Like most other people, I first learned about the formula for calculating compound interest at high school. It was a turning point for me, however, since it dawned on me that money was all about maths. And since I was one of those twisted math-a-holics you sometimes hear about, I figured I’d enjoy myself by mucking around with some figures for a while. 

 It didn’t take long to realise that time is the key to the formula. The longer it takes you to repay your loan, the more it costs you. And you can beat the clock every time by increasing repayments, even by small amounts. That idea isn’t new now, but it certainly was to me at the time. And it’s not the whole story. 

 The ideas I came up with floated around in my head until I left high school, and by February of my first year in the real world I got a chance to practise those theories on my own loan. I commenced studies in computer programming and got a feel for how the financial institution computers calculate loan balances, and was able to put a few more theories to the test. 

 Unfortunately, I was earning just about the most pitiful wage on the face of the planet—at least that’s what it felt like. I had to budget my bum off to get the few extra dollars to make the difference, and also come up with a simple way to stay on top of bills. So by the time my husband, Jim, and I bought our first home, we were able to pay it out in just three years by applying the techniques outlined in this little guide. 

 This book is designed to show new couples starting out what they must be prepared to do in order to own their own home in a short enough time frame to be able to raise a family debt-free. The principles, however, can be applied to almost any loan, or by anyone who’s already in debt. We used one low income and one barely middle income to pay out our home in just three years—38 months and five days to be exact. Admittedly, it’s just a modest three-bedroom brick home on four hectares but we did it at a time when interest rates had hit 17%! 

 You can imagine we were a little peeved when we finally had good money to invest that interest rates plummeted! But that’s another story. 

 This guide walks you through every stage of getting a mortgage and paying it out. I’ve included as many little hints and tips as I could think of to get you through, but all the hard work is up to you. You’ll find plenty of examples to help you along the way which use either Bell-household or dummy figures—and, no, comedians, there’s not much of a difference! I’ve also included the same tables we used for recording information to help keep track of all the details relevant to your particular situation...
 

Good luck!