how old were you when you became debt free?

[2bfrugal]

If you are debt free, how old were you when you achieved that status?
There are very young couples on Dave Ramsey show who are calling in debt free, including their homes--some even before they are 30 years old. I think that is remarkable.

[disneysteve]

We still have a mortgage but we've been otherwise debt-free for about 6 or 7 years and I'm 47 now.

[rj.phila]

27 or 28.

[2bfrugal]

congradulations to you both and all others. its a great thing to accomplish

[nalidixic]

I'm 27 and well on my way. We've paid off all the credit cards and are working on the student loans now. Our investments have really taken off over the last two years though!

[Redraidernurse]

I'm sitting here trying to think if we've ever carried debt. We both graduated college with no student loan debt at age 22/23 and we had a car payment for about 8 months before we paid it off. Other than that our only debt ever has been our mortgage. So I guess we've kind of always been debt free?

[maat55]

I was 45, i'm now 49. I won't really consider myself debtfree until I have 0 debt including the mortgage.

[thekid]

Finished paying out the mortgage earlier this year at age 34. Never really had any other debt, except a car financing because the rate was so low as to not make sense paying it off.

It's an interesting topic, but we have to look at the more global picture. I'm sure plenty of people keep a mortgage with more than enough to pay it off that they decide to instead keep invested (which often times is a smart move in this low rate environment).

[MonkeyMama]

Debt free since age 16 or 17, except mortgage. (Borrowed for first car).

That said, I have always had a credit card (paid the balance off monthly, since age 16) and I have borrowed 0% several times when money in the bank (FDIC-insured cash) was earning more. So logistically I may have always been in some kind of debt. My spouse and I have both obviously made a very conscious effort to not get into *stupid* debt, since teenagerhood. {It doesn't just happen - being debt free - I can assure you that}.

Kudos to anyone who is 100% debt-free.

[PMMM]

Didn't get debt free until I was almost 50 and I'm 55 now. I was a slow learner. Retired about 60K in CC debt. I now only have a mortgage payment and I'm maxing out my 401K every year. I now budget every dime and have a very robust emergency fund. No more paycheck to paycheck for me.

I'm hoping my job lasts long enough to be able to continue the 401K max so that I can play catch up on retirement. (The job longevity is the one unknown.)

[MonkeyMama]

It's an interesting topic, but we have to look at the more global picture. I'm sure plenty of people keep a mortgage with more than enough to pay it off that they decide to instead keep invested (which often times is a smart move in this low rate environment).

I can't boast that, but it's a hell of a lot cheaper than renting (what got me into home ownership in the first place, even being rather anti-debt). But yeah, I am sure many here are in that boat - having more cash/investments than they owe on their mortgage. I suppose we only need another few years to get there ourselves.

[phantom]

I'm 29, my husband is 33, and we're debt free except for the mortgage as of today. (My husband's student loan payoff just went through this morning.) I think it's going to take about 10 more years to pay off the mortgage though, so it still feels like we have a long way to go before we'll be truly debt free.

[disneysteve]

It's an interesting topic, but we have to look at the more global picture. I'm sure plenty of people keep a mortgage with more than enough to pay it off that they decide to instead keep invested

Very true. We owe 68K on our house but have a 500K investment portfolio. We could pay off the house at any time if we wanted to but with a 3.99% mortgage, it isn't high on my priority list.

[Like2Plan]

Briefly had everything paid off (including mortgage) for a few months at age 52, but decided to take on another car note.

Completely debt free at age 55.

[Like2Plan]

It's an interesting topic, but we have to look at the more global picture. I'm sure plenty of people keep a mortgage with more than enough to pay it off that they decide to instead keep invested (which often times is a smart move in this low rate environment).

I guess the global picture would be net worth. But, you make a good point.