They’re Divorced, But a Mortgage is Keeping Them Together?

The Wall Street Journal recently ran a story entitled They’re Divorced. A 2% Mortgage Is Keeping Them Together, about a divorced couple who still live on the same property—not because they want to, but because they’re locked into a rare 2% mortgage they can’t bear to give up. One lives in the main house, the other in an Airstream trailer in the driveway.

The framing is almost whimsical, but let’s be honest—this isn’t quirky. It’s tragic. And it’s not just their story—it’s our story.

Somewhere along the way, we’ve accepted a collective belief that it’s reasonable, even admirable, to let money dictate our deepest life choices. We’ve normalized serving the bottom line over serving our well-being. We’ve confused financial efficiency with freedom. And in doing so, we’ve built a society that values interest rates more than human interest.

The Real Price of a “Great Deal”

The couple’s 2% mortgage isn’t just a financial asset—it’s a golden shackle. It keeps them tethered to a living arrangement they’ve already outgrown, all in the name of “not wasting money.” But the irony is glaring: they’re trading something priceless (personal peace, freedom to move forward) for something replaceable (a favorable loan term).

It’s the same trade-off we make, over and over, in different forms: staying in jobs we hate for the benefits, keeping toxic business partners for the revenue, shelving dreams because “it’s not the right financial moment.”

This is the opposite of financial freedom. Real freedom means you can make choices aligned with your happiness without having to calculate how much it will “cost” you in lost interest or higher payments.

A Symptom of a Bigger Problem

This isn’t really about mortgages. It’s about how our systems—and our collective mindset—have been engineered to put money first.

We’ve built an economy that makes life decisions feel like financial transactions. Marriage, career moves, even where we live—it’s all filtered through a spreadsheet first, with our hearts a distant second. We call this “being responsible,” but the truth is, we’re quietly handing over the steering wheel of our lives to the almighty dollar.

We treat money as the master, not the tool. That’s backwards.

The Shift We Need

The most hopeful part? We can change this—easily—if enough of us decide to.

We can choose to stop measuring every life decision by its short-term financial impact. We can reframe “security” to mean emotional stability, strong relationships, and personal autonomy—not just a low monthly payment. We can teach our kids that while money is important, it’s only one resource among many, and it should never be the reason we stay somewhere our soul has outgrown.

Financial freedom isn’t about clinging to the best possible deal. It’s about structuring your finances so they serve you, so you have the space to choose what makes you whole.

Choosing Your Life Over Your Loan

If you’ve ever found yourself saying, “I’d leave, but…” and the “but” is a number, this is your wake-up call. You are worth more than your mortgage rate. Your happiness is worth more than your stock options. Your peace of mind is worth more than your savings account balance.

You get one life. Don’t spend it arranging yourself around the comfort of a bank.

Freedom isn’t in the fine print of a loan. It’s in the decision to live fully, even if it costs more on paper. Because the true cost of staying small, stuck, or silenced? That bill is infinite.