WEBVTT - Mortgage Free by 34?!? How she did it... 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:05.680 Mortgage free by thirty four. Could you even imagine this? Well, 0:00:05.800 --> 0:00:08.440 let's talk to Kathy who managed to do this in 0:00:08.520 --> 0:00:11.560 less than seven years. She's going to share with us 0:00:11.560 --> 0:00:14.680 exactly what she did, where she found out what to do, 0:00:14.920 --> 0:00:18.200 and what was her biggest source of inspiration and motivation 0:00:18.560 --> 0:00:36.159 to keep going with this powerful financial goal. Welcome back 0:00:36.159 --> 0:00:40.040 everyone to Sugar Mama's Fireplay, the podcast that fills you 0:00:40.120 --> 0:00:43.880 with inspiration, motivation, and education when it comes to efficiently 0:00:43.960 --> 0:00:47.720 achieving your financial goals and dreams. Before we begin today's 0:00:47.760 --> 0:00:51.120 episode where I chat with Kathy, who is managed to 0:00:51.159 --> 0:00:54.240 have her mortgage off by age thirty four, I want 0:00:54.240 --> 0:00:56.800 to do a quick reminder that all of my content 0:00:57.200 --> 0:01:00.520 is general in nature. It is never personal advice. Device 0:01:00.560 --> 0:01:04.160 also treat strategic advice, so please keep that in mind. 0:01:04.200 --> 0:01:07.160 All right, enough from me, Let's just hit play and 0:01:07.319 --> 0:01:11.200 let's hear from Kathy, who is mortgage free at age 0:01:11.360 --> 0:01:13.880 thirty four. I have a feeling that we're all going 0:01:13.920 --> 0:01:18.600 to learn a lot from Kathy, including myself. Kathy, Good morning, 0:01:18.640 --> 0:01:19.240 how are you? 0:01:20.120 --> 0:01:22.960 I well, thank you, and thank you so much for 0:01:23.000 --> 0:01:25.520 having me on your podcast today. I've been a big 0:01:25.560 --> 0:01:27.760 fan of yours and You've been a big part of 0:01:27.800 --> 0:01:31.640 my journey as well in terms of motivation and in station. 0:01:32.080 --> 0:01:33.480 So thank you for what they to do. 0:01:34.080 --> 0:01:37.120 Oh my gosh, my pleasure. And wow, that is a 0:01:37.200 --> 0:01:42.360 huge honor and something that I take with amazing gratitude 0:01:42.480 --> 0:01:46.319 and respect because I'm really passionate about helping everyday people 0:01:46.840 --> 0:01:49.840 and helping them realize that with a little bit of 0:01:49.880 --> 0:01:53.040 confidence and faith and some hard work along the way, 0:01:53.200 --> 0:01:55.600 it's actually quite amazing what you can do to improve 0:01:55.600 --> 0:01:58.720 your financial wellbeing and go from strength to strength. Wants 0:01:58.800 --> 0:02:01.440 to get into the flow of it all. So can 0:02:01.480 --> 0:02:04.360 you tell me a little bit about yourself, like where 0:02:04.400 --> 0:02:09.200 you live, what you do, and then we can sort 0:02:09.200 --> 0:02:12.680 of dive into this crazy idea of being mortgage free 0:02:12.720 --> 0:02:14.760 at thirty four. I'm so jealous. 0:02:15.000 --> 0:02:18.560 Yeah, one hundred percent. So I live in Auckland, New Zealand, 0:02:19.480 --> 0:02:23.639 and I lived with my husband Joel, and we've got 0:02:23.639 --> 0:02:28.360 a food baby. My dog wents so hopefully he doesn't 0:02:28.400 --> 0:02:32.600 make too much noise today. And apparently I work part 0:02:32.639 --> 0:02:36.280 time and the commercial property sector as a property manager. 0:02:36.560 --> 0:02:43.120 And I also started money coaching business recently called Curative Money. 0:02:43.840 --> 0:02:45.480 And yeah, that's about me. 0:02:47.000 --> 0:02:51.560 So can we go back to before you started tackling 0:02:51.560 --> 0:02:55.000 your mortgage, like what was your lifestyle like, because I 0:02:55.040 --> 0:02:58.679 know you mentioned you went literally living paycheck to paycheck 0:02:59.160 --> 0:03:02.360 to suddenly going hardcore and paying off your mortgage. There 0:03:02.360 --> 0:03:06.600 are two very different, polar opposite worlds, like can we 0:03:06.639 --> 0:03:09.000 go to the old Cathy before we're here one? 0:03:10.040 --> 0:03:16.320 Yeah, So I guess my Monday journey started when I 0:03:16.320 --> 0:03:19.079 guess maybe when I was fourteen was when I first 0:03:19.160 --> 0:03:23.320 got into working. I worked part time at a cafe, 0:03:23.360 --> 0:03:24.000 just on the weekend. 0:03:24.000 --> 0:03:26.240 Obviously I was at school. 0:03:26.760 --> 0:03:31.800 And I think my initial motivation was to have my 0:03:31.880 --> 0:03:34.760 own money where I didn't have to ask my parents 0:03:34.800 --> 0:03:39.120 for permission to buy something. And I was reflecting back 0:03:39.160 --> 0:03:41.880 on this, and I feel like, maybe that's what caused 0:03:41.880 --> 0:03:44.600 me to be living paycheck to paycheck because I was 0:03:44.640 --> 0:03:46.720 kind of used to, Okay, all the money I earn, 0:03:46.880 --> 0:03:49.000 I spend on whatever I want. 0:03:49.640 --> 0:03:53.880 And that's so interesting. It's like the freedom almost became 0:03:54.400 --> 0:03:59.320 a like poison for you. Yeah, you took that freedom 0:03:59.360 --> 0:04:05.040 and just had like squandalous will create this squandalous life Styes, yeah, yeah, 0:04:05.760 --> 0:04:08.000 you know rat race almost and. 0:04:08.200 --> 0:04:12.040 Yes, and yeah, I think something that I thought would 0:04:12.120 --> 0:04:15.680 be and I obviously don't regret getting a job because 0:04:15.720 --> 0:04:18.280 it taught me the value of a dollar. But I 0:04:18.279 --> 0:04:20.600 think back at the time, I didn't even think about, 0:04:21.200 --> 0:04:26.040 you know, saving a bit or anything like that, and yeah, 0:04:26.279 --> 0:04:28.880 or definitely not that. And even though I saw, like 0:04:28.960 --> 0:04:33.080 my mom openly talked about her investment portfolio and how 0:04:33.160 --> 0:04:35.479 much it was worth, but that never clicked for me 0:04:35.640 --> 0:04:38.520 to ask her more, and she never kind of told 0:04:38.520 --> 0:04:41.000 me I should invest. I kind of just didn't do anything. 0:04:41.040 --> 0:04:42.880 And I think when you're young as well, you're kind 0:04:42.880 --> 0:04:45.039 of like, oh, I have time, and I'll do that later. 0:04:46.440 --> 0:04:51.800 And so really I didn't start my financial journey until 0:04:52.160 --> 0:04:56.520 one year into us having bought our home. So we 0:04:56.600 --> 0:05:00.800 bought it in twenty fourteen, And just to share some 0:05:00.920 --> 0:05:03.400 numbers because some people find that helpful, it was five 0:05:03.480 --> 0:05:08.200 hundred and fifty thousand dollars, which fork an hour is 0:05:08.279 --> 0:05:11.120 quite cheap. I think the medium price is about a million. 0:05:11.600 --> 0:05:13.640 So for everyone listening right now going, oh, well, that's 0:05:13.640 --> 0:05:16.159 such a small, you know price to pay for a property, 0:05:16.200 --> 0:05:19.360 can we just bring this back into perspective for everyone 0:05:19.800 --> 0:05:23.680 as a relation in comparison or into relationship to your income, 0:05:24.400 --> 0:05:27.800 you know, was that still a significant multiple of your 0:05:27.800 --> 0:05:30.640 income to be able to afford and pay for that. Yeah. 0:05:30.839 --> 0:05:35.200 So back when we bought our home, we were earning 0:05:35.240 --> 0:05:40.479 about one hundred and twenty one hundred and thirty growths combined. 0:05:40.839 --> 0:05:44.400 So that's still a big stretch, you know, not like you, 0:05:44.400 --> 0:05:47.640 you know, you're earning two hundred and fifty thousand dollars 0:05:47.680 --> 0:05:49.720 year and bought a five hundred thousand dollar property. It's 0:05:49.720 --> 0:05:53.960 still you know, possibility. And I'm sure you borrow conservatively, 0:05:54.000 --> 0:05:56.400 you know that golden rule of spend less than you 0:05:56.480 --> 0:05:59.480 earn and borrow less than you can afford. I'm sure, 0:05:59.520 --> 0:06:02.520 But still so people would the old wow tiny mortgage. 0:06:02.839 --> 0:06:06.680 It's all in perspective here, okay. And so you know 0:06:06.920 --> 0:06:09.000 you were still on that lifestyle creeper like you were 0:06:09.040 --> 0:06:14.240 still living it up. Yeah, paycheck to paycheck, but you've 0:06:14.279 --> 0:06:16.320 now got a year into your mortgage. 0:06:17.440 --> 0:06:21.400 So yeah, a year in town mortgage. We were actually 0:06:21.400 --> 0:06:25.040 not doing anything differently. We spent everything we made, we 0:06:25.080 --> 0:06:28.440 went on holiday, we bought things for the house. And 0:06:29.240 --> 0:06:33.279 I guess there's two things that was their drive for 0:06:33.440 --> 0:06:38.440 us changing. So number one was after a year, we're like, okay, 0:06:38.640 --> 0:06:40.600 we should probably just have a look at it and 0:06:40.800 --> 0:06:44.480 see how much we've paid off. And as your know, 0:06:44.760 --> 0:06:48.919 but we didn't. I think like thirty thousand was the 0:06:49.040 --> 0:06:51.680 interest roughly that we're paid. 0:06:52.320 --> 0:06:54.719 Yeah. When people say rent, mind's dead money, but so 0:06:54.960 --> 0:06:58.440 is interest. Yeah, And I always say to people, look 0:06:58.520 --> 0:07:01.080 at your mortgage repayment. It's like, look, when you go 0:07:01.120 --> 0:07:03.360 and pay your mortgage, don't don't think of it as rent. 0:07:03.400 --> 0:07:06.920 Going into payments and look on your internet banking where 0:07:06.920 --> 0:07:09.520 you can see, you know, mortgage repayment, you know, four 0:07:09.520 --> 0:07:13.160 thousand dollars interest four thousand, sorry, three thousand, seven hundred. 0:07:13.200 --> 0:07:17.520 Like it's quite It's very sobering, isn't it. Yeah. 0:07:17.760 --> 0:07:22.160 Yeah, and only about like five thousand was towards the 0:07:22.240 --> 0:07:26.320 principal or the actual loan, And that was really shocking. 0:07:26.520 --> 0:07:31.800 And even like I did mortgage calculations back at university 0:07:31.840 --> 0:07:35.080 because that was one of our papers, property finance, but 0:07:35.240 --> 0:07:36.800 I still didn't click. 0:07:37.360 --> 0:07:39.119 So that was one. 0:07:40.160 --> 0:07:43.400 The second was there was a lot of restructure going 0:07:43.440 --> 0:07:49.640 on with my husband's job, and that was terrifying. Like 0:07:49.760 --> 0:07:52.320 I didn't we didn't have an emergency fund. I didn't 0:07:52.360 --> 0:07:54.800 even know what that was back at the time. So 0:07:54.920 --> 0:07:58.640 that's how you know, little I knew about personal finance, 0:07:58.800 --> 0:08:02.000 and we definitely could and have lived off my income. 0:08:02.880 --> 0:08:07.840 So that was when my husband said, oh, we really 0:08:07.880 --> 0:08:11.400 need to pay off this mortgage. And I was like, no, 0:08:11.520 --> 0:08:16.960 people have mortgages for twenty thirty years hours of alone. Yes, 0:08:17.080 --> 0:08:20.000 it's going to happen, but it's not going to happen now, Like, 0:08:20.480 --> 0:08:23.480 you know, what are you saying this crazy? 0:08:23.600 --> 0:08:23.880 Yeah? 0:08:23.960 --> 0:08:26.000 And I didn't, but I thought he was just being 0:08:26.040 --> 0:08:28.200 weird to be honest, but he was like, no, like 0:08:28.360 --> 0:08:30.880 this really bothers me. I think we should do something 0:08:30.920 --> 0:08:34.560 about it. And then I went on Google and I 0:08:34.640 --> 0:08:37.200 was really shocked to find that there were actually a 0:08:37.200 --> 0:08:40.319 lot of stories with other people that had paid off 0:08:40.360 --> 0:08:44.840 their mortgage early, like five years, ten years, fifteen, And 0:08:45.640 --> 0:08:48.959 that kind of started my journey into learning about personal 0:08:49.000 --> 0:08:51.840 finance as well. And of course I found you that 0:08:51.960 --> 0:08:54.320 time because I knew you had quite a few you know, 0:08:54.320 --> 0:08:58.000 how to peru your mortgage early videos on your YouTube channel, 0:08:58.920 --> 0:09:01.560 and yeah, that was kind of where it all began. 0:09:02.200 --> 0:09:04.800 Wow, Oh my gosh, Well, I'm so glad you found 0:09:04.880 --> 0:09:07.719 my YouTube account. And I mean that video is I 0:09:07.840 --> 0:09:10.880 had like over one hundred thousand views. So, and it's 0:09:10.920 --> 0:09:13.440 so interesting you say this because when Tom and I 0:09:13.840 --> 0:09:16.720 before we had kids together, I remember we were sitting 0:09:16.760 --> 0:09:19.200 on the sofa at his apartment and he was like, oh, yeah, 0:09:19.200 --> 0:09:21.120 you never pay off your mortgage, No one ever does. 0:09:21.160 --> 0:09:23.000 And I was like, what are you talking about, Tom, 0:09:23.040 --> 0:09:24.760 Like that'd be ridiculous. Of course you can pay for 0:09:24.760 --> 0:09:27.640 your home loan and he was like, no, come on, 0:09:27.760 --> 0:09:30.160 like as if. And so it showed him. I was like, Okay, well, look, 0:09:30.160 --> 0:09:32.200 if you put an extra one hundred dollars per month, 0:09:32.520 --> 0:09:34.640 you'll save this much ten thousand dollars and you'll pay 0:09:34.640 --> 0:09:36.720 for your home like six months earlier. And then if 0:09:36.760 --> 0:09:39.040 you do two hundred dollars a month, and his face 0:09:39.280 --> 0:09:42.360 was just like, oh my gosh. And he ironically he's 0:09:43.040 --> 0:09:45.800 ex girlfriend, who was an accountant, had told him this, 0:09:45.880 --> 0:09:48.120 and he said, why didn't anyone ever show me I 0:09:48.120 --> 0:09:50.760 could pay extra off my homelan. I'd never one show 0:09:50.840 --> 0:09:53.480 me that you can actually save huge amounts of money, 0:09:53.600 --> 0:09:56.840 let alone time. And so that was instantly a catalyst 0:09:56.920 --> 0:09:59.400 for him to go, right, Okay, I can actually do 0:09:59.480 --> 0:10:02.040 this it actually, you know, if I can imagine it, 0:10:02.080 --> 0:10:05.880 I can do it. So and he's now just obsessed 0:10:05.880 --> 0:10:08.920 as I am as paying off our homelan together. So 0:10:09.760 --> 0:10:12.600 very very important to have that awareness, you know. So 0:10:13.000 --> 0:10:16.120 all right, you've now clicked. And it's interesting how it 0:10:16.320 --> 0:10:21.880 was the fear of I guess, instability and almost danger 0:10:21.960 --> 0:10:25.280 with your husband potentially losing his job and being without 0:10:25.280 --> 0:10:27.800 work that made you go, all right, we need to 0:10:27.800 --> 0:10:29.640 do something about this. And good on you guys were 0:10:29.679 --> 0:10:32.800 coming together as a team. That's so powerful. What did 0:10:32.840 --> 0:10:35.040 you do then, like you go, okay, all right, I 0:10:35.080 --> 0:10:36.760 get it, it's important to pay this off. Like what 0:10:36.840 --> 0:10:38.080 was the first thing you did? 0:10:38.480 --> 0:10:42.120 Yeah, so the first thing I did. And to be honest, 0:10:42.800 --> 0:10:45.520 in the beginning, like we were just winghing it. There 0:10:45.640 --> 0:10:50.640 was no amazing, perfect master plan that we came up with. 0:10:50.880 --> 0:10:53.880 I obviously watched your videos. I listened to a lot 0:10:53.880 --> 0:10:58.120 of podcasts where to love books, and we just did 0:10:58.200 --> 0:11:02.600 something very simple, which was, like yours, say, do a budget. 0:11:03.600 --> 0:11:08.520 And that's when we realize actually, even though when you 0:11:08.559 --> 0:11:11.240 don't have a budget feels like you can't cut anything 0:11:11.520 --> 0:11:14.360 on paper, if you just put down your necessities, we 0:11:14.440 --> 0:11:18.120 saw that there was some money there. And in the 0:11:18.120 --> 0:11:21.480 beginning it wasn't actually a large amount, and I think 0:11:21.559 --> 0:11:24.680 I'm really happy that we didn't see that as oh, 0:11:24.760 --> 0:11:26.920 it's only I think for Memoria would have been like 0:11:26.960 --> 0:11:30.200 around one thousand dollars extra a month that we could 0:11:30.240 --> 0:11:33.280 come up with. Yeah that's a lot, Yeah that's true. 0:11:33.520 --> 0:11:36.679 But yeah, at the time, we're like, okay, well, we 0:11:36.920 --> 0:11:40.640 have the potential to spend less and save this money. 0:11:41.080 --> 0:11:44.320 And we also, from a practical point of view, just 0:11:44.480 --> 0:11:46.760 checked with our bank in terms of how we could 0:11:46.800 --> 0:11:52.360 go about paying off more repayments. So unfortunately, our loan 0:11:52.520 --> 0:11:55.200 was structured because it was fex for like a year 0:11:55.280 --> 0:11:59.080 or two that you could pay up to I think 0:11:59.120 --> 0:12:02.480 it was one thousand dollars off a month extra each month, 0:12:02.800 --> 0:12:06.600 but you had to commit to that until that term 0:12:06.600 --> 0:12:07.200 ex by it. 0:12:08.000 --> 0:12:09.160 But yeah, because we. 0:12:09.160 --> 0:12:12.760 Didn't have an emergency fund that we didn't want, we 0:12:12.880 --> 0:12:16.280 didn't feel comfortable doing that because we're like, what if 0:12:16.280 --> 0:12:18.560 we get to month three and someone loses a job, 0:12:18.600 --> 0:12:22.080 we can't commit to even more money. So that first 0:12:22.679 --> 0:12:25.720 maybe it was about a year. We ended up just 0:12:26.240 --> 0:12:30.600 saving that and then we talked to a mortgage broker 0:12:30.760 --> 0:12:34.079 and by then we kind of figured out a revolving 0:12:34.160 --> 0:12:38.160 credit was probably the best way for us to have 0:12:38.240 --> 0:12:43.600 the flexibility of paying extra, but also because we didn't 0:12:43.679 --> 0:12:48.000 have a separate emergency fund to take out that money 0:12:48.000 --> 0:12:52.040 if we really needed to, because our bank also didn't 0:12:52.080 --> 0:12:58.600 offer offset accounts, which would have been better. And so yeah, 0:12:58.679 --> 0:13:02.520 I guess pretty much from there on it was we 0:13:02.559 --> 0:13:05.520 would kind of have a goal of what we could 0:13:05.679 --> 0:13:09.920 We thought we could make an extra payments that year 0:13:10.679 --> 0:13:13.400 and have that as of revolving credits. So in the 0:13:13.440 --> 0:13:16.880 beginning it would have only been like maybe ten twenty thousand, 0:13:17.679 --> 0:13:21.520 and towards the very end of our journey where we 0:13:21.600 --> 0:13:27.640 had seen big increases in our income, that was sixty thousand, 0:13:28.160 --> 0:13:31.280 and I think because of COVID we didn't actually spend 0:13:31.320 --> 0:13:33.320 money on holidays, so I think we even had like 0:13:33.360 --> 0:13:36.640 twenty thousand extra by the time we had filled up 0:13:36.960 --> 0:13:38.559 that sexty in that last year. 0:13:39.160 --> 0:13:42.760 That's amazing, it really, that's incredible. It's amazing there we are. 0:13:42.920 --> 0:13:45.600 You know, compounding interest is when it comes to building wealth, 0:13:45.640 --> 0:13:48.520 is phenomenal. But also you know, the reverse impact of 0:13:48.559 --> 0:13:50.760 compounding interest when you're trying to pay off debt is 0:13:50.880 --> 0:13:54.280 very powerful and the biggest impact you can make in 0:13:54.360 --> 0:13:57.160 saving yourself tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands 0:13:57.200 --> 0:14:00.880 of dollars in interest and time. Is actually in the 0:14:00.880 --> 0:14:03.719 first five years of your home loan. The harder you 0:14:03.760 --> 0:14:08.080 can go sooner the better. Yeah. You know, as you said, like, 0:14:08.160 --> 0:14:11.280 it's you know what sounds like you guys, you just 0:14:11.320 --> 0:14:13.200 had lots of little goals to focus on at the 0:14:13.240 --> 0:14:16.439 time that then obviously added up to be one massive, 0:14:16.520 --> 0:14:17.720 big goal being achieved. 0:14:18.120 --> 0:14:21.360 Yeah, And I think it helped because we were already 0:14:21.560 --> 0:14:25.440 on that kind of habit of saying, okay, let's set 0:14:25.440 --> 0:14:29.160 our goal. As our income grew, we might have spent 0:14:29.240 --> 0:14:32.120 a little bit more like on a one off holiday. 0:14:32.200 --> 0:14:34.560 I mean, to be honest, we took maybe one holiday 0:14:34.640 --> 0:14:34.960 a year. 0:14:35.600 --> 0:14:36.600 That's really good. 0:14:36.800 --> 0:14:41.000 But yeah, but you know, our as our incomes grew, 0:14:41.320 --> 0:14:45.200 we directed that to the mortgage. And one thing that 0:14:45.320 --> 0:14:47.520 did really help us, and I know you talk about 0:14:47.560 --> 0:14:52.960 gamifying your finances all, yeah, is we gamified trying to 0:14:53.080 --> 0:14:57.400 live off one income and use the other income to 0:14:58.280 --> 0:15:01.840 basically kill out mortgage. So in the beginning it was 0:15:01.880 --> 0:15:04.560 like little steps like just being able to pay our 0:15:04.640 --> 0:15:09.840 basic necessities nothing fun with the higher income, and eventually 0:15:09.880 --> 0:15:15.240 we were able to pay everything including fun things with 0:15:15.600 --> 0:15:18.680 our lot income, which was mine, so and that was 0:15:19.600 --> 0:15:21.600 you know, over a long time. It wasn't like it 0:15:21.840 --> 0:15:24.080 happens stand away that we could live off on income. 0:15:24.200 --> 0:15:26.440 That was those little goals that would make me be like, 0:15:26.840 --> 0:15:30.000 how can I cut this to make it fit into 0:15:30.040 --> 0:15:30.680 this income? 0:15:31.240 --> 0:15:34.440 How powerful? And I love that idea of living off 0:15:34.560 --> 0:15:36.400 if you can. You're in a situation where you can 0:15:36.520 --> 0:15:39.040 live off one person's income and then all the other 0:15:39.040 --> 0:15:40.320 goes to the mortgage. Obviously you've got to be on 0:15:40.360 --> 0:15:43.040 the same page. You've got to have obviously respect and 0:15:43.040 --> 0:15:46.160 boundaries and transparency and even you know, you know, an 0:15:46.200 --> 0:15:49.240 agreement in place. But it is definitely if you, if 0:15:49.280 --> 0:15:52.840 any couple can do that is it really does supercharge 0:15:52.840 --> 0:15:58.320 your mortgage reduction journey. How valuable was the conversation with 0:15:58.400 --> 0:16:02.000 your mortgage broker leaving this school, because it sounds like 0:16:02.040 --> 0:16:05.080 you really did educate you about understanding your mortgage where 0:16:05.080 --> 0:16:06.840 it was probably maybe had a bit of a black 0:16:06.840 --> 0:16:08.320 hole around the numbers previously. 0:16:08.720 --> 0:16:12.600 Yeah, So to be honest, I feel like when we 0:16:12.640 --> 0:16:16.600 met with her, she kind of already had like we 0:16:16.720 --> 0:16:20.680 already kind of had a game plan and we're like, hey, 0:16:20.840 --> 0:16:22.720 this is what we want to do. We want to 0:16:22.760 --> 0:16:25.240 pay off our mortgage rely, and we were thinking of 0:16:25.920 --> 0:16:27.400 using our revolving credit. 0:16:27.520 --> 0:16:28.880 What you think and. 0:16:28.720 --> 0:16:31.720 She was really supportive, which was great, but she did say, 0:16:32.000 --> 0:16:36.240 look like revolving credit, most people use that because they 0:16:36.720 --> 0:16:40.120 want to pay off their mortgage early. They do need 0:16:40.160 --> 0:16:43.240 to caution you that it can be quite dangerous and 0:16:43.320 --> 0:16:46.240 some people end up just spending it all again. 0:16:46.520 --> 0:16:50.640 So yeah, I completely agree with that advice. And this 0:16:50.720 --> 0:16:53.200 is why having a good mortgage broker is so incredibly important. 0:16:53.240 --> 0:16:55.400 You know, that's that's they can actually give you that 0:16:55.480 --> 0:16:59.880 word of warning. Yeah, is priceless. But she's right, and 0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:03.040 I've seen this, you know where quite often people banks 0:17:03.040 --> 0:17:05.359 attached like a credit card, and so they tell people, Okay, 0:17:05.720 --> 0:17:07.840 you know, put all your pay into this account which 0:17:07.880 --> 0:17:09.480 is like an offset account, and then live off the 0:17:09.480 --> 0:17:11.720 credit card so you earn lots of points and then 0:17:12.080 --> 0:17:14.199 you know, you just do these sweeps across. But the 0:17:14.280 --> 0:17:17.120 thing is in reality, because you're spending credit, and there 0:17:17.200 --> 0:17:19.880 is all these scientific studies around us spending more money 0:17:19.880 --> 0:17:21.800 when we space for things on credit than we do 0:17:21.840 --> 0:17:24.440 when we pay cash, you end up like either going 0:17:24.480 --> 0:17:27.280 backwards or just keeping ahead of the water and on 0:17:27.480 --> 0:17:30.000 paper it looks good, but in reality does not play 0:17:30.040 --> 0:17:32.880 out like that and people end up like so many 0:17:32.920 --> 0:17:36.119 times as a financial planner, people would come to me 0:17:36.200 --> 0:17:37.959 with this and they'd be like, the bank put us 0:17:37.960 --> 0:17:40.040 on this, it's not working. We're actually in so much 0:17:40.119 --> 0:17:42.320 credit card debt now, plus the mortgage hasn't done anything, 0:17:42.400 --> 0:17:44.639 and another two years has gone by, like and I'm like, 0:17:44.720 --> 0:17:47.040 all right, let's you know this is not the right 0:17:47.040 --> 0:17:49.720 structure for you. The banks, you've never done this. Let's 0:17:50.119 --> 0:17:52.960 trim it all back, keep it no frills, home loan 0:17:53.359 --> 0:17:56.760 read or facility if an offset account maybe, and let's 0:17:56.760 --> 0:17:59.040 get you a mortgage broker that can fix all of 0:17:59.080 --> 0:18:00.679 this and get you back on I can also make 0:18:00.760 --> 0:18:03.520 up for lost time. So you know, great advice from 0:18:03.520 --> 0:18:05.320 your mortgage broken. It makes me so happy because I 0:18:05.320 --> 0:18:07.320 hear a lot of bad stories about mortgage brokers, which 0:18:07.480 --> 0:18:10.160 which is why I only have one in my life, 0:18:11.080 --> 0:18:12.800 you know. So that's so good that there are good 0:18:12.840 --> 0:18:13.840 quality ones out there. 0:18:13.920 --> 0:18:17.159 Yeah, And I'm so glad you actually brought that up, 0:18:17.240 --> 0:18:20.880 because that method you just talked about was the ones 0:18:21.240 --> 0:18:25.160 that I came across a lot. And I guess this 0:18:25.200 --> 0:18:28.520 is about knowing yourself. I knew for me, like I 0:18:28.560 --> 0:18:32.240 am quite an impulsive spender and back from my paycheck 0:18:32.280 --> 0:18:36.520 to paycheck days, I have a tendency to like spending 0:18:36.600 --> 0:18:41.480 things down to zero. So how we actually did the 0:18:41.520 --> 0:18:48.040 revolving credit was we agreed as a couple like this 0:18:48.280 --> 0:18:51.679 is a one way street. We're going to put money 0:18:51.720 --> 0:18:55.840 in and unless it's a true emergency, we're never going 0:18:55.920 --> 0:18:58.720 to take it out. And in that six years that 0:18:58.760 --> 0:19:02.359 we were paying offer, like, we never took any money 0:19:02.359 --> 0:19:06.440 out because I knew once you kind of break that seal. 0:19:07.240 --> 0:19:13.240 It becomes a slight pretty slope. So yeah, yeah, absolutely, 0:19:13.840 --> 0:19:16.480 And you know people tap into the emergency money once 0:19:16.480 --> 0:19:18.200 they've done that is you said, you break the seal, 0:19:18.280 --> 0:19:22.320 break the ice, and then people blur their justification as 0:19:22.400 --> 0:19:26.240 to what a real emergency is. You know, yeah, we 0:19:26.320 --> 0:19:29.480 can come up you know, it's human nature. We can 0:19:29.480 --> 0:19:33.800 come up with so many excuses, creating excuses to justify 0:19:33.880 --> 0:19:37.719 anything our lives. So you know that self awareness is 0:19:37.840 --> 0:19:41.160 very powerful. Can I talk to you about you know, 0:19:41.359 --> 0:19:45.520 the lifestyle creep and was it hard to go? All right, 0:19:45.720 --> 0:19:47.439 We're not going to have lots of holidays year, We're 0:19:47.440 --> 0:19:48.640 just going to have one, which I have to say, 0:19:48.640 --> 0:19:53.119 even one holiday year I think is an amazing luxury. Like, 0:19:53.400 --> 0:19:55.760 was it hard for you? Did you ever think, oh, 0:19:55.840 --> 0:19:59.040 I just stuff that, let's just you know, not worry 0:19:59.040 --> 0:20:00.920 abot the mortgage as much, slow down a bit or 0:20:00.960 --> 0:20:05.800 take off and have more balance. Or was the sensation 0:20:06.080 --> 0:20:10.720 of freedom and control and that stress off your shoulders 0:20:10.960 --> 0:20:14.240 completely outweigh having buying stuff in your life. 0:20:14.920 --> 0:20:19.000 Yeah, I mean, to be honest, I would be lying 0:20:19.040 --> 0:20:21.520 if I said no. I never felt like when I 0:20:21.600 --> 0:20:24.040 saw friends. Let's say, we had some friends that I 0:20:24.119 --> 0:20:26.879 knew were on a similar income to us and similar 0:20:26.880 --> 0:20:30.399 mortgage to us, and they would be going away like five, 0:20:30.960 --> 0:20:32.800 you know, eight times a year because they didn't have 0:20:32.920 --> 0:20:37.040 kids either, And sometimes I'm like, wow, you know, that's 0:20:37.119 --> 0:20:42.600 pretty nice. But I think also because I did consume 0:20:42.760 --> 0:20:47.360 a lot of financial content, like watching your videos, listening 0:20:47.400 --> 0:20:50.760 to podcasts, and reading books, I think I was trying 0:20:50.800 --> 0:20:55.920 to surround myself with people that were trying to reach 0:20:56.040 --> 0:21:02.400 their money goals and trying to just redirect my attention 0:21:02.760 --> 0:21:05.959 to you know, our why why we want to do this? 0:21:06.040 --> 0:21:08.200 When it write out that way, and I think over 0:21:08.240 --> 0:21:12.800 time it gets easier and especially when you see the 0:21:12.840 --> 0:21:16.879 momentum and you can see the progress you're making, I 0:21:16.920 --> 0:21:19.640 think that makes it a lot easier. And I think 0:21:19.720 --> 0:21:26.480 also just flipping any negative stories or thoughts or phomo 0:21:26.600 --> 0:21:29.960 that I had to gratitude, Like you said, even you know, 0:21:30.080 --> 0:21:34.320 one holiday, Wow, we can take one holiday that's really 0:21:34.359 --> 0:21:38.200 meaningful to us, even when we're paying off our mortgage early. 0:21:38.720 --> 0:21:41.600 How great is that rather than thinking I could. 0:21:41.440 --> 0:21:43.520 Have had five. Well, they say, like too much of 0:21:43.520 --> 0:21:46.480 a good thing is not good for you, you know, 0:21:46.560 --> 0:21:49.480 like going on holiday all the time, like lose your 0:21:49.520 --> 0:21:53.960 sense of appreciation and gratitude for that that thing. Like 0:21:54.000 --> 0:21:56.720 it's like going to a restaurant every week, you know, 0:21:56.760 --> 0:21:59.119 it become just the norm who cares? Whereas to go 0:21:59.240 --> 0:22:01.679 to a response once every three months or just for 0:22:01.680 --> 0:22:04.720 special occasions, it's so much more meaningful. And you know, 0:22:05.320 --> 0:22:07.840 I was reading the other day about the dopamine hit 0:22:08.320 --> 0:22:11.000 and it's actually not in the in the receiving of 0:22:11.000 --> 0:22:13.520 the items, actually in the anticipation of that of that 0:22:13.600 --> 0:22:18.439 item or that experience. So you know, delayed gratification is 0:22:18.560 --> 0:22:22.080 very very powerful. And I bet now you know you 0:22:22.160 --> 0:22:24.560 were so glad you made those sacrifices because financially you'd 0:22:24.600 --> 0:22:26.600 probably be a lot more ahead than those friends of 0:22:26.640 --> 0:22:29.439 yours that were going on five holidays a year, you know, 0:22:29.880 --> 0:22:32.520 to where you are now, Like mortgage freeze is huge 0:22:32.640 --> 0:22:34.960 especially is insane? 0:22:35.440 --> 0:22:37.960 Yeah, and it's just thinking about, wow, now we're not 0:22:38.040 --> 0:22:42.280