Hi Dave,
We just have different views and outlooks on credit is all, and I'm okay with it. For me, I used to have a lot of debt in the form of credit cards, signature loans, car loans, and more. (I'm not including the three mortgages I have on three of the four properties I own). One day, I came to a realization that while the wife and I were making good money, We wern't getting to keep hardly any of it, yet I was paying taxes on it. It just didn't make sense to me.
So I had a "heart to heart" with the wife and we cut up all the credit cards. All of them. Every single one. That was just over 10 years ago. With the exception of 3 mortgages (I have one rental property I paid off about 2-3 years ago) we have no debt. We've never been happier and now we are no longer a slave to all those lenders. The "relief" that has overcome us is indescribable and impossible to put into words. Yes, I've still got those three remaining mortgages. But 95% of the rental income from the paid off rental is going towards paying off another.
Even as it stands now, if we want something, we pay cash for it or go without. Just four years ago my wife's 1999 Nissan Quest with just over 300K miles on it finally "bit the dust" and was way, way, way beyond anything close to what I would call "economical repair". So it was nice to walk into the Nissan dealership in Feb 2014, buy a brand spanking new 2013 Rogue with only 6 miles on the odometer, write a check for the full amount we negotiated and be done with it. Now we're not anything close to "rich" making roughly 50-60K a year between the two of us. But we've basically "changed the family tree". When we die, we will not be leaving a lot of debt behind for my kids to have to deal with. But on the other side of that coin what they inherit won't make them rich either. They'll have to do like we did (and they are doing it) and earn their wealth by working smarter, more so than just working harder.
As it stands now, it's looking like I'll have the other three mortgages paid off in 7 years, give or take. So am I bragging here? You bet! Why? Because I can! Why else? Do I care the neighbors think I'm cheap? Not a bit! I no longer concern myself with keeping up with the Jones'. In a few years, we'll have the Jones shaking their heads in a stupor while wondering how we did it on our meager income, and wanting to be like us.
