Thanks for sharing your experience Gregory.

It’s exactly because of black swan events that I dislike the common advice to put as much toward a mortgage principal as one can.

The main difference between what you did and what I recommend is that you paid a large amount extra annually instead of keeping it saved up (or invested) until you have enough to pay off the full balance at once.

It’s also unusual to be able to pay off a mortgage in 6 years. Most people can’t do it in much less than 20 years.

As for taking financial advice from poor people, I’d take it one further and suggest that the best source of financial advice is from people who started out poor and managed to become well off or wealthy.

Taking financial advice from someone who started out wealthy isn’t usually very helpful for someone who’s struggling financially (which pretty much is most people who need financial advice).