Speaker 1: Mortgage free by thirty four. Could you even imagine this? Well,
Speaker 1: let's talk to Kathy who managed to do this in
Speaker 1: less than seven years. She's going to share with us
Speaker 1: exactly what she did, where she found out what to do,
Speaker 1: and what was her biggest source of inspiration and motivation
Speaker 1: to keep going with this powerful financial goal. Welcome back
Speaker 1: everyone to Sugar Mama's Fireplay, the podcast that fills you
Speaker 1: with inspiration, motivation, and education when it comes to efficiently
Speaker 1: achieving your financial goals and dreams. Before we begin today's
Speaker 1: episode where I chat with Kathy, who is managed to
Speaker 1: have her mortgage off by age thirty four, I want
Speaker 1: to do a quick reminder that all of my content
Speaker 1: is general in nature. It is never personal advice. Device
Speaker 1: also treat strategic advice, so please keep that in mind.
Speaker 1: All right, enough from me, Let's just hit play and
Speaker 1: let's hear from Kathy, who is mortgage free at age
Speaker 1: thirty four. I have a feeling that we're all going
Speaker 1: to learn a lot from Kathy, including myself. Kathy, Good morning,
Speaker 1: how are you?
Speaker 2: I well, thank you, and thank you so much for
Speaker 2: having me on your podcast today. I've been a big
Speaker 2: fan of yours and You've been a big part of
Speaker 2: my journey as well in terms of motivation and in station.
Speaker 2: So thank you for what they to do.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, my pleasure. And wow, that is a
Speaker 1: huge honor and something that I take with amazing gratitude
Speaker 1: and respect because I'm really passionate about helping everyday people
Speaker 1: and helping them realize that with a little bit of
Speaker 1: confidence and faith and some hard work along the way,
Speaker 1: it's actually quite amazing what you can do to improve
Speaker 1: your financial wellbeing and go from strength to strength. Wants
Speaker 1: to get into the flow of it all. So can
Speaker 1: you tell me a little bit about yourself, like where
Speaker 1: you live, what you do, and then we can sort
Speaker 1: of dive into this crazy idea of being mortgage free
Speaker 1: at thirty four. I'm so jealous.
Speaker 2: Yeah, one hundred percent. So I live in Auckland, New Zealand,
Speaker 2: and I lived with my husband Joel, and we've got
Speaker 2: a food baby. My dog wents so hopefully he doesn't
Speaker 2: make too much noise today. And apparently I work part
Speaker 2: time and the commercial property sector as a property manager.
Speaker 2: And I also started money coaching business recently called Curative Money.
Speaker 2: And yeah, that's about me.
Speaker 1: So can we go back to before you started tackling
Speaker 1: your mortgage, like what was your lifestyle like, because I
Speaker 1: know you mentioned you went literally living paycheck to paycheck
Speaker 1: to suddenly going hardcore and paying off your mortgage. There
Speaker 1: are two very different, polar opposite worlds, like can we
Speaker 1: go to the old Cathy before we're here one?
Speaker 2: Yeah, So I guess my Monday journey started when I
Speaker 2: guess maybe when I was fourteen was when I first
Speaker 2: got into working. I worked part time at a cafe,
Speaker 2: just on the weekend.
Speaker 1: Obviously I was at school.
Speaker 2: And I think my initial motivation was to have my
Speaker 2: own money where I didn't have to ask my parents
Speaker 2: for permission to buy something. And I was reflecting back
Speaker 2: on this, and I feel like, maybe that's what caused
Speaker 2: me to be living paycheck to paycheck because I was
Speaker 2: kind of used to, Okay, all the money I earn,
Speaker 2: I spend on whatever I want.
Speaker 1: And that's so interesting. It's like the freedom almost became
Speaker 1: a like poison for you. Yeah, you took that freedom
Speaker 1: and just had like squandalous will create this squandalous life Styes, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know rat race almost and.
Speaker 2: Yes, and yeah, I think something that I thought would
Speaker 2: be and I obviously don't regret getting a job because
Speaker 2: it taught me the value of a dollar. But I
Speaker 2: think back at the time, I didn't even think about,
Speaker 2: you know, saving a bit or anything like that, and yeah,
Speaker 2: or definitely not that. And even though I saw, like
Speaker 2: my mom openly talked about her investment portfolio and how
Speaker 2: much it was worth, but that never clicked for me
Speaker 2: to ask her more, and she never kind of told
Speaker 2: me I should invest. I kind of just didn't do anything.
Speaker 2: And I think when you're young as well, you're kind
Speaker 2: of like, oh, I have time, and I'll do that later.
Speaker 2: And so really I didn't start my financial journey until
Speaker 2: one year into us having bought our home. So we
Speaker 2: bought it in twenty fourteen, And just to share some
Speaker 2: numbers because some people find that helpful, it was five
Speaker 2: hundred and fifty thousand dollars, which fork an hour is
Speaker 2: quite cheap. I think the medium price is about a million.
Speaker 1: So for everyone listening right now going, oh, well, that's
Speaker 1: such a small, you know price to pay for a property,
Speaker 1: can we just bring this back into perspective for everyone
Speaker 1: as a relation in comparison or into relationship to your income,
Speaker 1: you know, was that still a significant multiple of your
Speaker 1: income to be able to afford and pay for that. Yeah.
Speaker 2: So back when we bought our home, we were earning
Speaker 2: about one hundred and twenty one hundred and thirty growths combined.
Speaker 1: So that's still a big stretch, you know, not like you,
Speaker 1: you know, you're earning two hundred and fifty thousand dollars
Speaker 1: year and bought a five hundred thousand dollar property. It's
Speaker 1: still you know, possibility. And I'm sure you borrow conservatively,
Speaker 1: you know that golden rule of spend less than you
Speaker 1: earn and borrow less than you can afford. I'm sure,
Speaker 1: But still so people would the old wow tiny mortgage.
Speaker 1: It's all in perspective here, okay. And so you know
Speaker 1: you were still on that lifestyle creeper like you were
Speaker 1: still living it up. Yeah, paycheck to paycheck, but you've
Speaker 1: now got a year into your mortgage.
Speaker 2: So yeah, a year in town mortgage. We were actually
Speaker 2: not doing anything differently. We spent everything we made, we
Speaker 2: went on holiday, we bought things for the house. And
Speaker 2: I guess there's two things that was their drive for
Speaker 2: us changing. So number one was after a year, we're like, okay,
Speaker 2: we should probably just have a look at it and
Speaker 2: see how much we've paid off. And as your know,
Speaker 2: but we didn't. I think like thirty thousand was the
Speaker 2: interest roughly that we're paid.
Speaker 1: Yeah. When people say rent, mind's dead money, but so
Speaker 1: is interest. Yeah, And I always say to people, look
Speaker 1: at your mortgage repayment. It's like, look, when you go
Speaker 1: and pay your mortgage, don't don't think of it as rent.
Speaker 1: Going into payments and look on your internet banking where
Speaker 1: you can see, you know, mortgage repayment, you know, four
Speaker 1: thousand dollars interest four thousand, sorry, three thousand, seven hundred.
Speaker 1: Like it's quite It's very sobering, isn't it. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and only about like five thousand was towards the
Speaker 2: principal or the actual loan, And that was really shocking.
Speaker 2: And even like I did mortgage calculations back at university
Speaker 2: because that was one of our papers, property finance, but
Speaker 2: I still didn't click.
Speaker 1: So that was one.
Speaker 2: The second was there was a lot of restructure going
Speaker 2: on with my husband's job, and that was terrifying. Like
Speaker 2: I didn't we didn't have an emergency fund. I didn't
Speaker 2: even know what that was back at the time. So
Speaker 2: that's how you know, little I knew about personal finance,
Speaker 2: and we definitely could and have lived off my income.
Speaker 2: So that was when my husband said, oh, we really
Speaker 2: need to pay off this mortgage. And I was like, no,
Speaker 2: people have mortgages for twenty thirty years hours of alone. Yes,
Speaker 2: it's going to happen, but it's not going to happen now, Like,
Speaker 2: you know, what are you saying this crazy?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: And I didn't, but I thought he was just being
Speaker 2: weird to be honest, but he was like, no, like
Speaker 2: this really bothers me. I think we should do something
Speaker 2: about it. And then I went on Google and I
Speaker 2: was really shocked to find that there were actually a
Speaker 2: lot of stories with other people that had paid off
Speaker 2: their mortgage early, like five years, ten years, fifteen, And
Speaker 2: that kind of started my journey into learning about personal
Speaker 2: finance as well. And of course I found you that
Speaker 2: time because I knew you had quite a few you know,
Speaker 2: how to peru your mortgage early videos on your YouTube channel,
Speaker 2: and yeah, that was kind of where it all began.
Speaker 1: Wow, Oh my gosh, Well, I'm so glad you found
Speaker 1: my YouTube account. And I mean that video is I
Speaker 1: had like over one hundred thousand views. So, and it's
Speaker 1: so interesting you say this because when Tom and I
Speaker 1: before we had kids together, I remember we were sitting
Speaker 1: on the sofa at his apartment and he was like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: you never pay off your mortgage, No one ever does.
Speaker 1: And I was like, what are you talking about, Tom,
Speaker 1: Like that'd be ridiculous. Of course you can pay for
Speaker 1: your home loan and he was like, no, come on,
Speaker 1: like as if. And so it showed him. I was like, Okay, well, look,
Speaker 1: if you put an extra one hundred dollars per month,
Speaker 1: you'll save this much ten thousand dollars and you'll pay
Speaker 1: for your home like six months earlier. And then if
Speaker 1: you do two hundred dollars a month, and his face
Speaker 1: was just like, oh my gosh. And he ironically he's
Speaker 1: ex girlfriend, who was an accountant, had told him this,
Speaker 1: and he said, why didn't anyone ever show me I
Speaker 1: could pay extra off my homelan. I'd never one show
Speaker 1: me that you can actually save huge amounts of money,
Speaker 1: let alone time. And so that was instantly a catalyst
Speaker 1: for him to go, right, Okay, I can actually do
Speaker 1: this it actually, you know, if I can imagine it,
Speaker 1: I can do it. So and he's now just obsessed
Speaker 1: as I am as paying off our homelan together. So
Speaker 1: very very important to have that awareness, you know. So
Speaker 1: all right, you've now clicked. And it's interesting how it
Speaker 1: was the fear of I guess, instability and almost danger
Speaker 1: with your husband potentially losing his job and being without
Speaker 1: work that made you go, all right, we need to
Speaker 1: do something about this. And good on you guys were
Speaker 1: coming together as a team. That's so powerful. What did
Speaker 1: you do then, like you go, okay, all right, I
Speaker 1: get it, it's important to pay this off. Like what
Speaker 1: was the first thing you did?
Speaker 2: Yeah, so the first thing I did. And to be honest,
Speaker 2: in the beginning, like we were just winghing it. There
Speaker 2: was no amazing, perfect master plan that we came up with.
Speaker 2: I obviously watched your videos. I listened to a lot
Speaker 2: of podcasts where to love books, and we just did
Speaker 2: something very simple, which was, like yours, say, do a budget.
Speaker 2: And that's when we realize actually, even though when you
Speaker 2: don't have a budget feels like you can't cut anything
Speaker 2: on paper, if you just put down your necessities, we
Speaker 2: saw that there was some money there. And in the
Speaker 2: beginning it wasn't actually a large amount, and I think
Speaker 2: I'm really happy that we didn't see that as oh,
Speaker 2: it's only I think for Memoria would have been like
Speaker 2: around one thousand dollars extra a month that we could
Speaker 2: come up with. Yeah that's a lot, Yeah that's true.
Speaker 2: But yeah, at the time, we're like, okay, well, we
Speaker 2: have the potential to spend less and save this money.
Speaker 2: And we also, from a practical point of view, just
Speaker 2: checked with our bank in terms of how we could
Speaker 2: go about paying off more repayments. So unfortunately, our loan
Speaker 2: was structured because it was fex for like a year
Speaker 2: or two that you could pay up to I think
Speaker 2: it was one thousand dollars off a month extra each month,
Speaker 2: but you had to commit to that until that term
Speaker 2: ex by it.
Speaker 1: But yeah, because we.
Speaker 2: Didn't have an emergency fund that we didn't want, we
Speaker 2: didn't feel comfortable doing that because we're like, what if
Speaker 2: we get to month three and someone loses a job,
Speaker 2: we can't commit to even more money. So that first
Speaker 2: maybe it was about a year. We ended up just
Speaker 2: saving that and then we talked to a mortgage broker
Speaker 2: and by then we kind of figured out a revolving
Speaker 2: credit was probably the best way for us to have
Speaker 2: the flexibility of paying extra, but also because we didn't
Speaker 2: have a separate emergency fund to take out that money
Speaker 2: if we really needed to, because our bank also didn't
Speaker 2: offer offset accounts, which would have been better. And so yeah,
Speaker 2: I guess pretty much from there on it was we
Speaker 2: would kind of have a goal of what we could
Speaker 2: We thought we could make an extra payments that year
Speaker 2: and have that as of revolving credits. So in the
Speaker 2: beginning it would have only been like maybe ten twenty thousand,
Speaker 2: and towards the very end of our journey where we
Speaker 2: had seen big increases in our income, that was sixty thousand,
Speaker 2: and I think because of COVID we didn't actually spend
Speaker 2: money on holidays, so I think we even had like
Speaker 2: twenty thousand extra by the time we had filled up
Speaker 2: that sexty in that last year.
Speaker 1: That's amazing, it really, that's incredible. It's amazing there we are.
Speaker 1: You know, compounding interest is when it comes to building wealth,
Speaker 1: is phenomenal. But also you know, the reverse impact of
Speaker 1: compounding interest when you're trying to pay off debt is
Speaker 1: very powerful and the biggest impact you can make in
Speaker 1: saving yourself tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands
Speaker 1: of dollars in interest and time. Is actually in the
Speaker 1: first five years of your home loan. The harder you
Speaker 1: can go sooner the better. Yeah. You know, as you said, like,
Speaker 1: it's you know what sounds like you guys, you just
Speaker 1: had lots of little goals to focus on at the
Speaker 1: time that then obviously added up to be one massive,
Speaker 1: big goal being achieved.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I think it helped because we were already
Speaker 2: on that kind of habit of saying, okay, let's set
Speaker 2: our goal. As our income grew, we might have spent
Speaker 2: a little bit more like on a one off holiday.
Speaker 2: I mean, to be honest, we took maybe one holiday
Speaker 2: a year.
Speaker 1: That's really good.
Speaker 2: But yeah, but you know, our as our incomes grew,
Speaker 2: we directed that to the mortgage. And one thing that
Speaker 2: did really help us, and I know you talk about
Speaker 2: gamifying your finances all, yeah, is we gamified trying to
Speaker 2: live off one income and use the other income to
Speaker 2: basically kill out mortgage. So in the beginning it was
Speaker 2: like little steps like just being able to pay our
Speaker 2: basic necessities nothing fun with the higher income, and eventually
Speaker 2: we were able to pay everything including fun things with
Speaker 2: our lot income, which was mine, so and that was
Speaker 2: you know, over a long time. It wasn't like it
Speaker 2: happens stand away that we could live off on income.
Speaker 2: That was those little goals that would make me be like,
Speaker 2: how can I cut this to make it fit into
Speaker 2: this income?
Speaker 1: How powerful? And I love that idea of living off
Speaker 1: if you can. You're in a situation where you can
Speaker 1: live off one person's income and then all the other
Speaker 1: goes to the mortgage. Obviously you've got to be on
Speaker 1: the same page. You've got to have obviously respect and
Speaker 1: boundaries and transparency and even you know, you know, an
Speaker 1: agreement in place. But it is definitely if you, if
Speaker 1: any couple can do that is it really does supercharge
Speaker 1: your mortgage reduction journey. How valuable was the conversation with
Speaker 1: your mortgage broker leaving this school, because it sounds like
Speaker 1: you really did educate you about understanding your mortgage where
Speaker 1: it was probably maybe had a bit of a black
Speaker 1: hole around the numbers previously.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So to be honest, I feel like when we
Speaker 2: met with her, she kind of already had like we
Speaker 2: already kind of had a game plan and we're like, hey,
Speaker 2: this is what we want to do. We want to
Speaker 2: pay off our mortgage rely, and we were thinking of
Speaker 2: using our revolving credit.
Speaker 1: What you think and.
Speaker 2: She was really supportive, which was great, but she did say,
Speaker 2: look like revolving credit, most people use that because they
Speaker 2: want to pay off their mortgage early. They do need
Speaker 2: to caution you that it can be quite dangerous and
Speaker 2: some people end up just spending it all again.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I completely agree with that advice. And this
Speaker 1: is why having a good mortgage broker is so incredibly important.
Speaker 1: You know, that's that's they can actually give you that
Speaker 1: word of warning. Yeah, is priceless. But she's right, and
Speaker 1: I've seen this, you know where quite often people banks
Speaker 1: attached like a credit card, and so they tell people, Okay,
Speaker 1: you know, put all your pay into this account which
Speaker 1: is like an offset account, and then live off the
Speaker 1: credit card so you earn lots of points and then
Speaker 1: you know, you just do these sweeps across. But the
Speaker 1: thing is in reality, because you're spending credit, and there
Speaker 1: is all these scientific studies around us spending more money
Speaker 1: when we space for things on credit than we do
Speaker 1: when we pay cash, you end up like either going
Speaker 1: backwards or just keeping ahead of the water and on
Speaker 1: paper it looks good, but in reality does not play
Speaker 1: out like that and people end up like so many
Speaker 1: times as a financial planner, people would come to me
Speaker 1: with this and they'd be like, the bank put us
Speaker 1: on this, it's not working. We're actually in so much
Speaker 1: credit card debt now, plus the mortgage hasn't done anything,
Speaker 1: and another two years has gone by, like and I'm like,
Speaker 1: all right, let's you know this is not the right
Speaker 1: structure for you. The banks, you've never done this. Let's
Speaker 1: trim it all back, keep it no frills, home loan
Speaker 1: read or facility if an offset account maybe, and let's
Speaker 1: get you a mortgage broker that can fix all of
Speaker 1: this and get you back on I can also make
Speaker 1: up for lost time. So you know, great advice from
Speaker 1: your mortgage broken. It makes me so happy because I
Speaker 1: hear a lot of bad stories about mortgage brokers, which
Speaker 1: which is why I only have one in my life,
Speaker 1: you know. So that's so good that there are good
Speaker 1: quality ones out there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I'm so glad you actually brought that up,
Speaker 2: because that method you just talked about was the ones
Speaker 2: that I came across a lot. And I guess this
Speaker 2: is about knowing yourself. I knew for me, like I
Speaker 2: am quite an impulsive spender and back from my paycheck
Speaker 2: to paycheck days, I have a tendency to like spending
Speaker 2: things down to zero. So how we actually did the
Speaker 2: revolving credit was we agreed as a couple like this
Speaker 2: is a one way street. We're going to put money
Speaker 2: in and unless it's a true emergency, we're never going
Speaker 2: to take it out. And in that six years that
Speaker 2: we were paying offer, like, we never took any money
Speaker 2: out because I knew once you kind of break that seal.
Speaker 1: It becomes a slight pretty slope. So yeah, yeah, absolutely,
Speaker 1: And you know people tap into the emergency money once
Speaker 1: they've done that is you said, you break the seal,
Speaker 1: break the ice, and then people blur their justification as
Speaker 1: to what a real emergency is. You know, yeah, we
Speaker 1: can come up you know, it's human nature. We can
Speaker 1: come up with so many excuses, creating excuses to justify
Speaker 1: anything our lives. So you know that self awareness is
Speaker 1: very powerful. Can I talk to you about you know,
Speaker 1: the lifestyle creep and was it hard to go? All right,
Speaker 1: We're not going to have lots of holidays year, We're
Speaker 1: just going to have one, which I have to say,
Speaker 1: even one holiday year I think is an amazing luxury. Like,
Speaker 1: was it hard for you? Did you ever think, oh,
Speaker 1: I just stuff that, let's just you know, not worry
Speaker 1: abot the mortgage as much, slow down a bit or
Speaker 1: take off and have more balance. Or was the sensation
Speaker 1: of freedom and control and that stress off your shoulders
Speaker 1: completely outweigh having buying stuff in your life.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, to be honest, I would be lying
Speaker 2: if I said no. I never felt like when I
Speaker 2: saw friends. Let's say, we had some friends that I
Speaker 2: knew were on a similar income to us and similar
Speaker 2: mortgage to us, and they would be going away like five,
Speaker 2: you know, eight times a year because they didn't have
Speaker 2: kids either, And sometimes I'm like, wow, you know, that's
Speaker 2: pretty nice. But I think also because I did consume
Speaker 2: a lot of financial content, like watching your videos, listening
Speaker 2: to podcasts, and reading books, I think I was trying
Speaker 2: to surround myself with people that were trying to reach
Speaker 2: their money goals and trying to just redirect my attention
Speaker 2: to you know, our why why we want to do this?
Speaker 2: When it write out that way, and I think over
Speaker 2: time it gets easier and especially when you see the
Speaker 2: momentum and you can see the progress you're making, I
Speaker 2: think that makes it a lot easier. And I think
Speaker 2: also just flipping any negative stories or thoughts or phomo
Speaker 2: that I had to gratitude, Like you said, even you know,
Speaker 2: one holiday, Wow, we can take one holiday that's really
Speaker 2: meaningful to us, even when we're paying off our mortgage early.
Speaker 2: How great is that rather than thinking I could.
Speaker 1: Have had five. Well, they say, like too much of
Speaker 1: a good thing is not good for you, you know,
Speaker 1: like going on holiday all the time, like lose your
Speaker 1: sense of appreciation and gratitude for that that thing. Like
Speaker 1: it's like going to a restaurant every week, you know,
Speaker 1: it become just the norm who cares? Whereas to go
Speaker 1: to a response once every three months or just for
Speaker 1: special occasions, it's so much more meaningful. And you know,
Speaker 1: I was reading the other day about the dopamine hit
Speaker 1: and it's actually not in the in the receiving of
Speaker 1: the items, actually in the anticipation of that of that
Speaker 1: item or that experience. So you know, delayed gratification is
Speaker 1: very very powerful. And I bet now you know you
Speaker 1: were so glad you made those sacrifices because financially you'd
Speaker 1: probably be a lot more ahead than those friends of
Speaker 1: yours that were going on five holidays a year, you know,
Speaker 1: to where you are now, Like mortgage freeze is huge
Speaker 1: especially is insane?
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's just thinking about, wow, now we're not
Speaker 2: paying thirty thousand dollars an interest. That's a pretty nice holiday.
Speaker 1: Oh, very nice holiday. But I have to ask you
Speaker 1: what you have you replaced that goalie? You now that
Speaker 1: your mortgage free? Now are you looking at you know,
Speaker 1: you understand how important financial wellbeing is. How are you
Speaker 1: making sure that Okay, we've got all this cash flow,
Speaker 1: we've paid off a place. Do you want to grow
Speaker 1: your wealth or do you just want to ask spend
Speaker 1: all that money? Like where has this now taken you to?
Speaker 1: Is your financial well being going further now?
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, one hundred percent. We've got a new goal
Speaker 2: as well. So I think also because this is kind
Speaker 2: of even though I know, like sex or seven years
Speaker 2: doesn't seem like a long time, you do build up
Speaker 2: a habit and it becomes part of your life and
Speaker 2: it does become really easy. And I think actually switching
Speaker 2: the mindset to be like actually, now we can spend
Speaker 2: more was a bit more difficult. So our new goal
Speaker 2: is to be investing a lot more on shares and
Speaker 2: at the moment we are targeted to hit investing forty
Speaker 2: five percent of our income or this year.
Speaker 1: Wow, so that is amazing. And have you allowed now
Speaker 1: that you check that box of being morgit Frey, have
Speaker 1: you got have you allowed maybe an extra holiday per year? Like?
Speaker 1: Have you? I guess have you brought back some balance
Speaker 1: now that even chance?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Yourself?
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I think, yeah, it's definitely all about balance.
Speaker 2: So we're gonna get our laundry done this shire, which
Speaker 2: is something we've been putting off since we started the journey.
Speaker 2: So that's quite exciting. And I think as well, because
Speaker 2: we've delayed gratification, that makes it more exciting rather than
Speaker 2: if we've just done it and put it on a
Speaker 2: mortgage or something like that in the beginning. And we're
Speaker 2: actually heading off to Bali in June, so in a
Speaker 2: couple of weeks, so yeah, that'll be nice. And we're
Speaker 2: playing business class.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, I like this business class lifestyle and mortgage
Speaker 1: free lifestyle. Thank you. I need to what would you
Speaker 1: say to people right now who have got a mortgage
Speaker 1: and just feel like it's draining, is exhausting, it's overwhelming.
Speaker 1: What would you say to that person right now listening,
Speaker 1: you know who's gone through the hard work, had that
Speaker 1: wake up call, realize that they need to step up
Speaker 1: and take ownership and responsibility and gotten through not just
Speaker 1: on the journey, but you are mortgage free. Like, what
Speaker 1: is your advice?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would say definitely just think of your why
Speaker 2: and dream a little of what life could look like
Speaker 2: without a mortgage, because it's at the end of the day,
Speaker 2: it's not about just saying you don't have debt on
Speaker 2: a spreadshet because it's not really exciting, But.
Speaker 1: It's about what's.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's about what kind of what would your life
Speaker 2: look like without the mortgage. So for me, it was
Speaker 2: being able to cut down my hours, cut down my
Speaker 2: income without feeling guilty, so that I could do the
Speaker 2: things that I love and brings me joy without having
Speaker 2: to stress about how to pay for food basically, and
Speaker 2: even like I've talked to other people that paid off
Speaker 2: your mortgage, their why was so that they could not
Speaker 2: work so they could be full time parents and spend
Speaker 2: more time with their kids. So I think if you first,
Speaker 2: think of the reason. And then the second thing is,
Speaker 2: like I mentioned earlier, we didn't know what we were
Speaker 2: doing in the beginning, but we just kept taking action
Speaker 2: and as we learn more, we refined our process and
Speaker 2: how we did things. So don't stress about not doing
Speaker 2: it perfectly. And even if it's just a small amount,
Speaker 2: it does snowball and it gains momentum. And don't discount
Speaker 2: those small things and don't think because I think a
Speaker 2: lot of people I talk to they're kind of like, oh,
Speaker 2: it's such a small amount, what's the point.
Speaker 1: No, yeah, yes, yeah. And this is a shout out
Speaker 1: to the calculators on the Sugar Mama website where if
Speaker 1: you put your mortgage in there and you just rate
Speaker 1: the amount you owe and how far into the loan
Speaker 1: term you are, and you look at the impact of
Speaker 1: saying extra ten dollars per week on your home life,
Speaker 1: you will be shocked as to the amount of money
Speaker 1: you will save, Like thousands of dollars in interest you
Speaker 1: will save and time you will get back. Even just
Speaker 1: ten dollars extra a week is huge. And the other
Speaker 1: thing is is in this in these calculators you can
Speaker 1: also put in lump sums so you can say, okay,
Speaker 1: well I can afford an extra ten dollars per week
Speaker 1: of my mortgage. Look at that, and then go, okay,
Speaker 1: well I know that I'm going normally get you know,
Speaker 1: a thousand dollars back in tax each year and as
Speaker 1: a tax refund, put that in there as a lump sum,
Speaker 1: and then watch that loan term quickly come down. Look
Speaker 1: at the tens of thousands of dollars interest you can save, Like,
Speaker 1: never turn your nose up at small amounts into the
Speaker 1: home loan, even if it's two dollars, just the habit
Speaker 1: of transferring, because it grows from there. You might be
Speaker 1: two dollars, but then next week it might be ten dollars,
Speaker 1: the next it might be fifteen dollars, and the next
Speaker 1: week it might be twenty two dollars. Like it. Do
Speaker 1: you agree that it gets bigger and bigger the will
Speaker 1: you discovered you go.
Speaker 2: One hundred percent to find one hundred percent because also,
Speaker 2: as wow, what I did like about when we had
Speaker 2: our evolving credit, so you can see exactly like each
Speaker 2: month how much was interest and then as you saw,
Speaker 2: the more we paid off, the less the interest was.
Speaker 2: And that was really motivating seen that connection in terms
Speaker 2: of Wow, the more we put, the less we're paying
Speaker 2: and adjust no balls. And I think also I heard
Speaker 2: the other day from someone they were talking about how
Speaker 2: it's just starting. Because let's say you're you never exercise
Speaker 2: and you're not a runner, and someone runs ten minutes.
Speaker 2: The person that's going to run ten minutes and be
Speaker 2: able to run sixty is one hundred percent more likely
Speaker 2: going to be able to do that than someone that
Speaker 2: you know sits on the couch to run five minutes,
Speaker 2: even though that's a smaller amount. It's all about just
Speaker 2: getting the momentum starting and being that person that does something.
Speaker 1: So beautifully said like thank you so much for sharing that.
Speaker 1: It's just have a go, just get off the sofa
Speaker 1: and and do the best you can do. And you
Speaker 1: have to put ten dollars per week. If you can't
Speaker 1: afford ten dollars per week, that's fine, But if you
Speaker 1: have a spare five dollars in your wallet or in
Speaker 1: a savings account, transfer that you don't have to do
Speaker 1: it every single week necessarily if you can't, of courbviously,
Speaker 1: if you can. Brilliant, but don't underestimate random ad hoc
Speaker 1: lump some transfers, and that's why I had this built
Speaker 1: in lump some transfer calculator. You can see the powerful
Speaker 1: effect of both of them together or just using a
Speaker 1: lump some random ad hoc or regular increases as well.
Speaker 1: Like it is actually amazing what you really can do.
Speaker 1: And it's as you said tracking the homeland, like look
Speaker 1: jump online, look at your transactions, and look at the
Speaker 1: interest amount coming down every time you do that. It
Speaker 1: is a powerful source of motivation to keep going and
Speaker 1: make it actually a really fun challenge. And you know,
Speaker 1: I know when Tom and I are working on a
Speaker 1: goal together, we feel so much closer.
Speaker 2: Yeah, one hundred percent, one hundred percent, Like we had
Speaker 2: our monthly money day and I think just it was just,
Speaker 2: you know, such a big team goal that we had
Speaker 2: and it definitely brought us closer. And even my husband
Speaker 2: was saying, like, you know, I'm so proud of what
Speaker 2: we've achieved, and that was such an amazing thing that
Speaker 2: we did together, and that definitely and I did want
Speaker 2: to mention as well. So we also did start investing
Speaker 2: in twenty eighteen, so three years before we paid off
Speaker 2: our mortgage, so kind of I'm out.
Speaker 1: So that you've said that because some people think, oh,
Speaker 1: mortgage more good for mortgage only and mortgage first, Yes,
Speaker 1: non deductible debt you want to get rid of, but
Speaker 1: you can definitely. There's no rule that says you must
Speaker 1: do one or the other, like you have to pick
Speaker 1: between the two. You can do both at the same time. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: And I'm so glad you've shared that. Thank you.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, And it was more just saying because I
Speaker 2: think and it wasn't. We still concentrated on our mortgage mainly,
Speaker 2: but the reason we kind of that, and we did
Speaker 2: have a bit of a debate because my husband only.
Speaker 1: Wanted to concentrate on the home loan.
Speaker 2: But I think if we hadn't done that, it would
Speaker 2: have been quite scary to then put a big chunk
Speaker 2: of our money into investments after we paid. I think
Speaker 2: the jump would have been too big, and I don't
Speaker 2: think we would have ridden out that's and downs and
Speaker 2: volatility of the market as much.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm so this is such an inspiring story, and
Speaker 1: thank you so much for taking your time out of
Speaker 1: your day to share this with us. And I feel
Speaker 1: I feel this like rush of motivation as well, like
Speaker 1: even even though I'm honeding on my mortgage and doing
Speaker 1: all these things. It just makes me want to just
Speaker 1: go and look at my mortgage and look at where
Speaker 1: it's up to and just haven't seen my quick brainstorming
Speaker 1: session as to how I can come up with extra
Speaker 1: like a couple hundred dollars put on the homeland, because
Speaker 1: it does really make a big difference. So thank you
Speaker 1: so much, and just to you know, end with one question.
Speaker 1: If you could go back to your younger self, you're fourteen,
Speaker 1: your self working, you know, part time in a cafe,
Speaker 1: what advice would you give your younger self.
Speaker 2: Definitely start investing sooner on this. Yeah, twenty percent of
Speaker 2: your income done.
Speaker 1: Yeah, great advice for you. Thank you well for all
Speaker 1: the listeners right now, Like I think you know, I'm
Speaker 1: sure you join me in thanking Kathy for coming in
Speaker 1: and sharing her incredible story of being mortgage free at
Speaker 1: age thirty four and all and you just the rush
Speaker 1: of inspiration and motivation, and you know, I'm buzzing with
Speaker 1: the thoughts of all the different things you can now
Speaker 1: do being without having the monkey in your back, you know,
Speaker 1: the noose of a mortgage around your neck, Like it's
Speaker 1: just liberating. And you know if you're listening to this
Speaker 1: thinking what can I do? Can I just remind you,
Speaker 1: don't think about perfection. Don't look for the perfect plan,
Speaker 1: because it doesn't exist. It's actually all about progress. Start
Speaker 1: the path. Start walking on the path, and you will
Speaker 1: find your way. Things will come together, but you've got
Speaker 1: to be on that path, and you've got to be
Speaker 1: Start with what you can afford to increase your mortgage repayments.
Speaker 1: Ten dollars a week, one dollar a week, I don't care.
Speaker 1: Just start. Then, on top of that, look around you
Speaker 1: as to what you can do to come up with
Speaker 1: some extra money, whether it's one dollar, fifty dollars, five dollars,
Speaker 1: five thousand dollars, look around you, leave no stone unturned
Speaker 1: and throw it towards the mortgage. And check your mortgage
Speaker 1: on a regular basis. Look at that interest repayment coming
Speaker 1: out by the bank. Look at it as a game.
Speaker 1: Look at the way you can get that mortgage repayment down,
Speaker 1: the interest down, the time down. I promise you no
Speaker 1: one ever regretted paying off their mortgage earlier. And this
Speaker 1: is your sign to show you that you actually have
Speaker 1: everything within yourself to pay your mortgage off. So much
Speaker 1: sooner and take the stress off your shoulders, where you
Speaker 1: can then open yourself up to all the other wonderful opportunities, tools,
Speaker 1: and strategies out there to create even greater sense of
Speaker 1: financial freedom, independence and authenticity in your life. All right, everyone,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for listening. I hope that you
Speaker 1: love this episode. I know I certainly have, so if
Speaker 1: you could take a moment to leave me a rating
Speaker 1: and review, I would greatly appreciate it. And as always,
Speaker 1: if you ever have any requests for sugar Bomba's fireplate,
Speaker 1: shoot me through a dam on Instagram. Enjoy your week, everyone,
Speaker 1: chow now.