AIBU to want to borrow £££ to

[cherry2727]

Extend our house ? We bought a small 2 bed 1930s semi less than 10 years ago and haven't done much to it since .
Dh and I now in a comfortable position financially after years of struggling . We have circa £2k of disposable income after bills . Not life changing but it's a lot to us as I've worked hard to get to a very good place in my career .

We have about £200k equity in the house and I suggested that we could borrow £100k with a repayment of £800 over 15 years to extend the property . It's quite small ( open plan) and doesn't work well for entertaining and downstairs space . He nearly hit the roof! We ended up arguing and him saying that I was trying to drag us into financial ruin! I work so hard and I just feel like we are stuck in this small house and I have little prospects of having a more comfortable home or even buying a bigger house.For background he is very laid back and I'm a lot more ambitious if that helps .

I honestly don't want to put us into financial ruin but I just assumed that this was the natural progression as we couldn't afford to move house . Isn't that what most people in our position do? I'm really curious whether I'm asking for too much? How do people afford extensions without saving for a decade ? Am I really in the wrong to suggest such? I am new to all of this and just assumed that everyone borrowed more to invest into their property. He isn't speaking to me and doesn't want to discuss it further . I feel soo deflated but also open to whether I am being unreasonable. Thank you

Committing to an £800 loan repayment over fifteen years is absolutely ridiculous. So much can and WILL happen in fifteen years. Redundancy, changes in interest rates, illness, lord knows what else.

Maybe I'm missing something. But if you could buy bigger for an extra 70k why would you instead borrow 100k to extend?

Ignore me. I see you've answered this!

Personally, I'd just use that money to move!

An extra £800 a month of debt is a lot, and surely any extension you could do to a small 2-bed semi wouldn't be very large anyway?

*8% seems quite a low amount to put into retirement investment, especially since your husband is a low earner. What are your ages and how big are your respective pension pots? No need to tell me, but you need to know. And plan accordingly!

I'm also surprised that you've not heard of ISAs.*
@FlowerArranger apologies I know what an ISA is - I was referring to S&S but then realised you mean stocks and shares - I am soo not with it!!!! So yes I am familiar with stock and shares ISA but don't have one . I will look into it as an option . I am mid thirties and he has just turned 50. We have quite an age gap which is more prevalent now in our day to day choices - sigh

If your husband is 50 already and in a low paid job, you really need to look seriously into how your retirement savings are stacking up. How much pension income can you expect to receive when you retire? Can you both make additional contributions to your employers' schemes?

Provided you have an investment horizon of at least 5-10 years, equity based ISAs would probably be a good idea. You can feed into an ISA via monthly contributions and get tax relief. ISAs are more flexible than pensions as you could sell them if push cones to shove - though of course ideally you shouldn't.

Vanguard have a range of index funds which perform as well if not better than most managed funds, so this is what I'd consider. Their website is also very good for learning about investing.

Yes but if they Ive to a bigger house they need a bigger mortgage anyway so still increasing monthly payments. OP if this is your forever home then maybe what your proposing is right. But it doesn't sound that way and so perhaps looking into moving is the right option.