To think I’m not crazy for not paying this off?

[Juppc]

I’ve been given 70k which is around a third of my mortgage debt. If I paid it down on the mortgage my repayments would immediately reduce by 200 a month and obviously I would have a much smaller mortgage so be paying less interest.

however, I am a single parent, late thirties, to one child and have no plans to ever meet anyone again. This 70k represents 2.5 years of security to me for all expenses. I am currently highly paid but no idea when that could change. If I spent the 70k I would have only 8k left in savings and I am only currently able to save 400 a month. I’d never have 70k again.

I think I am being sensible? Am I?!

Thank you. I and quite a few PPs have pointed this out but people just seem obsessed with OP paying off lump sums here, there and everywhere until her £70K is gone, whereas offset still leaves you with the lump sum in case of emergencies

OP see a financial advisor, some of the advice on here isn't the best and you really need to make the most of your money

I think a lot of people favour paying off lump sums because they realise that if they keep the money accessible for emergencies, they'd dip into it for non-emergencies too.

No-one other than the OP will know whether that's something that needs to be factored in here.

Fair point. It has worked for us and we still have the original capital sum that was offset and more. We have shaved nearly two years off our original term and at just under £1000K per month I'm good with that. We are paying the mortgage off completely as it's down to £15K

Can you pay your 10% off monthly- using your windfall? You can usually set it up and cancel it with 1 month notice so it’s easy to stop if something happens that you need the money for? I’d definitely plan to use at least 3/4 of it towards your mortgage but not necessarily in one or two big chunks.

I'm not sure of the page, but MoneySavingExpert has good information on this sort of dilemma. I'd personally pay a very hefty proportion of it on my mortgage, and then overpay the £200, because you never know when you may have problems paying your mortgage in the future. Don't forget that compound interest also applies on mortgages, so the amount t if interest owed over the term of the loan would also substantially reduce. You need expert advice.

I know. I just think that making sacrifices now isn't necessarily the smart thing to do. My mum is wealthier now than she's ever been, having paid off her mortgage, inherited from her mum and having received life insurance payouts from my dad's death. But she struggled when we were young and would have loved the opportunity to splurge a bit when my dad was alive. I am planning to pay my mortgage off before I retire but beyond that I have no particular urge to pay more than I have to on essential bills while I have dependent kids.

I would keep it in savings because I'm paranoid about not having any money. I know exactly how you feel.

It's a good idea to compare your mortgage rate with and interest rate you can get. If you look on Martin Lewis money saving expert I think there is information/calculator on whether it's worth investing or over paying. If it's worth overpaying I would still probably put 20k in an ISA as a nest egg and use the rest against your mortgage. Best of both worlds, chunk off your mortgage but still have some back up