For the first time in my adult life, I'm debt free.

[OnlinePoker]

No loans, no credit card debt, and, as of 20 minutes ago, no mortgage payment. I'll be 53 in November.

[savalez]

1. Good for you!

Now just stay away from Online Poker, OnlinePoker. Just kidding, I am addicted to WSOP.

[Hemmingway]

32. Stay away? How do you think he paid his mortgage!

[Silent3]

50. Maybe he runs online poker games

The house always wins... and, perhaps, the house can pay for the house.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. Congrats!

I hope that you can maintain this.

[RKP5637]

3. Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! n/t

[polly7]

4. That's impressive!

Congratulations ...... and enjoy.

[FLPanhandle]

5. That's incredible in this day and age.

Especially the mortgage. Congrats!

[Motown_Johnny]

6. good for you

I honestly had not thought about it that way, but I paid off my mortgage last month. No loans, no credit card debt, two vehicles both paid for with cash. Even my property taxes and insurance payments are paid in advance.
I have so many other things I need to spend money on (mostly home improvements) that consdering myself debt free just never occured to me, thanks for pointing it out,

I am 51.

[OnlinePoker]

7. Outstanding. Congratulations.

Our taxes come due once a year in July and then car and home insurance in August for about $5k total. We already have it saved for next year.

[malthaussen]

8. Wow, have I got a deal for you!

Congratulations, OnlinePoker.

-- Mal

[Eleanors38]

9. Congrats! Now you'll have to think up new woes.

[OnlinePoker]

11. Well, I'm 53.

Not 20 when I could have used all that freed-up cash to actually have some fun.

[Helen Borg]

24. 53 year olds cannot have fun? :)

[OnlinePoker]

31. Not the kind of free-wheeling fun you can have at 20.

Too many responsibilities now.

[Helen Borg]

39. Oh, family, I guess?

[Eleanors38]

56. Frugality is a bad habit learned well. Haven't changed even at 66!

[tazkcmo]

48. At age 50 and over

New woes happen almost daily! For me it's a new pain I didn't have when I went to sleep the night before.

[Eleanors38]

58. As long as you wake up, what the hey!

[Javaman]

10. Woo hoo!!!

free at last!

it's a nice feeling huh? or is it still just sinking in?

[OnlinePoker]

12. I think it will really hit at the end of September.

That will be the first end-month without a mortgage payment coming out of the bank so I'll see that big lump just sitting there.

[Javaman]

14. Treat yourself...

then bank the rest after Sept.

[bhikkhu]

59. I hope to do as well as my mom and step-dad

who worked into their 60's, but then retired with money in the bank and went everywhere - Russia, Alaska, Scotland, Norway, the Caribbean...

[Nye Bevan]

13. The Nigerian prince finally came through? Cool!

[pleinair]

18. lol

[treestar]

15. How cool!

[ProdigalJunkMail]

16. Quite the milestone... go out and celebrate and buy something big

we need to keep the economy humming and paying off debt don't cut it!

in all seriousness, congratulations! must be an amazing feeling.

sP

[No Vested Interest]

17. What a great feeling! Now, start saving for retirement. nt

[leftieNanner]

19. Good for you! We're ALMOST out of the financial woods

We downsized five years ago to a smaller house in a smaller town (out of the SF Bay Area) so we don't have a mortgage and we own our very old cars (my station wagon has 330,000 miles on it). No credit card debt, but we still have one daughter in college. Two more years to go on that and then my husband can retire (he's 64). I have a small gluten free baking business that's wreaking havoc on my body. But I just published a cookbook so maybe I can slow down soon too.

[pleinair]

20. very happy for you

hope you enjoy the freedom!

[Populist_Prole]

21. Hearty, raucus contratulations

The unencumbered feeling of not being beholden to "the man" must be worth in itself a million bucks.

I only have the mortgage left. I hope to be in the same place about 2 years from now, and at about the same age. Some of my peers chide me for my comparitively modest living, but I can't wait to laugh in their faces.

[Cartoonist]

22. I envy you

I was debt free and on top of the world, my annual earnings at their peak in Clinton's last year in office. Then Bush happened. Now I bear a burden of debt I will carry to my grave, which may be sooner than it would have been. There's no payoff in being bitter, but I will never forgive the green party.

[superpatriotman]

23. Big ups to you!

We're working on it, too.

[Shrike47]

25. Isn't it nice? We made it to totally debt free last year when we paid off the mortgage.

The house is old like me, and takes some extra upkeep, like me, but it's sure nice to own it.

[johnlucas]

26. I am GLAD for you! I ABSOLUTELY HATE debt

It enslaves you & forces you to spend your energies getting that albatross off of your back.

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS GOOD DEBT.
ALL DEBT IS BAD.

And if you're forced by this bad system to go into debt get out as soon as possible.

It's why I avoided college (made mistake signing up for one quarter with a student loan & quit after that quarter).
It's why I rent instead of paying that glorified rent called a mortgage.
It's why I ride a 24 year old car that I got cheap, had it fixed it up, & never owed any payments on.
I'm poor by American standards (by world standards this old trailer might as well be a mansion) but as long as I don't have debt looming over my head, I am freer than some people "richer" than me.

The debts I had to endure were necessity debts. Car repairs for those commutes I have to make to work.
Outside of that I NEVER deal with big debts.
Anything I use the "I.O.U." card on, I make sure I have the money in tangible form & pay off as soon as I buy through the I.O.U.
I use that credit card as a more of cash advance/convenience card.
I never even wanted a credit card because I believed in cash or nothing.
When I got it I asked the bank how fast I can raise the limit & always had a mentality to pay off any charge in cash instantly.
This card would be strategical to build a credit rating but I would not depend on it as real money.

I'm Black & I see debt as the chains my ancestors had to endure.
I look at debt as Kunta Kinte/Toby slavery & I have the same disgust towards debt as what my people went through.
I want to be FREE doggone it!

So congratulations, OnlinePoker!
I am EXTREMELY GLAD you conquered that dragon.
Treat debt like the plague & never go into it ever again.

John Lucas

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

27. Good for you.

Great feeling isn't it?

[Algernon Moncrieff]

28. Good for you

Are you going to call Dave Ramsay's radio show so you can scream "I'm out of debt!"?

[Rozlee]

29. Excellent. We're debt free too, but with relatives that are struggling during this economy

it doesn't feel like it. Because, they're not debt free and they're paying exorbitant student loan debts while working part-time jobs, working minimum wage jobs while raising kids, etc. It's a replay of how I spent my years as a single mom and I would have sunk if my family hadn't helped. I'm trying to do the same for this new generation growing under supply-side economics. It'll never end until the revolution. Which everyone is too tired to start.

[tridim]

30. Ironically, my (Bush induced) foreclosure wiped out my only remaining debt.

Not bankruptcy, just a foreclosure due to loss of job during the recession.

And now my only "debt" is some bullshit numbers on a credit report, which in America is worse than debt. It is legal extortion.

I'm 100% responsible and ready to buy a house, but I'm not allowed by the powers that be.

[Omaha Steve]

33. I will go out in debt

But happy.

[Doctor_J]

34. Well done.

We have our mortgage which we could pay off if we wanted to. That's it. It feels good but I don't know if it's really the way to get ahead these days.

[Cleita]

35. You need a little debt or you become a bad credit risk.

When you want to borrow money like rent a car or buy an airline ticket for any emergency, it seems you can't. I know our system sucks but that's how it works.

[Jimbo S]

36. Woo Woo!!

I joined the club as well back in December. A relief given the improving but still not recovered economy.

[Lenomsky]

37. I've never had any debt ...

Ironically having never had debt I can't get a loan ... crazy huh!?

I did have a mortgage which I paid off after 10 years of a 25 year policy.

Well done OnlinePoker

[A Little Weird]

38. Great job!

I dream of the day that I will be able to say that.

[catrose]

40. CONGRATULATIONS

sooooooooo jealous

[woodsprite]

41. Congrats!!! That is awesome! n/t

[Agschmid]

42. Woooohooooo!

Nice job!

[OldRedneck]

43. You do know . . .

You do know that being debt-free is UN-AMERICAN!!!!

Why do you hate the USofA??

[OnlinePoker]

55. I'm Canadian...lol.

I must be a socialist.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

44. Congratulations! I can't imagine how it must feel and I am happy for you. nt

[freebrew]

45. Debt-free???

Well, that's just un-american. How's the banks supposed to get by if you don't owe them money?

Careful, the debt police will be knocking....

[Spitfire of ATJ]

46. Need to hold a classic mortgage burning party.

[uponit7771]

47. +1

[Silent3]

49. Congratulations. A few months back...

...I got to the same place, having paid off my mortgage. We're around the same age -- I'll be 52 in October.

It's a good feeling, isn't it?

[Maeve]

51. Congrats! I'll be mortgage-free in four years

Well...there's still a home-equity loan, but that may disappear soon, too.

[TheBlackAdder]

52. Congratulations! Same age as me, now my kids are just entering college. Debt-Free, Unobtainable. nt

[cyberswede]

53. Terrific!

I'll still have debt when I'm 53.

Edit: I didn't mean for my reply to seem like a downer. It's truly great news, and it must feel great to be debt-free!

[CrispyQ]

54. Congratulations!

It feels wonderful, doesn't it?

[bhikkhu]

57. Congratulations! I'm 49, and headed in that direction

14 years left on the mortgage, but I have another property free and clear I could sell some day and pay it all off. What's better for me is that I finally have a job, first time in many years, where I make more than I need to live on. I've been paying things down and putting away money for retirement, first time in my adult life.

[fishwax]

60. congrats!

[OnlinePoker]

61. Interesting ads coming in my banners

Since I posted this, all my banner ads are coming up saying things like "plan for your next big adventure...retirement". And it's not just on this site...it's every site. It's scary how much information gets passed around on the internet without our having the ability to stop it.

[bigwillq]

62. That's awesome! Congrats!

[Boom Sound 416]

63. Woo Hoo!