Scrimp and save to pay mortgage off or live now?

Third one!

We are about to do similar- we will downsize to have no mortgage and go on lots more holidays and work part time. Life is too short, I've recently had a health scare and although I should be fine - I know my children need the memories and time with me.

I feel very lucky to be a position where this is an option for us and I intend to make the most of that.

@TowerBallroom haha yes that's what I'm finding, mine are teen and pre teen now which is partially why I am excusing us from overpayment right now 😂 his school trips alone cost more than our first family holiday 🙈 bracing myself for the young adult years...really want to be able to help as much as we can, we didn't really get that (financially speaking, lovely families!)

Live for now. We've had a depressing last few years where so many friends have died. You just don't know how long you have with your children.

Thanks@auberginepeel

Just a FYI the teenage/ young adult years are horrifically expensive, you will long for the bucket and spade years 😂

As I said no one in RL knows, it's not something we shouted about and I'm really fussy so no boiled rice and beans here!

Still 1 for me-Op stated not super frugal so still a nice standard of living and the security and ability to help them as young adults is priceless.

2 or 3. Life is for living. Downsize when they leave home (or when you want them to leave home as I’ve known some parents have to do).

Just to say I agree it should be option 2 and it's a no brainer for me!

My parents ended up inheriting when we were all older. I know they would have loved to have taken us away more when we were younger, helped us with uni and house deposits etc but it came later than that. Having loads extra at that age is not that exciting I don't think.

I would definitely do 2. I really feel the weight of knowing that in a few short years our teens will not want to have family holidays where it's just oir little gang. They will either be busy, have their own plans or want to bring partners etc which will change the dynamic.

If I had extra now I would be using it on cultural enrichment, holidays and memory making.

You already are financially secure and if you can continue to earn and pay your mortgage anyway, use the extra for life.

I agree with this

Don't move teens to the country.

*when the kids are grown or if we did have another bump in pay

@TowerBallroom and apologies I didnt mean it as antagonistically as it came across, typing in a rush before school run 😂 I agree it's balance, we did overpay a little before we upsized (and it is amazing what a relatively small payment can do) but having upsized just as rates increased we are reluctant to do so right now, but do intend to do so.

@TowerBallroom it used to be quite a common thread in here, I remember because it worried me we had the wrong approach, I think for those the generation above me (who had experienced higher interest rates in the past so were likely more scared of the balance than me as a millennial used to lower interest rates, but also my generation are used to bigger house prices that were less likely to be paid off in a shorter time, especially as my generation has bought later) so I think generation plays a big part.

For me as well, for our circumstances we are high earners, comfortably 6 figure household but still in the relatively early stages of our career, we had children unusually young for our generation, have pretty much the best pensions you can get and bought our large "forever" home for the price many in the SE spend on their starter homes, so with all that in mind it is comfortably within our risk appetite to let our mortgage run longer and take the hit on interest, with a view to over pay when the kids are grown (as I do understand the desire to pay off sooner now we are experiencing some higher interest rates ha!).

We are saving for university so that won't be a problem, but admittedly not saving for house deposits for ours at this stage, again balancing between now and future, but we may have other means to help with that as and when they get to that stage but right now it's not in the plan.

I wouldn't be moving to the country with three of this age, even if you can be confident they'd be happy there. Reason being, from reading posts on here it seems to involve a huge amount of driving when they get to that age. It's hugely easier for them to have a social life without you ferrying them everywhere if they're somewhere more built up, and the logistics with three could be a nightmare.

It's an MN joke; the paragons who can stretch a chicken to feed a crowd for a week.

Number 2. There is a balance to be struck between living for today and living for tomorrow.

Some of the unhappiest people I know/those with the most regrets fell into the spectrum extremes. Ending up working until 70 with no pension because they 'lived for today'. Or sitting in their mortgage free house at 60 with plenty of money going 'gosh I wish we'd taken the kids away more when they were little'.

Just to add the current rise in mortgage payments that many are experiencing makes it far less likely anyway.
People are now having to find even more just to meet their monthly repayments
If you can get it down its a very wise decision IMHO as it gives a buffer in case of illness, redundancy etc

We were high earners who spent spent spent
often had £100k credit card debt (all at less than 2%). Once bought a flat on credit cards

children travelled the world
bought what we wanted

DH diagnosed with cancer at 54 and now twice more
dont regret it for a second

don't want to limit my life too much just to have a shit ton of money in my 50s and 60s when my kids are grown

Our shit ton of money has meant we have been able to comfortably support through uni and provide house deposits, we are also able to work PT whilst we are still young

Each to their own, zero regrets here

Oh fair enough
It's not something I've ever seen, people living horribly just to pay their mortgages off, living on beans!

Most just budget well and it's amazing how quickly you can get it down with regular overpayment.
That's the secret, you end up paying far less interest.
It's like a snowball rolling down a hill!

We actually didn't tell anyone in RL, just quietly did it

@TowerBallroom no not at all, obviously I don't mean if people are genuinely comfortable enough to live a good life (subjectively) and pay off, then sure great, but I've seen so many threads over the years (admittedly less so recently, used to be more common) that talked about scrimping to overpay and I just think that's sad, personally. I'm young(ish...) now, have a family now, my expenditure is the highest it'll need to be now, I don't want to limit my life too much just to have a shit ton of money in my 50s and 60s when my kids are grown.

We are high earners and have excellent pensions so I'm not saying we want to scrimp in our 50s either, but I am more comfortable spreading the burden of our mortgage over a longer period for a more comfortable life, whilst accepting it means paying a lot of interest.

When people proudly claim to have paid their mortgage off at a young age I just feel sad for them

This has to be a joke?

Live now. Always live now. When people proudly claim to have paid their mortgage off at a young age I just feel sad for them, not impressed. Whilst I have kids, they are the priority, I have decades ahead of me to overpay the mortgage and get it paid at a reasonable time, but now is not that time.

That sounds very like us, OP.

We found that when the DC got to teenagers was the "right" time for us to put more money into outings/holiday/experiences/eating out as they appreciated them more - and before they got to the point that they didn't want to do stuff with us any more. With younger children we could have a great day out for next to nothing by going to a biggish park with a picnic or by going on a cycle ride- this is not so exciting for a teen!

Paying your mortgage fortnightly is more efficient.

https://www.savings.com.au/home-loans/monthly-fortnightly-weekly-mortgage-repayments

We've always been good savers, but since a cancer diagnosis in our 50's have also lived more in getting pleasure from our money now.

You never know what's going to happen.
We have teens too- they won't be coming on holidays with us for much longer.
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