Positive images of financial freedom

Warning:  This financial freedom post may be a bit goofy and feel-good.  If you agree with the post, don't worry, I won't tell.  🙂

This month we crossed below the $20,000 barrier on our rental house.  Each payment is now mostly principal, and the picture of owning the house outright is clearer month by month.

Celebrating milestone amounts, or even any old amount, makes the loan repayment process more encouraging.  The brass ring, of course, is full repayment of the loan, and after 17 years of home ownership, we'll finally feel that for real.

Financial freedom thoughts are happy thoughts

The party's in full swing when that happens but it's still fun to set up for the party with some mental images:

• When you're close to paying off a loan, you have more payoff options.  A few years ago, we would have had to do something really drastic like liquidate our IRAs to pay off the house.  Now, we're starting to have some other options should we want to pay the whole thing off.
• When you're close to paying off a loan, you can really start to plan for what to do with the new-found discretionary income.  Having a paid-for house will happen in 2018 for us, if we continue our current repayment schedule.  It's 2016 now.  Two years flies by.
• When you're close to paying off a loan, you look for ways to speed it up even more, and it's easier to see an accelerated repayment plan through to the end.  An extra $100/month on our loan will shave three payments off.  We did that kind of additional repayment with our van loan, and we could do it again.

It's even more fun to envision that the payoff has happened already.  Looking forward to the feeling, even for a small amount of time along the way, makes the payoff that much more awesome when it happens.

For us, repaying this loan will free up nearly $10,000 per year!  Off the top of my head here's how great that will feel:

• Within six months this will provide the cushion to replace a big item (central heat / AC or roof) on the house.  With both of these getting old, having the means to pay for them will be comforting.
• Once that's done, we could take a very, very nice vacation periodically to the beach, out West, or even abroad.  I've never been on a cruise; maybe it's time!
• With our second biggest loan retired, our credit rating will improve from the lower debt-to-income ratio.
• Saving up for newer vehicles is waaaaay easier with that mortgage put to rest.  Getting enough saved up for a sedan is well within reach over 15-18 months.
• Or … how about accelerating the repayment on our primary mortgage?  The final dragon to slay on the way to financial freedom.

Why all the happy happy?

You may have noticed that I tried to avoid negative terms in the post.

That was deliberate.  It's part of a personal experiment of sorts in seeing what happens by putting a positive spin on where we're going.  That's one of the main recommendations of Trevor Blake's Three Simple Steps, which holds that we'll get more of what we think about, good or bad.

When good auto racers drive, they look where they want to go.  If they get hit, pop a tire, etc., and start heading toward the wall, they look away from the wall, not toward it.  If they look at the wall, they'll head toward it … not what they want!

It's the same thing with the not-so-good parts of our lives, whether it's financial, physical, mental, or what have you.  If we think about how debt reduction, debt payoff, debt, debt, debt, we'll see more of it in our lives, whether we mean it to or not, because our actions will gear toward that outcome.  Conversely, if we think about financial freedom, then we'll be setting ourselves up for that.

In other words, it's less about “paying off debt” and more about “owning free and clear.”  It's less about “doing without” and more about “working within.”

Doing this kind of thing is simple (as Trevor puts it) and doesn't cost anything. Nothing to lose, and everything to gain.  And, if nothing else, it's more pleasant to think about, right?

Still with me?  Give positive thinking a shot and see where it takes you!