I think there's a misconception that going with United Financial is the only way of doing this system. I've been using the online system at
Speed Equity for free (I'm pretty sure it's the same as the $3500 version). There's a free login code when you get the book "How to Own Your Home Years Sooner" - you can get it on Amazon or it's cheaper on their site. After watching the United Financial video and listening to their Podcasts it's apparent these two systems are the same thing. It's just the Speed Equity only cost like $25 (the cost of the book). After the free first year they say it'll be a small fee. NO, I AM NOT AFFILIATE WITH THEM. I'm a homeowner who just refinanced and I came upon the concept of "money merge accounts" and just started researching this past month.
By the calculations from the Speed Equity software I'll save about $102,000 in interest and pay off my 30 year mortgage (which is brand new) in about 8 years. That's with my lifestyle staying the same - no extra mortgage payments. It's the discrectionary income that's knocking down the loan - you don't actually lose the income every month because you are taking a loan from your HELOC instead. So, even though you send extra money to your 1st mortgage that you normally wouldn't you really don't actually send them anything extra. You are re-borrowing they money from your HELOC until you get a paycheck...they you pay it off. So, it's like free money for your 1st mortgage every month. If I were to make extra principle payments WITHOUT the Speed Equity system the best I can do is save about $70,000 and pay off in about 15 years. Obviously, either I'm wrong...the Speed Equity is wrong or anyone saying doing it on your own is wrong. Someone is wrong and someone is right. My reason for going with Speed Equity is because they have free online seminars where I've been able to ask all the questions I want, they have the software available for only $25 (not $3500) and also have a paperback book all about the system.
Remember - this is very cool. -- OVER $10,000 in savings every year for 8 YEARS - TAX free! If you invest cash in the stock market and earn $10,000 you're going to pay lots of taxes on that money. Also, investing in anything other than your home mortgage is a risk. I've since come to realize that dumping money into your home loan to pay it off in 8 years and not 30 is pretty darn low risk.
I've spent all day playing with the software and I'm telling you from first hand experience that it's calculating more savings than with any other calculator I've tried online. Again, I'd really like for some math guru to actually try the software and not just say "you can do it without it". The software has every single bit of information (income, expenses, all debts, loans, interest rates and due dates etc etc), so it has a bunch of calculations that it does. As a matter of fact it takes like 25 seconds to recalculate through the web because of the data.
Why is it so hard to believe that this system works? I have no idea. I've spent lots of time looking for holes in the system and at this time I can not see any. It's a system for budgeting your money and leveraging one loan to pay off another. Simple. Can anyone do exactly the same thing on their own without software? Yes, probably if you want to. But, who CARES?! Do it. I personally don't have the time to fart around with Excel - $25 investment to get back $100,000 in savings? I'm sold.
This system just might be the coolest thing I've seen - where else can you save $100,000 without changing one single thing in your budget? You don't make extra payments on this system! It's just moving money around in the most effective way based on your individual circumstances. That's the key from what I can tell - it's customized to each household and is recalculated when there is a change....any change at all will give you charts and explanations. Personally, I think it's like a Quicken type thing...except it's actually geared towards allocating your resources in such a way that your money works for you DAILY. It's cool!
I'll post any new knowledge I get...still learning about the software.