How quickly should one pay off a house?

I would invest the amount and reduce the installment with the interest gains.

You seriously want to tell me that your dream at 25 is a "paid-off house"? Well then... I know enough people whose dream is an "own" house (loans are not even mentioned), then there are plenty of additional dreams, like two healthy children, the trip to a distant country, 6 months traveling through Europe with a camper van, a dog should come into the house, and so on. But well, not everyone is pursuing ideals. I also admit that some people are yawningly empty in that regard. However, numbers do not answer the question asked here.

You seriously want to tell me that your dream at 25 is a "paid-off house"? Well then... I know enough people whose dream is a "own" house (loans aren't even mentioned), then there are plenty of additional dreams, like two healthy children, a trip to a distant country, 6 months traveling through Europe in a van, a dog to bring into the house, and so on. But well, not everyone is idealistic. I admit I also see a yawning emptiness in some people. However, numbers don't answer the question posed here.

Yes, that may be so. Everyone is different and has different wishes and needs. We will try to pay off the house with the special cancellation after 10.5 years, then the children will be 17 & 18 and we will be 44 & 48. That is not a concrete dream and doesn't necessarily make one happier. But we have many things that have nothing to do with money, with time, or with time bought by money, that would make us more satisfied. But that's just how it is, you can't buy everything with money.

It is about enriching your life by fulfilling your _dreams_. This usually also requires money. Most people have small dreams, and these were mentioned here as well, not explicitly, but still, that you need to have money left over to afford the trip, the animal, the hobby, or the break for projects.

All our dreams in the areas of travel, animals, hobbies, or projects are already being fulfilled. Perhaps one should not forget that we still spend more money than the average family (which, as far as I know, has about €4,000 disposable income) has available in total.

So if money is "left over," very few have the dream of having paid off the house by their mid-40s.

So should the goal be to spend 60% of income on luxury consumption/dreams?

So listen to your inner voice, and if there is a yawning emptiness (except for EFT and special repayments)

As I said, I am already fulfilling everything for myself. We also already spend more than most families.

then listen to your wife or child! The project could also be a share in a horse (for the child)

We have already made quite a bit possible for our eldest daughter (riding lessons, riding holidays, etc...) – but she doesn’t want that at all. It was nice, but she finds an instrument, dancing, or just playing with friends better.

or a self-made natural pond, a sponsorship for a rescue dog, or a small wooden cabin in Sweden.

Oh God, a holiday home in Sweden. That sounds terrible. I really appreciate paying a small one-time fee for such services and then not having to take care of everything. And I wouldn’t want to go on vacation to the same place every year. Such a wooden cabin would only be a ball and chain for me. Not that you couldn’t vacation in a wooden cabin in Sweden – you could. But I don’t have to own the cabin for that.

Maybe again more materially into a desired interior design of the house.

Well, what happens if you have expensive furniture and the children romp around? Exactly, you hold them back. That’s why we have a house, so we don’t have to hold back the children and they can develop freely. Without us having to worry about our furniture.

In my opinion, time is still the most valuable thing to invest in.

That is exactly my attitude. If you spend money, you first have to earn that money. I exchange time for money and money for consumption. By putting the money into repayment or ETFs, I don’t waste it on consumption. On the contrary, the money works for me in the ETF and over time I can even work less or stop completely.

Buying a car for €21,000 is, with a net income of €3,500, the equivalent of 6 months of extra work – just for the car. Do that every 8 years, and in 40 working years, you will have worked 2.5 years just for the car (or 3 years if another one is due "at the end").