No hurry to pay off the mortgage

[200Plus Club]

Mortgage / totally debt free, was a nice feeling paying the last ever mortgage payment.

[NickCQ]

C Lee Farquar said:

I had forgotten about subsidised mortgages. I take it they are a thing of the past now?

Still exist (a friend has one from Lloyd's) but net of tax the benefit is much smaller than it used to be

[devnull]

Fundamentally, I would want my mortgage cleared as it takes the pressure off at work, and if you're made redundant, then your ability to get any job is much easier if you only have to cover your utilities, etc.

[Chicken Chaser]

We decided to do a big extension on our place and take advantage of cheaper rates. Plenty of equity in the house and with a growing family it felt like the best thing to do.

39yo, house is worth twice the mortgage now (in present market conditions anyway) and we just consolidated this summer with a 5yr fixed at 1.69 on £135k over 20years. It's a very comfortable figure for us both, and I intend to put some overpayments in once I build up the cash reserve after such a big outlay.

Lucky that we both work in secure roles, and whilst neither of us are 40% tax payers, we are both somewhat near. I don't worry about the mortgage as there's usually money left over at the end of every month that we can put away for holidays and other luxuries so I'm not looking to live on the breadline for a few years just to get rid of it.

[p1stonhead]

devnull said:

Fundamentally, I would want my mortgage cleared as it takes the pressure off at work, and if you're made redundant, then your ability to get any job is much easier if you only have to cover your utilities, etc.

At a reasonably low point during lockdown me and the missus seriously considered putting the house on the market and getting somewhere without a mortgage somewhere quiet.

In the end (not surprisingly) it wasn’t practical but the ‘who cares if I lose my job’ angle was very tempting and remains so.

Our bills would be circa £400 a month without the mortgage but are £2000 with it.

[Welshbeef]

p1stonhead said:

At a reasonably low point during lockdown me and the missus seriously considered putting the house on the market and getting somewhere without a mortgage somewhere quiet.

In the end (not surprisingly) it wasn’t practical but the ‘who cares if I lose my job’ angle was very tempting and remains so.

Our bills would be circa £400 a month without the mortgage but are £2000 with it.

So - assuming higher tax payer that’s a gross salary of £32k entirely to fund the mortgage.

[okgo]

Welshbeef said:

So - assuming higher tax payer that’s a gross salary of £32k entirely to fund the mortgage.

So what?

[Welshbeef]

okgo said:

Welshbeef said:

So - assuming higher tax payer that’s a gross salary of £32k entirely to fund the mortgage.

So what?

More to his concern about possible job loss and how he and his mrs could then find £32k alone in new salary to pay the mortgage.

[p1stonhead]

Welshbeef said:

okgo said:

Welshbeef said:

So - assuming higher tax payer that’s a gross salary of £32k entirely to fund the mortgage.

So what?

More to his concern about possible job loss and how he and his mrs could then find £32k alone in new salary to pay the mortgage.

We have plenty aside for a rainy day it was more the holistic approach to life rather than necessarily a real worry about losing a job.

No mortgage, live by the coast, working remotely if I want (I do already). Sounds the life to me.

[The Cardinal]

I literally paid off the mortgage with some savings this afternoon. A feeling I can thoroughly recommend.

I was running separate savings pots for precisely this purpose, plus another for a future car fund (plus pension, equities etc). In the event, I decided I'd rather raid the car fund and pay the mortgage off now.

While paying off the mortgage does mean I'm running around in a 6.5 year old A3, it's probably a more longlasting 40th birthday present to myself than some flash wheels.

[LeadFarmer]

Back in 2000 I purchased my first house, 3 bed semi with a £60k mortgage that I managed to pay off by 2007 with overpayments.
I had to decide whether to stay put and enjoy living mortgage free with disposable income, or move to a bigger house and start with a mortgage again.
I chose the latter and sold up for £140k which I used as a deposit towards a £280k detached house which we are in now.
I've been overpaying the £140k mortgage and it will be paid off early to coincide with an early retirement.
Our house is today valued at £350k, and its nice to know we can downsize back to a semi and have at least £100k in the bank. But to get there I've had to forgo some of the nice things in life such as limiting the number of holidays, and not driving a new car.

Edited by LeadFarmer on Monday 12th October 22:43

[Welshbeef]

The Cardinal said:

I literally paid off the mortgage with some savings this afternoon. A feeling I can thoroughly recommend.

I was running separate savings pots for precisely this purpose, plus another for a future car fund (plus pension, equities etc). In the event, I decided I'd rather raid the car fund and pay the mortgage off now.

While paying off the mortgage does mean I'm running around in a 6.5 year old A3, it's probably a more longlasting 40th birthday present to myself than some flash wheels.

And along the route to clearing the mortgage PDQ you’ve had a properly PH type of car ownership

Fiat Coupe my favourite followed by the Renaultsport Clio

[RVVUNM]

Paid mine off two years ago, nice feeling. I overpaid for about six years and knocked three years off with a bit of savings chucked in.

[Gary29]

I'm on a bit of a personal goal mission with mine. Got a modest balance left now, and had the goal of owning my house outright by the time I'm 40 (a year from now).

We are looking to move to a bigger place though, but that will probably be late next year or early 2022, so I won't be mortgage free for long.

I didn't buy this place until 2015, so I'm quite pleased with myself to have it paid off in six years, made a lot of sacrifices to allow that to happen though, missed out on foreign holidays, drive a 10 year old Megane, no extravagant purchases etc etc, I feel it's been worth it though, saved a good chunk on interest and put myself in a strong position going forward.

I'll allow myself a bit more slack with the next house I think, not so aggressive with the overpayments and enjoy life a bit more.

[okgo]

Welshbeef said:

More to his concern about possible job loss and how he and his mrs could then find £32k alone in new salary to pay the mortgage.

I'd say that's not a bad place to be, find a job on the average UK salary to keep your head above water, not terrible at all.

[pb8g09]

Christ all this talk of paying off mortgages. Mine is still at £253k...

[NickCQ]

okgo said:

I'd say that's not a bad place to be, find a job on the average UK salary to keep your head above water, not terrible at all.

Yes, but the point is that by definition half the UK does worse than that and aspires to more than 'keeping [their] head above water'...

For what it's worth I think it's a useful thing to keep in mind, particularly if one is in a high-paying but specialised job - what would happen if for whatever reason I had to start again at the bottom of a different career ladder.

[btdk5]

I know everyone has their own circumstances to factor in but you’d have to be completely bonkers to overpay your mortgage in one of the lowest interest rate environments the country has ever seen. Add in the fact that central banks have commented they are likely to let inflation run at rates higher than previously tolerated and the decision looks even stranger.

You could be getting 10-20% return a year from an equity fund.

[Zstar]

pb8g09 said:

Christ all this talk of paying off mortgages. Mine is still at £253k...

I owe about that on a FHL and about another 500k on an apartment overseas which is rented out. And I’m in my mid 40s

[markiii]

btdk5 said:

I know everyone has their own circumstances to factor in but you’d have to be completely bonkers to overpay your mortgage in one of the lowest interest rate environments the country has ever seen. Add in the fact that central banks have commented they are likely to let inflation run at rates higher than previously tolerated and the decision looks even stranger.

You could be getting 10-20% return a year from an equity fund.

whilst you have a point, flip it the other way. If you were morgage free would you take one out risking your home to invest in the equity funds?