What would you do if your rent/mortgage was taken care of?

[NutellaEllaElla]

Lots of us work towards it but what do you do when you get there?

My DH is planning to retire at 55. So our savings/pensions need to be extensive enough to pay for a broadly comparable lifestyle to what we have now for at least 25 years beyond that, plus a slower/less expensive lifestyle for maybe 10-15 years beyond that.

We don’t scrimp. We’re just careful with what we spend and don’t piss away all our money. DH is better at that than I am as I like having nice things and don’t always want to defer gratification in every instance. Between the two of us and our differing approaches it works out pretty well overall I think: There’s a balance to be had - enjoy life now but be prudent and think about the future too.

I was in this position a few years ago and we bought another house- our first house was a small, starter home but we wanted somewhere bigger with a garage. Once this one is paid off then we will focus on building our savings and have a few nice holidays.

I downsized after divorce and bought a teeny house without a mortgage also in much cheaper area. I don't really have much spare cash but I have been able to get a dog and have paid off debts and have £2k in savings first time ever in credit!

I rent but would help DCs on the property ladder. I wish I could afford to help the oldest buy a 2 bed and then he has a (nice) lodger so that income can help him pay the mortgage and for company. Because of particular reasons which I won't go into it is very unlikely he will ever earn enough to buy. Also doesn't find it easy to meet anyone for a long term Relationship although he has lots of female friends. I'd use my Money to give him some security for the future!

I always said I was retiring when we'd paid off the mortgage, but, when we got there, work was actually enjoyable. My dc were grown so I was out of the cycle of juggling work and dc.
I've never been keen on "domesticity" - I get no satisfaction from cleaning, I don't particularly like cooking or decorating or gardening, so I decided to carry on working, and free myself some time by getting a cleaner and gardener.
We save the rest of the money that is the equivalent of our mortgage payments and will hopefully be able to support each of our dc with a small deposit to help them with their first property, and we will both be able to retire at some point before we hit 67. It's not scrimping and saving - our mortgage was manageable in the first place, and our careers have both progressed and our income allows us to do this AND do the things we want to do. Fair to say we have never been extravagant spenders.

Went part time once Unis were out of the way

We should be there in 7 years - sooner if we keep overpaying. Will be stashing away the same amount each month for early retirement.

Dance. I’d dance l. Could involve feathers. Big ones. Ostrich. Like Lola

😂

Reduce hours at work, increase pension/savings for kids.

Probably save for retirement, save to DC's university fees or house deposit or something else if they don't want to go to uni, go on a nice holiday abroad

As we don't have mortgage or rent to pay, we didn't (and still don't) work full time.

This has meant we haven't had significant childcare costs either.

Our income is modest (won't ever pay higher rate tax) but with low costs we probably have more disposable income than people who earn much much more.

Our lifestyle is modest, but we have money for the holidays we want to take, saving for our child's university and I plan to retire at 60.

We are aware we are very lucky.

@Lesina

Dance. I’d dance l. Could involve feathers. Big ones. Ostrich. Like Lola

Haven't noticed any difference in disposable income at all as it all goes on supporting adult DC.

Ideally though, if you didn't have to support DC?

If no dc - I would never even have a mortgage. I would have just pleased myself alone, travelling when ever I could and doing what I liked all the time. I would have been one of those nomads trekking the world and doing shit jobs to fund a simple life.

It’s a shame I make wonderful people, got addicted to them and had three of the little money drains to support

I'm early 50s, no DC, no mortgage for the last few years.

I pay a LOT more towards a pension, take dream holidays, and buy everything I want without thinking about it too much - I don't have expensive tastes, so I'm just talking about books, plants, out to dinner at non-pricey places, hobby materials.

Save up a bit, then quit work.

How do you know how much money you need to have saved to quit work?

The finance I would save, id invest towards beginning my eBay business.

We'll be there next month. DCs are young (7 and 3) so the plan is to save for private secondary schooling and possibly put more away in to DH pension (mine is public sector so less need to top this one up).

@NutellaEllaElla

How do you know how much money you need to have saved to quit work?

You work it out based on your outgoings and what lifestyle you’d like to be able to maintain for what number of years.

Or you save enough for X amount of time if you want to take a sabbatical or re-train or travel or whatever the case may be.

I would just be really smug. I'd change my MN username to HaHaHaNoMortgage, and get it printed on a t-shirt and a bumper stick for good measure.

Actually not a bumper sticker, because I would be able to afford it as a personalised plate instead.

We bought double glazing, solar, changed the boiler, added insulation etc: basically future-proofed by reduced the running costs to the minimum.