To not want to pay off my mortgage?

I can completely understand your reticence. I'd be asking your DH what "strings" he thinks will be attached this time.

We're lucky we can overpay and draw down without penalty on our mortgage so all our savings sit there but we can get them back.

If you had no mortgage to pay how quickly could you save up £5k?

Maybe save that for a holiday and put the rest on an interest free credit card to pay off afterwards.

Another issue is losing your credit rating once your mortgage is repaid if you then want to move house.

Everyone saying "go for it!" has either never encountered a controlling parent/parent-in-law or has, but has always been skint enough to put up with it.
£50k in savings means the OP has choices. Which is what money is all about.
An excellent position to be in.

In this case, it's paying interest on £100k and getting interest on £50k though. Chances of getting more interest from £50k than you're paying on £100k (and factor in a gift of £50k outright) seems unlikely?

If it's "allowed" by MIL and the mortgage company, I'd accept the gift, pay £80k off the mortgage, keep £20k as emergency savings and keep the mortgage payments the same. That should reduce the term of the mortgage right down so it's paid off very soon, then the savings can build up again. Best of both worlds.

Is this mil paying for the granny annex on your home up front?

Then that's your answer.You would be forever beholden to them

We paid our mortgage off when we were mid thirties. It’s been nice not having to worry about interest rates etc. We used the money to buy another property.

Then you already know the answer. Decline her money with a thankyou. Remind your bloke of how much it hurts to take money from them.

I think it depends if you have a goal of actually paying off your mortgage at all. Lots of people remortgage as many times as they can with no intention of ever paying for the property. It's got harder to do that.

Depends on the strings and whether you are willing to stand up and say no to them. If it comes with an expectation that you will visit her every weekend, always drop everything for her and never say no, then tell her to poke it. If it is more a case of having to listen to her singing her own praises, I could probably inwardly eye roll for a long time before I would tell her to give it a rest.

We have never managed to find a bond or ISA or other savings vehicle that was paying more than the mortgage interest. But we have never had 10s of thousands in spare cash. Overpaying even £50 a month has saved so much more than it would ever have earned elsewhere.

Exactly this. ^ I find the 'it will be throwing my money away paying off the mortgage' type comments really bizarre! Some weird clueless comments on this thread!

But the money is still there, you can always remortgage anyway

And you can re build a nestegg

I don't know how many times it's been said on this thread already (many) but paying off a mortgage which is incurring interest at a lower rate than your savings/investments are growing is not 'giving a lender a load of interest at the expense of you accruing growth yourself'.

No mortgage means a forever roof over your heads

Even if lost jobs /became ill etx

No worry that can't pay every month

If moved /downsized then easy to take money out as such

Set up a dd to go to a savings account that can't be touched/lose interest if make a withdrawal

Thank you for explaining the above, I understand now and makes sense.

I am into paying the mortgage as soon as possible because I saw in many many families where the work situation changes for one reason or another.
While I am currently healthy and my husband is too, I think you really decrease the level of risk by overpaying your mortgage (if you are in the fortunate position to do so as we are).
If for example you are in a 85K job and suddenly your health deteriorates in a way that you can only work a few hours a week to recover long term, you might only able to make half of the money, or a quarter, let's say 22K. You may wish then to have your house paid. Unless you have a huge amount of savings.
I have a friend in this situation for the past 10 years. Its such a peace of mind to have it paid before anything major happens.

I hadn't notice the point that she will pay 50k if you both use your 50k to pay off too so £100k then comes off it. That sounds a bit controlling to me as a mother who gave money without strings but only to be used to buy a property. However even so it sounds a very good deal - you get £50k for nothing.

It is fair to say that it would be more lucrative for an adviser to recommend an investment portfolio than to repay a mortgage.

However, this does not mean that an adviser will recommend an investment instead of paying off debt. The reality is that most advisers do actually have their clients' interests as their driving force. Of course, you must be commercially minded, but this should never mean acting against someone's interest. If someone had a strong desire to be debt free, I would seek to repay debt to meet their objective. I would highlight that they may end up being less wealthy as a result, but if that is their objective, its my job to meet that. I will question, probe and manage any misconceptions that it may be based on, but we work to meet their objectives, not a text book right answer.

Advice is generally reviewed, maybe spot checked by compliance teams (who are extremely robust), and advisers that recommend actions that put the client in a worse place will be found out.

I would do it @IProbablyAm2024 It's the dream for many people to be mortgage-free. We have been for about a decade now, and it's amazing. So much more surplus income, and no worries about interest rates soaring/not being able to afford the rates!

And if you're being given £50K too (if you decide to do it!) then FGS do it!

@IProbablyAm2024 Apologies if others have said already as haven’t read whole thread, or if this is totally unsuitable, but could you consider an offset mortgage so the money isn’t “locked” in your property but you still get reduced interest?

personally being mortgage free would be an absolute dream from where I’m standing right now (mortgaged up to my ears!) but personal finance is personal at the end of the day and if you have emotional reasons for not wanting to pay it off then do what’s right for you!

Does it really matter what the right financial decision is, OP? You don't want MIL to be holding this 'gift' over you for the rest of your life. Having had a MIL like this I do not blame you.

@Ozanj that's all fine, but the issue is MIL is making the gift only if OP uses her own money, in addition to the gift, to repay the mortgage in addition to other unspecified conditions.

Awww. It's really sweet that you think that.

Most financial advisers are very unlikely to say: Well pay me my £2k fee for advice, and I'll advise you to pay your mortgage off, and you'll feel like you've had really good advice.

Even fewer will say, well you're best off paying your mortgage off, so I'm not going to give you any advice.

Much more likely to say: Well pay me my £2k fee and I'll work out how you can invest in all these great products so that you end up covering your outstanding mortgage, the interest on it, my upfront fee, and my ongoing fees - but remember, investment means your capital is at risk and so it's not guaranteed, so you can't turn round later and say "they should've just advised me to pay off my mortgage".

It is really not true that all independent financial advisers are motivated purely by altruism 😂

She doesn't have to accept MIL's money. She doesn't want it because it comes with strings attached.

They attempt to circumnavigate remuneration rules by charging deferred initial fees that are effectively exit fees. They are obstructive to other advisers when seeking information on their products. They are expensive, and investment performance is poor. Definitely worth a google for specifics.

Even if you don't take the money from MIL, putting the lump sum in mortgage and continuing to pay monthly what you currently pay will hugely reduce the term of the mortgage.

If you make the pragmatic decision to accept the money, make a personal decision to keep putting away the equivalent of the mortgage payment, or at least a large chunk of it, for a while - you may be surprised how quickly you could build up the lump sum for emergencies and to do the dream holiday etc - and start earning interest for yourselves rather than giving interest payments to the bank.

As your own personal strategy to feel less bound by the strings - see it as MIL releasing you to make your own decisions in the future without her being able to control them as it is your lump sum that has no "need" attached to it.

Yeah that "reason"makes no sense at all - it's not "tied up in the house" it becomes equity. It's not like the money stays with the house for the next person if you sell it, it goes with you so yout next house will also be either mortgage free if the same price or less, or a smaller mortgage.

Seems mad to reject it to me.