The "three"happiest days...

[Desert_Captain]

Now we all know that Rving and recreational boating share much in common and we have all heard that the two happiest days {in either} are the day you buy and the day you sell.

If I may be so bold I submit there is a third, eqully joyous day...

The day you pay the damned thing off... and yes, for us today is that day. We bought our 2012 Neus Phantom 23P used on July 31st 2013 at LaMesa RV here in Tucson. It had just 6,205 miles on it and we paid $47,600 but saved $600 in sales tax by doing a trade. We traded our Fleetwood 22' TT {getting a reasonable $8,000 for it... after a little "negotiating"} added in $10K that I got from selling our F-150 SCab {I still miss that truck}.

The whole deal with taxes, junk fees and registraion came to something a bit north of $51K which we financed for 15 years at 4.99 percent generating payments of $268.46. The method to my madness was to have the ability to reuce the principle often but at my convenience as month to month finances permitted and I set a goal of paying it off i n 7.5 years but managed to pull it off in exactly 6. By so doing I saved $8,118 in interest not paid, a tidy sum to be sure.

Last months payment brought the principle down to just under $800 so I called B of A this morning and zeroed it out...I am done!

As we look back on 6 fabulous, trouble fee years of more than 50,000 miles across this incredible country we can only imagine what adventures lie ahead.

This was taken at MCArthur- Burney Falls in Northern California {near Lassen} on 9/13/13:



Woo hoo!

:B

[Cloud_Dancer]

Don't do like I did,...do better. (except for my 07 4x4 GMC Envoy)

[Matt_Colie]

I completely agree with Zingerlite. I know we are different than many. Being a waterman, having to let go of my last boat was a time of great emotional pain. The situation demanded it. I couldn't let her sit there on the trailer/cradle where I could see her any longer.

We already owned the coach, I transferred its primary use to the boat work business. When our situation changed, I got to use her as an RV. For those years between, she had been a mobile tool crib, an office and meeting room, the service shop for small electronic instruments, and also the irregular restaurant and motel. We have developed the same bond that a waterman has with his vessel, and I she ever has to leave, I know I will have another very bad day.

The ownership time for both did create memories and experiences that will stay with both DW and I for as long as we have memories.

Matt

[Mmaxed]

We kinda had the opposite happen when we bought our Fuzion. We had saved enough to pay cash, but when trying to get the price we wanted were a couple thousand apart. I finally told the wife "let's go and think about it. That prompted the dealer to come back at our price if we would finance through them and not pay off the note for at least 6 months so that they could get the kick back. Worked for both of us.

[Desert_Captain]

We were able to retire early, at 53 & 55, because we figured out the key that every financial planner completely misses. Retiring comfortably is NOT about having "X" amount of money. You do not need a lot of income "IF" you have little or no "Outgo". Everything we own is paid for {completeing this equation with the last payment on the RV}.

As you approach retirement you should be in your prime earning years. Get aggressive about reducing your financial obligations. Put a 15 year loan on the house and accelerate the principle reduction with additional payments whenever possible. Pay off your cars, zero out those darned credit cards and learn to live within your means. If you enter retirement debt free whatever income you have will go so much further.

We don't make a lot of money between my wifes retirement and our SS but we live very well, travel extensively and enjoy life to the fullest everyday. Wherever possible we do pay cash for the major purchases and if not double up on the payments and retire the debt early. By doing so we have established near perfect credit {FICO of 840}.

As always... opinions and YMMV.

:C

[ZINGERLITE]

i never understood the "2 happiest days" comments.

Boating and RV'ing your doing it wrong! lol

[georgelesley]

One of the nice things about being debt free is that if an emergency comes along and forces you to borrow some money unexpectedly, you can pay it off very fast and be debt free again quickly. We had to buy a new toad when the old one crapped out last year. Ford Focus owners will feel our pain. We had planned on keeping it forever. After trade we had a $24000 new car loan. We took the company financing and saved $500 and immediately refinanced with our credit union at a much lower rate. That was in Dec 2018. In Dec this year we will be debt free again because we have been paying an extra $1500 a month on the loan.

We did upset the dealer when we refinanced the car so fast because the $500 price discount we received by company financing went back to them to make good. At the time of purchase I asked what if we pay it off early? The finance person then hemmed and hawed and eventually told us that we needed to keep it for three months or we would lose the “insurance”. I do not like being lied to and upon further investigation found out that if we kept the loan three months the dealer would not be charged back the $500 discount. You guessed it, in three months you will have paid almost all of the $500 back in interest.

We never made a payment to them and saved several hundred $$ by doing that and have paid little interest this year by getting a much lower rate locally and accelerating the payments so fast which we could only do since we are otherwise debt free.

Another benefit of being able to save for routine expenses like insurance is now paying annually rather than by the month is about a 10% savings on the premium.

The peace of mind is priceless.

[2012Coleman]

beemerphile1 wrote:
Congratulations, I would suggest now that you save those payments so next time you can pay cash.

Oh here we go...

[ReneeG]

time2roll wrote:

Seems to be a big mystery how to pay a 15+ year loan off well before the due date.

For us, we paid off the TV first having applied the paid off car payment to it. Then we turned around and applied those payments to the FW. Now that TV and FW are paid off, those payments are being applied to the house. That will be paid in full next year, two years earlier than retirement. We will be debt free and I will be calling Dave Ramsey!

[Crowe]

Seems to be a big mystery how to pay a 15+ year loan off well before the due date.

Not in the least. It actually takes very little. Adding even as little as $20/month extra towards principle will chip away at the overall length of time and interest paid. It's well worth it.

[philh]

Very unAmerican to not be in hock up to your eyeballs 🙂

Congrats!

[beemerphile1]

Congratulations, I would suggest now that you save those payments so next time you can pay cash.

[Desert_Captain]

time2roll wrote:
Congratulations on the hard work and diligence!

Seems to be a big mystery how to pay a 15+ year loan off well before the due date.

The approach that I took for 6 years was that anytime I could set aside some extra money I would put it towards principle reduction. Making double payments cuts the term in half but anything you can throw at the principle is money back in your pocket.

Not many 4.99 percent CD's to found out there these days but every time I sent them an extra thousand or two that was what I was getting no fees, no fuss no muss... just a couple of grand that I would not be paying 4.99 on.

Recently paid $8,450 for a nice 2017 Polaris RZR and what a coincidence... pretty close to what I saved in interest on the coach. Yep, we always find a way to spend whatever we save but sure do have a lot of enjoyment out of my toys.

:B

[time2roll]

Congratulations on the hard work and diligence!

Seems to be a big mystery how to pay a 15+ year loan off well before the due date.

[mountainkowboy]

We've "owned" ours for what seems like forever now......