How old will you be when your mortgage is paid off ?

[LovelyYellowLabrador]

Aiming for before 55

59 - but may sell before then and buy something smaller.

Still coming to terms with the circumstances behind receiving the money. Ironically, the one person I'd have gone to for advice on what to do with the money, is the same person who has left it to me.

I’m in a similar situation @HoobleDooble I almost feel paralysed with indecision about whether to just clear the mortgage or invest the money, and like you too, the person who left me the money is the one person I would have mulled it over with. Mines quite a recent bereavement as well so I’m trying to not make any rash decisions in the middle of a grief storm.

If it helps either of you, I used an inheritance to pay our mortgage off. I remember my dad’s utter joy when he paid theirs off and I had absolutely no doubt that he was beaming when I used some of the money he left me to do the same. His legacy to me was financial freedom.

Hopefully 58, we're waiting for the financial ombudsman to make a decision on it.

57 later this year

I was 53 and we cleared it early, so when we returned to the UK, and dh had retired, we didn't have to worry about mortgage costs.

36 (2 years) hopefully. Unless we have to redraw on it for some sort of emergency.

Also, while young, our house is a massive fixer upper. We have been overpaying for 10 years, and still have no flooring, curtains, most rooms aren’t painted, no landscaping of any sort, and it is a general shambles. We just prioritised getting the mortgage down as quick as possible.

65. We will probably downsize before that though, and pay it off early.

Wow. I just can’t imagine that. It would drive me crazy.

Yes, there has to be a middle ground. 10 years with no flooring or curtains? Do you have children?

I was 39. I did it by moving areas and losing a bedroom. The area wasn't, but is now extremely sought after. It was the best thing I've ever done.
I've moved since then but moving without having to arrange a mortgage is so much easier and quicker, and offers get accepted very readily.

Haha yes we do have kids. There’s not “no flooring” as in we are not living on concrete, just the shit basic carpet that was laid when the house was built (it’s glued to the concrete 🥴)

you can laugh but it was important to us to pay the mortgage off in case something happened to one of us. I am a very low income earner and could pay it by myself, and DH works away 10 months of the year and if something happened to me he wouldn’t be able to do that as he would need to get a (probably much lower paid) job at home to be here for the kids.

different priorities. 🤷‍♀️ And we will so be mortgage free and have a lot more spare money to slowly fix up the house.

In 3 years when I'll be 39.

We could do it sooner but we're on a fixed rate and the early repayment charges are about the same as the interest we'd save, so it's not worth it. We'd rather have the cash readily available for emergencies.

It's tempting to move to a bigger house but we've always tried to have plenty of buffer between income and outgoings, which I'm very glad of at the moment with cost of living increases.

Our pensions have been neglected though, that's the next focus.

70 but we've just remortgaged to have a remodel of what was a 2/3 bed bungalow into a 5 bed 4 bathroom home so I guess it's my own fault 😆 before that it would have been paid off when I was about 58 ish from memory.

I'll be 37 if I carry on overpaying at the current rate and don't buy a bigger house.

I'm torn honestly because I would like more space but I don't need more space and tying myself into a long term mortgage (realistically at least 15 years longer than that, if not 20) and into a "big" job for that time is pretty off putting. I currently have a moderately big job, a small mortgage (1.5x salary) and the potential to pay it off in maybe 5 years if I chuck some more money at it, or even less if I get a promotion. But I also have a small house, no parking and marginally too little space. A nice problem to have ultimately!

Genuinely no one I know has paid off their house in their 30s and most of my friends would be considered 'good' earners.

I can't imagine living in a house for 10 years and prioritising overpaying a mortgage versus doing any kind of work to it to make it a more pleasant space for a family but each to their own.

We're looking at moving and would take a 35 year mortgage meaning we'd be 70 but would plan to overpay as and when we could.

67

actually relieved to see others in same age bracket - thought it was just me

There does seem to be a bit of a mania on MN for paying off mortgages early, even though I've been told by mortgage brokers for the last 20 years 'interest rates have never been so low' and paying into your pension is a much better investment (due to the tax savings, never mind anything else). I've never felt the need to pay it off early even though we aren't overstretched.

I will be 48.

I was 46, DH 60. I think, might have been a year or 2 earlier. We have a very average house and haven’t moved for 20 years.

we overpaid when interest rates went down and then paid it off out of our savings. We just saved what we spent on our mortgage so haven’t really noticed any difference.

Oh I’m not laughing, I just couldn’t live with no flooring or curtains. My children would be up at dawn with the light streaming in!
As you say, different priorities. I’d rather take an extra 20 years to pay the mortgage and live in some comfort.

67. Although am overpaying a bit in the hope of bringing it down.

Had to spend a lot divorcing awful abusive ex so it is what it is.

Is a big house though (5 bed as have 4 DC) so could downsize and pay it off sooner I guess. Also have a v decent pension building up which again will give me options.

I was 32. The average age is 55

I’ve realised reading this that I don’t have any particular desire to pay it off before retirement.