How fast did you pay off mortgage?

I think about this a lot. Of course, on paper it's a terrible idea to pay off a mortgage early (assuming a reasonably low interest rate). On the other hand, my mortgage is my only really significant monthly expense and not having that monthly expense would reduce my dependence on a moderately high developer salary and I'd feel more capable of either changing careers or being self-employed.

Instantly. By not having one. I paid in full.

Mathematically it was not the best decision. Housing was cheap and rates were good. The stock market had big gains in the following years. But I would do the same thing again as I love having a baseline of stability that is permanent. And true ownership.

There's a good feeling having all your income free and clear with no debts.

You control the rate of money returned in beating the term of your home mortgage. You don't control the rate of gain in the markets. If you want to balance it you could just pay slow at first and pay into an investment account with extra money. At year, idk 10 (just pick) -- pay off your home mortgage aggressively. That's my 2-cents. Doing the math on things like cars, homes, investments -- beating the system is incidental. Much less in your control than you think. IDK maybe you'd end up with $5k more in 2040.

I didn't and don't want to. My mortgage rate is significantly lower than the rate of inflation, so my bank is essentially giving me free money. Paying it off faster would be insane.

Within a few years of buying my apartment. I was actually in a dilemma due to conflicting advice. My dad was of the view that one should not be in debt for long. And my colleagues were of the view that instead of clearing the debt, that fund can be invested elsewhere. I finally took my dad's advice and cleared the mortgage.

Paid it off in 8 years, since I’m not in the US with 30 year fixed interest rate loans, 2 to 5 years “fixed” is the range here.

Great decision in the end - I know people who have their monthly payments almost doubling because their loan rates are going from 2.25% to 6%.

For me the security and peace of mind of being able to quit my job at any time and support my family even on minimum wage is worth it.

The best advice I've heard is if you can get better interest rates with savings/investments then put your money there, if the interest on your debts are higher then pay them off with your spare money.

When paying off your debts you want to pay off the debt with the highest interest rate first (after you've met all your minimum payments of course).

Things to be wary of with paying off your mortgage is that some times there are penalty clauses in your contract so if you pay off too much you have to pay an additional fee (more common for the fixed period of fixed rate mortgages, but always check before overpaying your mortgage).

Too many variables in your question. However, I paid mine off about 7 years early. I am commenting anyway as a few posts lean towards not paying off early. I find it a great freedom knowing my work choices will not result in me losing my home. And yes, there is a 1000 other bad things that could happen. No mortgage is one thing for which I am grateful.

Bought 7 houses in the US. Never took more than 5 years. Bought 5 houses in Asia. Paid cash for all of them. See comment by foobarbaz33 for my reasoning:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33561001

Seems like an odd question, since with no other information, it is not a prerequisite or necessary sufficient condition for retirement or being wealthy.

Something like sixteen years for the house we now live in. Before that, we were in a rowhouse, and probably had at least another five, I forget.

As slowly as possible is often a good strategy.

I used a bunch of spare cash to pay down my a lot of my mortgage a few years ago, which I now regret.