Ever hear of a guy on the radio named Dave Ramsey? His thing is getting debt free and living that way as much as possible. He has a course he teaches and makes available called Financial Peace University. It's all legit, legal, and unarguable. He is much in favor of paying off house mortgages, credit cards, car loans, and any means of legal avoidance of taxes as possible. I bough our second home here in Glendora in 1983, and we paid it off within ten years, and have done several of those recommendations, and didn't do other things people do that get them in the hole, and we did all that before I ever heard of Dave Ramsey. It's fun to learn that you were right all along. A little bit of negative interest avoidance, early retirement of debt and such goes a long way.The thing to do ASAP after becoming debt free is to put all assets in a living trust with designated beneficiaries so nobody else can contest a will and have the courts suck it up or designate unwanted persons from being awarded any part of it. Also, a global financial collapse won't result in lenders calling back any loans, since you would have none outstanding. I have also always believed in being out from the control of anybody else and that my motto of "success is the best revenge" is right.