Work hard now to pay off your mortgage by 30, and retire by 40

[Ieattoomuchsugar]

And to buy a house at 19/20 whatever age

Maybe exaggerating with the ages a bit but these are examples I've seen.

People who've gone without holidays, new clothes etc, lived with the bare minimum and worked endless overtime for years in order to achieve the above.

Has anybody actually done this or in the process of doing it?

I do see the appeal but I personally wouldn't want/wouldn't have wanted to spend my 20s and 30s living that way. I do think life is to be enjoyed, I of course want to save but I am not prepared to go without things I enjoy for such a long time. I think it's better to strike a balance, and I'd rather enjoy life now just as much as when I am 50/60.

I don't see how someone at 19/20 could afford the deposit for a house or could have a big enough salary for a mortgage. Especially without some kind of privileged upbringing and family support in some way or another. Whether that be financial or being able to live with parents or just general life guidance or childcare help. Let alone having the mortgage paid off by 40.

I am early 30s and have went without all of my life living very frugally and I am still renting. We do have children though but we come from difficult backgrounds. House prices are insane. It would be lovely to get on the property ladder by 40, I can't imagine being mortgage free at that point.

Be careful what you wish for.

I'm 36 and mortgage free. I was diagnosed with MS and a critical illness policy I had paid out. I now have been diagnosed with cancer. Having no mortgage is not the be all and end all. Time is.

Yes to the post above. Some of the people I’ve seen obsess about paying off the mortgage are doing it at the expense of pensions and some of them enjoyment of life.

While I’d love to be rid of my mortgage, it is cheap debt and my house is effectively an investment. Our mortgage is massive and it will take a long time to pay off but with spare money I’d rather invest and build a pot of money that can give me choices but I also want to continue working part time and spending money on my children.

I bought my house at 21 as a low earner with my then partner (now ex husband) who was also a low earner and disabled. We put everything into that house and went without everything except a really nice holiday once a year. We were frugal anyway, we didn't have cars or waste it on unnecessary things. We did have a takeaway once a week but never had drinks out with meals, never once had a takeaway coffee or boring little things like that as they add up. Obviously we didn't have kids as they were too expensive to consider.
The mortgage would have been paid up by the time I was 40, but after we split I got a promotion at work and could easily have paid the mortgage off by 35.
My intention was to go part time and then claim my pension at 50.
The house was £95k in 2006. I earned £10k and my ex was on a similar amount in pensions for disability. When I sold it last year it hadn't really gone up in value despite me spending at least £20k on improvements.

I met my DP in my early 30s and although we're still frugal, it's not to the extent I used to be. We've taken on a massive mortgage to buy a much bigger house and we have our second child on the way. I much preferred knowing I would be comfortably off by 40 as I can't see myself being able to retire early anymore or even be able to go part time. I don't like worrying about money as I grew up in a home that would now be classed as 'in poverty' and my mum still has nothing to her name.
I also now cannot access my work pension until I am state pension age so there's no chance of me being able to retire early even if the mortgage is paid off.

Have to agree with @SeeMyLanyardAndWeepBitch that her friends' life sounds depressing. There's no point retiring early if that's how you're going to live it.

I think a lot of this comes down to personality. I'm not the sort to live for today as you might die suddenly. I'm a save for a rainy day person even if that means going without. My DP has the same attitude as me and so did my ex, despite him losing his career in his early 20s due to a work accident.

My mum worked really hard, long hours, stressful jobs, to be able to retire early and enjoy her retirement.

She died of cancer before she got a chance.

I'd have much rather she worked less and spent more time with me and in latter years her grandkids to be honest.

I think how well this works depends on your salary relative to house prices where you want to live and your ability to save a deposit. It was certainly an easier aim when I bought in 2001 than now.

I also think it depends a lot on whether you want children, when and what you want their life to be like. I really wanted my children to do clubs and learn an instrument and experience camping as a family. Others might want their children to have a very secure home.

What's a "cheapo holiday"? What separates it from the classy holidays?

I was responding to a post re pensions not re the post that is actually above mine. 1haudyerwheesht That must be so incredibly hard for you at such a young age.

We bought our first house at 29 and paid off our second house at 44. We were both earning well, and didn't have kids, so in the years when most of our peers were paying out the equivalent of another mortgage in childcare, we just put it all in the house. Because our house is only for two, we didn't need it to be huge or near good schools, it's perfect for us though.

We won't be retiring before 60 though, although have both cut our hours down since becoming mortgage free, which for me is a great balance of time vs money and financially planning for a long life whilst acknowledging that not everyone gets one.

Yes have effectively done this, mortgage cleared before 40 (I was single) which meant a redundancy wasn't an issue and then I could decide to go back and study at university a subject I was interested in in last few years.

So I am not retired but I only work one day a week, which covers all my outgoings. Then masters course the rest. I'll probably work more when finished, we'll see.

I'm 36 and mortgage free. I was diagnosed with MS and a critical illness policy I had paid out. I now have been diagnosed with cancer. Having no mortgage is not the be all and end all. Time is

I’m so sorry. This is one of the reasons I want to be mortgage free. I imagine it is harder being very ill when you still have a mortgage to pay.
Best of luck.

Pay for a financial advisor. For £1110, ours saved us £32k over the course of our mortgage, increased our pensions and now I'm semi retired working very part time in my mid 50s. The 12 hours a week I work pay for holidays.

*I would say the opposite. This is for low paid or low expectation people

Buying at house at 19/20 is only possible if you’re working and not at university, and it’s going to be a pretty cheap house. Especially if you want the whole mortgage paid by 30

High earners will be looking at bigger houses to buy, no assuming the house they bought at 20 is their house for life*

This doesn't make sense. Low earners buying an average house will be in the same, if not worse position financially than High earners buying a bigger house
Also, high earners don't need to buy a bigger house.

What's a "cheapo holiday"? What separates it from the classy holidays

It costs less than £2k rather than £10-£15k

I’m not sure what the AIBU is here.

If you earn enough or have help to buy then it’s a matter of personal choice pretty much like everything else. Most people have to make constant similar, smaller decisions in life - go on holiday or use the money for something more tangible , go out to eat or save the money to put towards something else etc. It depends on financial means and what is most important to you. It’s a good idea for some and not a good idea for others

I think for many, their property will act as part of their pension/retirement, especially those in London/south east. Hence why people keep trading up and not settle with their property early on, even if it means they could have been mortgage free in their 30s. Not many people currently under 50 can afford to retire when they were/are 40. It’s just not feasible (with the exception of very large inheritances and/or working in an ultra high paying job.)

We could have been mortgage free by 40, but decided to move and buy something a lot bigger, both plot and house. Although this means continued mortgage payments, we are hedging our bets on the fact that the rise in property values in large houses in our area would out perform many other investments. Partly due to Covid and partly due to the major renovation we had to do on the house we bought, our house is valued at 50% more than we bought it for five years ago.
When the time comes we will do a major downsize and hopefully free up the equity in our house which will form part of our pension and help our DC get a foot on the housing ladder.

I had paid my mortgage off by the time I was 23 and then went on to travel the world and have all those wonderful experiences that all 23-year-olds have no I realise I’m in extreme case because I got divorced lost a lot and had to start again however I don’t miss out on anything.
Friends who didn’t go to university got married at 21 Mortgage free bye midthirties. If anything I think they missed out on more, but are having fun now

I worked a lot of overtime in my 20s and regret it now tbh, I missed time with my family because of it.

To be retired at 40 you would probably need a million and a half in your pension pot to be comfortable. Who has that? When most people in their 40s still have dependents.

@Jessie75

I had paid my mortgage off by the time I was 23 and then went on to travel the world and have all those wonderful experiences that all 23-year-olds have no I realise I’m in extreme case because I got divorced lost a lot and had to start again however I don’t miss out on anything. Friends who didn’t go to university got married at 21 Mortgage free bye midthirties. If anything I think they missed out on more, but are having fun now

And were you a foetus when you bought your house?

I worked full time whilst at uni. 100% mortgage, £60,000 house.

We could have achieved this had we not had our kids. Had our 1st child at 19/21 and bought our house just over a year later. We will pay off current mortgage around 40/42 but really need to move to a bigger one then too so may need a mortgage again. Holidays are not easy with dh's career anyway and children curbed the social stuff.

I paid my mortgage off before I was 40. I reckon that this was mainly down to the fact that I live in a cheap area of the country and I don't have children.

It has brought me a lot of freedom and I haven't had to stick with a job I didn't like.

However, I wouldn't have worked harder to get to this position sooner. How many of us know someone who died within months of retiring? There are no guarantees. I reckon we should make the most of our time now.

I might be dead by the time its paid , would rather enjoy my life, you just never know .

I think the aim should not be to retire early, but to find work you love and work life balance whilst you are working. Retirement is pretty boring and unchallenging for most people and something you only need to do when your mental capacities decline.