Special repayment, saving or consumption?

On the topic of special repayment or consumption: I am currently also wasting a lot of thoughts regarding this topic. My wife is currently on parental leave and receiving parental allowance (divided over 24 months). My income + the parental allowance is currently enough to get by well and there is still a "small" surplus.

My repayment plan has always been to repay 2% and invest the difference to 3% repayment in ETFs.

However, I am now seriously asking myself whether this really has to be or whether I should simply consume the difference when I consider that in 20 years my outstanding debt will be worth less due to inflation (assuming that salaries will also eventually rise as an engineer). And at some point my wife will also work again 20-30 hours (in 2 years or, if child 2 comes, in 5 years, then one could repay more or invest more in ETFs again).

I just can’t find peace on this topic.. Especially when I see that at 50 I would still have almost 200k outstanding debt if I only repay 2% now or in the next 2-5 years. But this will of course change again when my wife works part-time again.

This is how it is with us: We started paying off our loan in 2017. The thing is due in 4 years. Then I will be 39, my husband 53. Remaining debt 280k€. Through the building savings contract, we secured the interest rates (I am very happy about that right now), so no panic about that. We would then be finished 15 years later. By then, my husband will have been retired for 5 years (if it works out). No special repayments counted. I find that quite fitting. There will still be enough costs coming our way (4 children, Pinterest projects :rolleyes:, vacation), so I haven't really planned for special repayments. My husband will still get a good pension, so we won’t have any financial worries there. And I will still have to work for a few more years.

My repayment plan has always been to pay off 2% and invest the difference to 3% repayment in ETFs.
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However, I am now seriously asking myself whether that really has to be or if I should simply consume the difference.

Well, what is the worst that can happen?
2% repayment is (depending on the interest rate) quite low, and with a short fixed interest period, the follow-up financing with massively higher interest rates can hit hard. Stocks are currently not performing well due to various ongoing crises.

But no matter what you do, the important thing is that you can sleep well personally:

I just can’t find peace on this topic.. Especially when I see that at 50 I would still have almost 200k in remaining debt if I only repay 2% _now_ or in the next 2-5 years.

This answers all your questions yourself: what is best for you is saving, investing, or making special repayments, but not blowing the money.

With that you answer all questions yourself: For you the best thing is saving, investing or making special repayments, but not squandering the money.

That is the real point. Whether it’s ETFs, gold bars or cash under the mattress, all of that builds wealth and is not consumption. Wealth therefore increases, within the framework of personal possibilities. Fits.

What doesn’t work is to forcibly value a property beyond a reasonable measure. By that I mean >100% financing (without the necessary liquidity), short interest rate lock-ins because even 15 years would have ruined the calculation, and the like.
The rest will work itself out, nobody has a crystal ball after all.

I just can't find peace with this topic.. Especially when I see that at 50 I would still have nearly 200k leftover debt if I only pay down 2% _now_ or in the next 2-5 years.

Ultimately, you need to find an option that lets you sleep well at night, otherwise all the return optimization will only make you unhappy. For some, that means "I put more into special repayments so I have less debt," for others it's more like "I set something aside elsewhere, so I don't just have that one big burden," and the third just doesn't care and says "I live now and spend, and the follow-up financing will somehow work out." In the end, you have to find an option (or a mixed option) that you feel comfortable with yourself. With a nearly paid-off house, you probably won't be scraping the poverty line anyway (that might also help you take another deep breath :) ).

My repayment plan has always been to repay 2% and invest the difference to 3% repayment in ETFs.

The repayment rate (the interest) alone only says so much about the repayment plan. At 5% interest, 2% is okay, at 1% not okay.
There may be homeowners who hardly repay anything and simultaneously have started the money-growing machine and thus repay the (large) remaining debt.