David- About 7 years ago I purchased Smart Couples Finish Rich. At the time I just got married and was doing my best to get our finances in order. I’ve always been a saver, but your words gave me the added drive and focus I needed to meet my #1 financial goal of home ownership. I remember being blown away the first time I read about how the #1 financial mistake couples make is having a 30 year mortgage. At the time all of our friends were buying homes. But instead of taking the mortgage debt plunge we decided to wait and save instead. It was hard at first being one of the few people who were still renting. But in the end it paid off huge. After five years of very disciplined saving my wife and I purchased our first home. We paid a big down payment on the house so we would have a small monthly mortgage payment. In fact our mortgage payment now is half of what we were paying to rent! Not only that, but we still got a great price for the home (post housing crash), a great rate, and a first time homebuyers credit from Uncle Sam. After we purchased the home we took our savings and started making some big additional principle payments on the home. It’s absolutely amazing what we’re saving in interest! In less than 2 years we took our 30 year mortgage down to 6 years. Now we’re at the point where we could easily pay off the mortgage with plenty of funds still left in our emergency reserve. But we’re going to wait just because of tax purposes and amazingly low amortization rates. I’m 33 years old and I’m proud to say that I could flat out own my house free and clear tomorrow if I wanted to. Thank you for your advice. I know it ended up saving me tens of thousands of dollars. More than that I have a great home for my wife and two daughters. You’re right, debt-free home ownership is a goal worth striving for.

Nick Foerster
Madison, WI