Does anyone carry NO DEBT at all?

[tripods68]

I know this might be stretch on this forum. But I'm curious if anyone on this board carry no debt like credit card, car payment, and free and clear mortgage. I like to hear from those people. What do you do with your money, invest for retirement, spend more or what? I don't qualify for this question since we have another 2.5 years of car payment and 27 years of scheduled mortgage.

[Ima saver]

Well, I almost have no debt at all. And I could have no debt tomorrow. I have been mortgage free for many years. I paid off my credit card debt several years ago. I bought some property, but I paid that off in about 2 years.
The only debt I have is car debt and there is a reason for that. My dh is a car nut! He loves cars. Since we have been married for 31 years, he ha worked 7 days a week, a workaholic!! So, I let him get a new car every 4 or 5 years. However, I put down a large down payment and then finance it for a while. That way, he can NOT buy a new car til this one is paid off. It slows him down.
However, I could write a check and pay it off tomorrow.

I take the extra money and save it for retirement in money markets, certificates of deposits and mutual funds.

[simple987]

I am debt free although I may buy a home in the near future. I was lucky since my parents financed my college 100%. Right now I am still saving for a good down payment. But with any extra cash I invest in stocks and retirement. I want to have the choice of retiring at 50 if I want to.

[disneysteve]

We're not debt-free, but we could be at any time if we chose to. Our savings and investments far exceed our current debt (mortgage and HEL). But it doesn't make sense to pay off the debt when our investments are earning much more than the debt is costing us.

If we were debt-free, we'd be saving a lot more for the future. I plan to retire as soon as I can afford to do so.

[d&lcavileer]

debt free

Debt free is my goal. Although this is a new idea that I just learned about. It took 37 years for me to realize that having a lot of stuff does not make me happier. I want to work becasue I enjoy what I do, not because I have to pay off my credit cards, mortage, car note, etc.
My Mom is debt free. She ownes her own home and car free and clear. I want to be like that one day. So my husband and I are working on paying off the debt, saving money, and enjoying our lives. That's one reason I joined this forum.

[scfr]

We're essentially debt-free. We do use credit cards, but do not carry a balance. (This is why I say "essentially" debt free --- The monthly charges actually are debt until paid at the end of the month, aren't they?) No car loan. We are currently renting between houses, but our previous home was owned free & clear and we'll be paying for our next house with cash.

We are saving for our retirement and so that my husband can try out for the Senior (err ... I mean "Champion") golf tour when he hits 50. Tho' the odds of him making the tour are slim-to-none, we want to be in a position where he could quit working and join the tour if he made the cut.

[LuxLiving]

We're in basically the same boat as disneysteve - we have the money in savings/investment funds that we could pay off our small remaining mortgage balance today if we choose. We carry no CC debt, no car debt, no private loans, etc.

Technically no, but sort of???

What do we use our money for? We tithe, continue to invest heavily for retirement, and live, breathing a LOT freer than when we always carried debt.

I, personally, would rather pay it off and have less in savings, however, wiser heads than mine** advise against it, so that's why we do it this way.

**Hubster & also see 'The Truth About Money', by Ric Edelman, pg. 398 "keep the cash out of the house."

[tripods68]

Being debt-free is a dream that we would like to be in someday.

My wife and I both make good money in mid six digit, but the cost of living in California combined that with mortgage, raising two young (kids age 3 and 2), 1
car payment, and many more family activities (birthday etc...) than we like hinder our ability to save more. After my in-law's left our house few months ago, we just now getting back on the track again of building our savings again plus adding more towards the car payment.

[FrugalTexan75]

I am essentially debt free. I do use a credit card, but pay the balance in full each month. I also rent, so do not have a mortgage. I have a paid for 1997 Honda Civic w/98k miles.

What do I use my money for? Beyond rent, food, and gas I use it for charitable giving, savings (EF and Car fund), retirement (Roth and 401K) and also have been using some towards my goal of becoming more healthy - i.e. personal training and callanetic's.

I'm hoping to be getting a second part time job soon so that I can put more money towards retirement, long-term savings and a little towards a vacation fund.

[MonkeyMama]

We aim to be debt free, just too young and in Cali as well.

But for the most part we have always led a debt-free lifestyle. Besides the mortgage.

Plus we could really just forget retirement and pay off the house aggressively. It just doesn't make any financial sense. So we focus on funding retirement instead. But aim to pay off the house by 45.

We're 30 and have no intentions to take on car loans, take on any debt, or upgrade our house or borrow against it. So, well on the way. (& yet a long ways to go).

I like to think if we lived somewhere cheaper that we would have never had much of a mortgage. (We live in the same area as you). But we probably also wouldn't have been so intent on scrimping in our youth (to afford a home). So who knows. But my family was pretty anti-debt so we never considered car loans or student loans or the like. Which really helped us in the long run, never wasting money on interest or payments.

Likewise, we have no plans for debt in our future.

Kudos to everyone who is debt free!

[Ima saver]

Besides my house being mortgage free, no credit card debt and 4 paid for cars, I am almost debt free. Maybe I should sneak and pay this new car off but not tell dh! Then he won't want a new one. Would you all keep my secret??

[disneysteve]

Maybe I should sneak and pay this new car off but not tell dh! Then he won't want a new one. Would you all keep my secret??

Your secret is safe with me. If he doesn't look at the financial statements, he wouldn't know. It doesn't make sense to keep paying interest if you don't have to.

[anonymous_saver]

I have no debt at all (I use my credit card now and again, and go home immediately and pay it off).

I'm 25 years old and make approx. $38,000/year. First, I put 25% of my income into a 457 plan, and another 4.25% automatically goes towards a pension. Additionally, I share rent with my partner currently and all of our apartment bills only come up to about $367 for each of us each month. I spend about $175 in food (to me, this is my only extra I allow myself, I'm a strict vegetarian and eat mostly organic foods). I spend about $100-$200 each month in necessities (household supplies, pet food, pet appts., etc.) and fun money. My monthly expenses are around $650-$750 and I live in a large metro city. I could bring my expenses down to about $525 if I needed too (I have before!).

I just live cheaply, I'm happy, why spend all money now. With the rest of my money each month (approx. $815) I put into savings (half and half towards an emergency fund and a down payment).

I have always put at least 25% of any money I get (even birthday cards!) towards retirement. I plan to retire between 50-55. I have also never paid interest in my life (I only plan to once I get a home).

[simpleyme]

Our assets far exceed our mortgage so we could be debt free ,and when this house is paid of in 4 years we will take on no new debt and I plan to invest what was the house payment towards retirement for the next 20 years in addition to what we are already doing

[36Rock]

I'm dept free except for my $47K mortage. Could pay off that with savings if I wanted to. Use extra money toward the mortage and also to mutual funds. Also help with a 529 plan for a grandkid.