At some point today, I'm not sure when, my mortgage will be completely paid off. Yay! I think. I'm actually not sure what to do now.
This house was not paid off with a pot of gold.
Cue the singing angels, and unicorns sliding down a rainbow - my house is paid off. At least at some point today it will be, I just don't know when. My plan is to stay at my computer and constantly refresh my browser until I see that the final payment has been made.
AND THEN ....... !!!!
I don't know.
I guess I could have a glass of champagne or burn my mortgage agreement in the fireplace. That's the sort of thing they do in movies but if the payment goes through at 9 a.m. it seems a bit silly to start drinking champagne unless I'm also wearing a feather trimmed organza house robe with matching slippers. And I don't own any of those things including the bottle of champagne so I guess I'll just keep a glass of ice water and an Alka Seltzer handy.
I'm toying with the idea of making up a big sign like this to put on the front lawn.
But that's a lot of effort. I mean it took too much time just to Photoshop the sign in this picture let alone make a real one. That's time that could be be spent deciding on what to do with all my extra money every month. Purchase a castle? Acquire a small country? Buy only organic?
I have to tell you. I thought paying off my mortgage was going to be a lot more exciting. I realize I'm part of the problem what with not having a bottle of champagne at the ready, but it's weirdly anticlimactic. Like trying sushi for the first time.
But paying off my mortgage doesn't mean I'm going to have mountains of money to blow. I'm just going to have a mediocre amount of money to blow.
Like maybe I could rent a dancing monkey for a week every month. Or start using premium gasoline in my car.
Or, if I want to be extremely practical and smart, every month I could invest the exact same amount of money I spent on my mortgage. Which of course is exactly what I'll do because I am no fun.
Seriously. Zero fun. I get a lot of people comment or email me saying they wish we were friends because we'd have so much fun together. No we wouldn't. You'd have fun and I'd be wishing you'd go home so I could get back to chopping wood and diagnosing my cat's skin condition.
Now if I WERE a fun kind of person I'd allow myself to live a little. Maybe buy a couple of things in my first few mortgage-free months. Things I want but am too cheap to buy. Which is stupid because they're all things I'd not only use, but probably use for a lifetime.
Like a KoMo flour mill.
Or a Dyson hairdryer.
Or 42 of these hand squirrel puppets.
I think we all know what I'd get the most use out of. I mean, as so many of us do, I already have a finger puppet stage built soooo.
The other way I could go is to finally hire someone to work for me part time. That's a kind of investment. But everyone knows that's not as much fun as playing out West Side Story with an all squirrel cast.
I suppose I don't have to decide right away. I mean it's not like they're going to suddenly stop making squirrel puppets. They'll be there next month if I decide to become fun Karen.
For now my extra money is going to stay in the bank safe and sound before I find out Amazon also carries sloth finger puppets.
Have a good weekend. I'll be here constantly refreshing my computer screen.
Suzanne Reith
Well done Karen. It is amazing how everything seems so much easier once that burden is off your shoulders. Can I advise RSPs. And have some fun now.
Lynn
🎉Congratulations Karen 🎉
Painting your door Red is not only in Scotland a sign of having paid your mortgage off by the way.
My suggestion would be to take 3 to 6 months and just fun enjoy not having the payment. Hopefully not spending completely all your newly gained rewards.
Giving your self time too really think about what you what to truly accomplish. Best wishes
Jenny
My husband and I have been waging an aggressive war on his student loans (becoming a Physician Assistant is not cheap) and we are within a year of paying it all off. Sometimes we get excited with all the "extra" money that we will have each month and then we talk about what to do with it and whether it would make more sense to attack the mortgage or invest in something with a greater return. Which is not as exciting as going on a vacation or totally renovating our basement bathroom, but ah well. :) Responsibility!
Betty S
dancing monkey :)
thanks for the smile
Dru
So this is a thing....
"The lion statues spotted throughout Montreal and its greater area also have their traditional histories. In Quebec, homeowners traditionally place one or two lions in front of their house once their mortgage is paid off."
Maria
Congratulations!
Enjoy the relief I did a few different things when I paid off my mortgage.
1. I had a celebratory a meal.
2. Took 4/6months off of not having anything big to pay and I took long Ontario drives.
3.Bought Long Term Care Insurance. (Not life insurance,big mistake,people doing that).
4.I took the last amount of what I was paying in mortgage and started an investment portfolio.
5. Bought a lot more of my favorite Matt red💄 lipstick.
You are free,enjoy it for a wile.
Love your posts!
Maria
Jenni Reiz
I remember that day! I took a copy of the paperwork with me to the Family Reunion that summer, made the big announcement, and, ripping the paper to shreds, threw it all up in the air, letting the bits fall where they might! It was fun! Congratulations to you! Jenni in Edmonton
amanda
Woo! Congratulations! Let the mad spending begin! (kidding....invest.) But reward yourself for a job well done with that flour mill. Please.🙏🏻🙏🏻 Flour mill!!
Andrea
I suggest investing half, and then using half to buy some things you can’t make.
Bonnie White
Invest in a rental! That's what we are doing and it will be paid off when we downsize from our current place!
PMMK
Karen, I'm so proud of you and for you. I'm sure there were times when it wasn't easy.
Now it's time to start being your own sugar mamma. Sure, use some of your cash for things that bring you joy. But ...
The best gift you can give yourself right now is to put most of that cash to work for YOU and make it earn back every penny of interest you have ever paid and then some. Be an interest earner, not an interest payer.
First, educate yourself about various financial investments and how they are supposed to work and stuff like risk tolerance, risk mitigation and taxes. Enough so you get the lingo and make yourself less likely to get scammed. You may or may not have the appetite for becoming a full-blown investment expert. This does not preclude advice of other fans who suggested you become a landlady which could be a lot of fun ... or a lot of heartache.
Talk to a wealth manager (not an investment counselor in a strip mall - only in it for themselves) and make a plan. This person may tell you that you don't have enough cash yet but persist. Get them to tell you what they recommend you do so that, when you come back, you do have enough cash. I'm pretty sure they will tell you that the first step will be to max your RRSP and TSFA contributions and put them into higher earning instruments than a savings account. That reduces your tax liability from the get go. Tax avoidance (legit) not tax evasion. Money you don't pay out you get to keep and put to work earning you more money.
We deal with a person through our bank (not our local bank manager) and I can assure you we are earning a helluva lot more than the 0.5% we would with a savings account. Some banks have better people in these jobs than do other banks. We have dealt with two banks, RBC and TD and an insurance company. RBC basically ignores us and we have neither earned nor lost any money there. We finally took the money out of the insurance company because they were the ones earning the money, not us. The TD guy comes to our house at least once a year and we go over everything together to make sure our short and long-term objectives are still being met. We don't deal with the minutiae of individual investments; only with the performance of the portfolio as a whole. The details are his job. Of course, there is a tax deductible, earnings-based fee but worth every penny.
We could have lived higher on the hog but now we own a nice house in the country and haven't had jobs since 2006. Unlike many of our friends who used a different approach, we have weathered the ups and downs of market fluctuations and we have no reason to worry about money as we age.
You bring so much mirth, joy and good advice to your fans. You deserve this kind of peace.
Larry J Wachtel
Paint your front door red. It's an historic way to tell everyone that your home is paid for and it's a fun house fashion statement.
Karen C
Congratulations, Karen!
Tammy
Congratulations!
Amy
Congratulations!!!! I’m not giving advice, but I will say that my hubby and I have rental duplexes. Two are paid off, the other two will be before retirement. The beauty of duplexes is you are unlikely to have no one contributing to the mortgage payment when one side is vacant. Buying carefully and “sweat-equitying” a lot, we were quickly able to get to the point that one side paid the mortgage, so with full rental, we were able to make swift progress. This is what we plan to enhance our retirement income. Just saying.
Many congratulations!!!!!!
Kimberly
Congratulations!! I was a late bloomer so I have 26 years to go on mine, unless Mom wins the lottery.
Laura Nazimiec
Yay! I think you should celebrate by writing more posts about family members like Betty, pink tool belt, and fish pedicure.
Sheila
nothing better than freedom
Deb Wostmann
Fantastic and congratulations. The paid off mortgage is the way to wealth so they say. Relish it and at least buy yourself one thing you've wanted just to treat yourself for a job well done.
Alena
Congrats, Karen!
Let me tell you that you are entirely normal (or at least as normal as me, which is always questionable). I paid off my mortgage last year in November and just like you, I waited for some Woohoo! moment or something but it never happened. I am a lousy drinker so of course there was not a drop of anything in the house. But I am glad it's done. I guess I can pat myself on the shoulder for having paid the house off on my own, on a single income.
I would have been done a lot sooner had not decided to sell my previous house some 13 yrs ago and buy this one. At that time, my remaining mortgage balance was at $45,000 but I purchases a house that cost $100,000 than the old one (the real estate market, in the meantime, climbed up).
My goal was to be done with the mortgage by the time I am 60. I can check off that box because I still have almost 6 months to my 60'th birthday.
By the way, a tip for those who still have a long way to go before your mortgage is paid off - do not pay monthly. Do not pay even bi-monthly, pay WEEKLY. It is the fastest way to knocking off the interest and still paying off the capital (each week by a bit more than the previous week). That was THE BEST decision I made decades ago.
Any online mortage calculator will show how many thousands $ you save on the interest.