it. Don't really worry about it. We will probably never own a home. We like being renters.

We paid off $15k of credit card debt in the last year, and are working hard to build up savings now. Retirement is taken care of, for the most part.

 

[Cruising Engineer]

We are debt free. Paid off the house in 1995. Put two through college and paid off (student debt free) in 2008. I'm in grad school and paying as I go (no loans). Maybe graduate in 2022 with PhD (civil engineering). Same old cars, mine is a 2011 and in great condition. DH collects and restores old car. Go on at least on vacation a year. Net worth is far greater than debt. Just work hard, save, pay with cash and enjoy life.

 

[Mikey15]

34 now.

Consumer & student debt gone by 36/37.

Car loan will be done age 38, but realistically we could end up financing a new one then (we share one and drive 20,000 miles a year). I’m not broken up about that continuing, particularly when we’re planning our next one to have lower operating (fuel) costs.

Mortgage is done age 55 if we don’t make that happen sooner. We’re fortunate to be in a position where our debt isn’t increasing (we’re in our forever home), and we’re mid-career in stable jobs where we still have upward income potential. Basically, even without considering income growth, inflation means we will have lots more free income available to put towards the mortgage as time goes on. Age 55 is a hard stop “be debt free by then” for me, but I’m hopeful we can hit that sooner.

 

[tzolkin]

I just turned 38 last week. We were on a 5year plan with DH working OT and having everything paid off. (When our youngest will graduate). We decided to accelerate that by downsizing to a smaller/cheaper house and then I also wound up getting a new job last month.

We do need to do a bit of renovation and sell our current house in the next few months, but I think 2 years is probably doable for having the new house paid off.

Most people we know think we are insane because our house is “so nice”. We live in an area where people move every 3 years or so because you have to keep moving up to bigger/nicer/newer. We just don’t think this house is necessary and I know we will be just as happy in the new place (likely more so because we will have extra money to travel, help the kids with cars, etc)

 

[Klayfish]

When I die.

 

[holden]

We recently sold our vacation home and are now debt free. I’m glad we sold the home. I hated paying the mortgage, utility bills, etc. for a house that we didn’t live in full time. Now we are free to travel other places and not feel guilty because we aren’t using the vacation home.

 

[Southernmiss]

Paid off our mortgage in October 2018 before we turned 5 0 in November.

We are debt freeeeeee!

But we have 2 in college and one starting in 2020.

The 2 in college have good scholarships and so far no debt. But have expensive majors after scholarships run out at the end of year 4. One son graduates this May after 4 years, but continues for 3 more years on to a doctorate in pharmacy. We will pay his frugal living- rent, gas, auto, food. He'll need loans for tuition and school needs.

Other son is completing year 2. He wants to be a MD. He's got full scholarships through year 4. Then we will help him through med school with living expenses, but he'll take out loans to pay for school.

Dd starts college in 2020. No clue what her major will be

 

[Deffenm]

My car will be paid for by end of year and house in 2022! I will be completely debt free when I am 45! Oldest son didn't go to college, middle son is doing trade which we will cash flow, and DD will graduate HS in 2022 so we will cash flow her college especially since we will be debt free!

 

[AJollyHoliday]

We became debt free in November 2017 and plan to have our house paid off in about 8 years. We owe it all to Dave Ramsey. We just had to pay for major surgery for our dog and we were able to pay in cash (it was over $8k) and we just got slammed by the new tax code so owe a bunch there. We can pay it all in cash! It is such a great feeling! If this happened to us last year it would have been so stressful, but now we can feel like we can handle what ever comes out way! I can't wait to pay off our house. DHs car is 12 years old, but he wants to keep driving it for as long as he can. As long as he is happy, so am I.

 

[KenHutch]

I will be completely debt free in June of 2023. I have only the mortgage (pay off next july) but my daughter is studying electrical engineering. Never start parenthood at 40 if you plan on being debt free.

 

[barkley]

theoretically never b/c certain service providers bill after my consumption of their services-phone, garbage, satellite tv (i would include electricity but they initially took a deposit and i use a balanced payment plan that for years has never resulted in a larger payment due at the end of the yearly cycle so i'm always ahead or at a break even w/them). beyond that we use credit cards to make some purchases but always immediately pay in full, we pay all our insurance products either 6 months or 1 year in advance (provides a hefty discount) and the house was paid off 5 years ago.

so as far as dave ramsey defines it-we were there 5 years ago next month.

 

[Woth2982]

I will "personally" be debt free at the end of this year, minus my mortgage. DH will be debt free by the end of 2020 or mid 2021. I have just under 11k in student loans left, and he has a credit card with 6k from some medical bills he charged, and 18k in student loans. The cc will be paid off by December and then he will take that payment and apply it to his student loans. My student loan payments/over payments will be applied to his student loan at the point of completion on mine. Then it will probably be another 15-20 years before we are completely debt free because we are selling my condo to buy a house. I live in MA and even a "small" house is insanely overpriced so not sure a 15 year loan will be feasible. Oh well.

 

[AJollyHoliday]

theoretically never b/c certain service providers bill after my consumption of their services-phone, garbage, satellite tv (i would include electricity but they initially took a deposit and i use a balanced payment plan that for years has never resulted in a larger payment due at the end of the yearly cycle so i'm always ahead or at a break even w/them). beyond that we use credit cards to make some purchases but always immediately pay in full, we pay all our insurance products either 6 months or 1 year in advance (provides a hefty discount) and the house was paid off 5 years ago.

so as far as dave ramsey defines it-we were there 5 years ago next month.

I get where you are coming from, but I think a monthly bill for services is not debt in the sense most people speak of. However, it is not a prepayment and I am not sure you can prepay a lot of the services you mentioned. My cellphone is pay as you go so I am paying ahead of my use and I believe my streaming service for TV is the same way, I pay for the month ahead of me.

 

[StacyStrong]

I'll be consumer debt free this year. However I have no illusions that I will ever be completely debt free until I die considering my student loans (law school - non-big law career).

I'm fine with that. I'm sure I'll also finance another car at some point. My goal is to remain without any credit card debt, though.

 

[barkley]

I get where you are coming from, but I think a monthly bill for services is not debt in the sense most people speak of. However, it is not a prepayment and I am not sure you can prepay a lot of the services you mentioned. My cellphone is pay as you go so I am paying ahead of my use and I believe my streaming service for TV is the same way, I pay for the month ahead of me.

if i could arrange it i would love to pay annual or bi-annual large payments on the stuff i mentioned but the providers don't want to carry a large credit balance (i tried to talk them into it). i could change cell providers/plan but as my provider's reps mention any time i contact them 'you have a plan we haven't offered in over 15 years-you're never going to dump it are you' (it's a 'lifetime' plan w/a locked in very low rate, unlimited usage and free (some areas) international calling-the provider offered it during a very limited period of time when companies were battling for customers). i pay for 4 lines what most people salivate over paying for 1.