Will you be debt free when you retire?

**khjmom** · 01-24-2009, 07:39 PM

It is our plan to be debt free..medical is kicking our tail right now...but we will get that taken care of within the next three months. I don't want to have to worry like so many around here about how we will survive. We are trying to save every extra dime.

**dcompton** · 01-24-2009, 08:26 PM

I'm debt free now and hope, fervently, to remain so, but who can predict the future? Possible medical expenses are really a wild card.

**C@rol** · 01-24-2009, 08:55 PM

We've been debt free for quite some time and
that won't change in the future.

**Must-Stash** · 04-04-2009, 02:13 PM

We were debt free when DH lost his job in January.

Everything we do now is for maintaining that status.

**DJ1972** · 04-04-2009, 02:21 PM

Yes, that is the plan. I am 37 and DH is 43. We will be debt free, except the mortgage, in one month, yay! We have $35,000 left on our mortgage, so we should be able to do that withing the next 4-5 years easily.....if everything with our jobs stays the same and we have no major life changes.

**ladykemma2** · 04-04-2009, 03:59 PM

already debt free but will not have earned the teachers pension until age 70. In order to retire at 65, i need to "buy back" those 5 years.

i need 22,000 to buy back those years. in today's dollars.

**sabrelvssammy** · 04-04-2009, 08:22 PM

gosh i hope so ! currently working feverishly to pay off the cc's (probably will in reality take upwards of 18 months)

... then there's the mtg....and we will work on tackling that next (and staying out of the cc game)...cash from here on out... while we will probably go right up to retirement with the mtg (coz i still believe in investing extra money too...so it will be a 50/50 thing...i won't throw every last dime at the mtg when the cc's are done...i will be diversifying thruout the investment world)... but the debt will be going down as the 'savings stockpile' goes up.... plus dh and i were very diligent about always socking money away before all the '$%@& hit the fan' so when the market recovers we do already have a decent nestegg... (we could go ahead and pay off the cc's now and call it a day but i am letting the zero percents run their course and then i will play it by ear when they expire...)...i have noticed that we are starting to get more zero percent offers again...(they had literally dried up for about 6 months)...here they come again...though the one major change i have noticed is they are all charging a balance transfer fee of 3%...(a few have caps on that of anywhere from $75-150 dollars)...but most are not capping it...so they are making a tidy sum there....we have 3 different cc's with three different zero percent expiration dates...the first which comes due in about 6 months...at that time i will see what is being offered and if i can find another zero without excessive fees i will be transferring the balance...if no such offers are avbl..then we will pay that on off...and so on with the next two....that is why we are throwing money left and right at the cards because we are well aware that we might just have to pay the thing in full and i hate moving interest making money (what little i am making..lol) to pay the debt off... but its a chance we take....

as for the retirement our goals are to have all the rentals paid off (we have about 16 yrs left on the note) we do throw money at that mtg left and right and the plan is to sell 1-2 a year and use that as 'living expenses'... (as of right now we have 16 rentals so that should give us some 'breathing' room in addition to what we have socked away....)

and of course when i retire i will definately downsize...little place (my vote is for an apt or small rental) and that way we can spend the winters somewhere warm..(that is unless i can somehow manage to convince dh to move away fulltime...not holding my breath on that one though)....

i think we are on the right track all the way around now...paying off debt...being frugal and 'pocketing' the difference and in a small way already beginning the 'downsizing' as i look around and see i don't need all this stuff or all this space...(even though we just added another 1/2 a house on our house and totally up-graded the place...while 'I' don't need all this it IS considered an investment in the property as now our home 'fits' in the neighborhood (and i think my neighbors are thrilled about that...we bought the tiny dumpiest house on the street and brought it up to 'standards' of the street) so all monies 'invested' in this place should pay off handsomly sometime in the future....(and unfortunately the property tax man thinks so too...) ugh....

i guess maybe you really do get 'wiser' when you get 'older'.... here's to all us 'smart old people'...

**Pianolady** · 04-05-2009, 08:19 PM

Planning to be... Times change, things happen, and we're too far from retirement to predict.

**Debbie-cat** · 04-05-2009, 08:31 PM

I hope so.... but with DH's health, I never know. We are debt free right now but no health insurance so the worst case scenerio is we lose everything to help him and it would be worth it. If he does passes and I am penniless, I have come to accept it. I will move back to Canada, and work my way to being debt free once again. Now that I have found FV, I know it is possible. I will have no regrets.

Life throws us curves, it is how we drive the road that counts.

**sabrelvssammy** · 04-05-2009, 08:40 PM

Originally Posted by Debbie-cat

I hope so.... but with DH's health, I never know. We are debt free right now but no health insurance so the worst case scenerio is we lose everything to help him and it would be worth it. If he does passes and I am penniless, I have come to accept it. I will move back to Canada, and work my way to being debt free once again. Now that I have found FV, I know it is possible. I will have no regrets.

Life throws us curves, it is how we drive the road that counts.

deb-cat...you are just a 'saint'...do you know that ???

**Debbie-cat** · 04-05-2009, 08:46 PM

Gosh darn thanks Jan.

**mauimagic** · 04-05-2009, 08:46 PM

We are working towards being debt free - but will never assume....never know what will happen. Would love to be!!

Love reading all your success stories!! You are all my mentors!!

**Mimilu** · 04-05-2009, 08:54 PM

We will be debt free in August when our mortgage is paid off! DH is disabled and altho I still work we will still have to be careful with out income. I do not plan to ever get in debt again!

Lynn

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**Thevail** · 04-05-2009, 10:32 PM

We'll certainly be free of the debt we currently have in the form of a mortgage..we won't deliberately incur anymore...but I've seen a lot of decent people go down over medical bills.