To not want to be mortgage free?

[chatenoire]

There MNs I've been playing with spreadsheets all day, and quite frankly came to the conclusion that I'd rather have more freedom than to be mortgage free.

The original plan was to be mortgage free within this decade, but the price to pay is to put in half of our truly disposable income.

Which means we would be able to go on big holidays nor any major home improvements. Our mortgage is tiny (£375 - deal expires in May next year), so I don't see the point of sacrificing quality of life for the sake of never having to think about it again. I'm sure through the cycles deals expiring, overpayments, etc.. we'll end up being mortgage free before hitting 50, so that's not so bad, right?

I can see how freeing it would be to be mortgage free, but I think there is a good middle ground where you can lead a comfortable life with some holidays/home improvements, and maybe extend your mortgage goals by a number of years?

We could be mortgage free this decade too if we did the same thing and have decided not to bother.

We did pay off an extra 10% this year with some inheritance but our mortgage is tiny, like yours, and we have a fixed rate for 10 years, and we're only 2 years in.

We'll be mortgage free just after DH turns 50, if we stay in the same house etc etc. so we're not bothering.

I agree with you, the future isn’t promised. And £375 pm between presumably two full time incomes is nothing. I pay double that alone on rent. Saying that, could you not meet somewhere in the middle? If you paid double that between you, would you not still have enough to do nice things? Best of both worlds then?

I agree. Live life now too especially if mortgage free by 50 anyway which is still way ahead of many people.

It really depends on your priorities - mortgage free probably feels most secure, especially in times of interest rate turbulence, but is that sense of security more important than the other things that presumably help your wellbeing in other ways?

I too agree. Life is for living and I'm sure there is some middle ground? Overpay every month, but a sum which means you can still do some fun stuff and plan some improvements too.

Your mortgage deal expires in May 25? Have you estimated how much it might go up by then if rates stay similar to what they are? Would it be worth putting a couple of hundred away a month between now and then so at least the repayment increase won't be so huge? It would certainly annoy me to think that I'm paying extra money out to cover only interest.

But I'm only saying that because we worked to pay ours off early. I'm so glad we did as DH was made redundant a few months ago and it was such a relief to not have to worry about our home.

I’m really not bothered about paying ours off early tbh. I could have been mortgage free if I lived in a smaller house. But our house is glorious and we are so lucky to raise the kids here and enjoy the environment. I think ours will be done when I’m 68 i think. Anything can happen between now and then so who know what will change in that time.

it doesn’t bother me though. Sure, I’d be cash rich every month without it but we still live our best lives and enjoy ourselves so it really isn’t something I think about.

I was mortgage free a couple of years ago, but decided to move and take on another mortgage to get a bigger house. I'm really pleased with the decision, my house fills me with much more joy than being mortgage free does.

If you are rich enough to be mortgage free and still have a great lifestyle that's brilliant, but I don't think it's worth years of living on beans and not doing anything fun.

Mortgage free before 50 is still much better than most can manage.

DP was made redundant during covid and has been caring for me as I've been ill for a couple of years. I have incurable cancer but because I haven't been given less than 12 months to live, the insurance doesn't pay out. We are surviving on my half pay. Thankfully our mortgage was paid off with an inheritance or else we would have lost our home so for me that was the right decision.

I treated my mortgage as rent. Paid it every month, no benefit to finishing it early.

we paid off our mortgage with an inheritance I'm 54 my husband is 56. Our children are grown up we have a three bedroom bungalow well 2 bedrooms and a study .
We had another inheritance 15 years ago not as much and we didn't pay any off on the mortgage went on new cat new kitchen now bathroom wtc and I kind of regret that
However we now have paid off our mortgage and don't really need any more space with just the two of us so don't see the point of moving and either getting a bigger mortgage or a property the same
It's made a massive difference as we are 600 pounds better off a monthplus we have paid off all our other debts credit card etc and still have some money left for shows holidays diy between also have the security of knowing if we wanted to retire before 60 we could though it would obviously be a bit tighter esp as you have to wait until you are 67 to claim state pension though We both have private pensions and mine is quite good
Guess at the end of the day it's a personal choice and no use trying to pay off your mortgage if it leaves you with.no money left for anything else

car not cat!!

I'm 55 with a mortgage of around £250 per month. DC are independent adults, with the ones living at home making a financial contribution. I'm at the peak of my earnings, with outgoings at a life long low as only myself to pay for. I'm so pleased I didn't scrimp and save and sacrifice when I was young and had children to give experiences to, just to be an extra £250 per month (that I barely notice paying) better off now.

Even at 7% it would be £530. Our current monthly disposable income is of £2.5k-£3k (depends how you look at it). We only need £2k to survive (mortgage, food, fuel, and bills all included). So I know WE'D SURVIVE

Yes that's more or less how I feel.

I think if your mortgage was much higher you’d feel differently - the volatile interest rates on a mortgage of £1-2k+ per month with no sign of them reducing significantly you can see why many would want rid of that monthly commitment as quickly as possible

At todays best interest rates over 25years you could only borrow less that 70k to have repayments at the same level as yours - that wouldn’t buy you anything in most of the uk

The psychological effect of being mortgage free can’t be overstated. It was like a huge weight was lifted - ours was affordable too but the lightness of it being gone was indescribable.

If we paid the overpayment we could afford to make, we would be mortgage free by the time I'm 42 (38 now). However, it would mean forgoing a lot of luxuries.

In your shoes, I'd overpay bit just not so much (which is what we are doing)

We managed to pay our mortgage off by the time we were 35, I hate having debt and a millstone round my neck, and until a mortgage is paid off, it is a debt.
We've never regretted it. For us it meant that no matter what happened we would always have a roof over our heads, which for us was the biggest piece of mind of all.
In the years since, we've banked the money that we would have used to pay the mortgage, which has given us a nice lifestyle without worrying and a healthy bank balance.

Yes, and not that long ago our mortgage was £1200 (for a few years).... In fact anything below £1k I'd consider it "low".

Paid off our mortgage a few years back and we didn't scrimp but overpaid when interest rates dropped, so kept out payments stayed the same and it made a big difference to the mortgage term. We'd both had mortgages when the rates were 15% and that's no way to live, so that probably influenced us wanting the mortgage done with. Still had holidays and did not go without, just took advantage of the very low mortgage rate to attack the mortgage and had a totally flexible product, that allowed overpayments at any time!

We bought a modest house at a modest price with an off set mortgage as we still had a little bit in savings left after our deposit down.

Our monthly repayment is similar to yours and we could easily over pay it but because our dc came around the same time as the house we have kept it as it is and had the extra money to live a fun and comfortable life and the savings have gradually built so we could effectively pay it off now but we won't because we will be mortgage free before we are 50 anyway and it's nice to have savings for the fun stuff.

Chat to financial advisor. May be more beneficial putting extra money into pension