Buy your own home and pay off the mortgage

“While our mortgage payment felt “affordable” in terms of income, from the very beginning the monthly payments made up more than half of our household expenses. I was reminded monthly that if we paid off the house, our required expenses would be lower so much that one of us could stop working completely. In the end, the timing was accelerated due to birth of our new child and the personal decision against using daycare. [...] We paid off our house within 6 years. [...] With no mortgage, we’ll still have enough income to cover the expenses and still save some for retirement – just less than before.”

“I’m 38 years old and bought a house 4 months ago for $835,000. Last week I finished paying it off. I saved big for this house and went in with over $400,000 down and a couple of days after buying it, I sold my previous home and cashed out $200,000 and immediately sent to pay down the debt, so I was immediately down to about a $235,000 balance (roughly). I do have a good income and I have been taking every penny after paying all basic living expenses and sending them to the bank. [...] I prefer to live comfortable, have the house paid off and work part-time.”