Scrimp and save to pay mortgage off or live now?

[Easypeelersareterrible]

Prompted by thoughts from others threads, I thought I’d pose my current dilemma.

Early 50s, big earners, 3 teens kids, big mortgage. We are a bit stuck about what to do financially. The choice is:

1. Keep working hard in not very satisfying jobs. Don’t spend extravagantly (but not really living frugally). Get the mortgage (£400k) paid off in 5 years or so.
2. Keep working hard and pay the mortgage off in the next 10 years or so but take slightly more exciting holidays, buy the kids more kit etc while they are home, make a chicken last 2 meals instead of 5 etc.
3. Downsize, move to the country, take much lower paid jobs but have more free time to have fun, no mortgage, lots of savings, more laid back pace of life etc.

We’re currently doing 1. I worry that the kids will leave home and we find we pay the mortgage off, have lots of money and time but no kids left to enjoy it with. Do we just have more fun now, treat them more, but the stress of a mortgage for longer. It’s so hard to know how to gauge things.

What are others philosophy on this?

Agree. Fun with kids while they are still young is reallly important but so is security. Usually with mortgages if you overpay then you can “underpay” in the future without penalty. (Check the wording on yours.) I would aim to get to maybe “1-2 years ahead” as that means that if one of you is made redundant then you have breathing space. But keep having your mountain bike holidays.

Do they bike with a club? Are they on the BC pathway? (From experience) that is an excellent way of solving a “how do I spend my money” problem.

It would be 1 for me. You don’t know what’s going to happen with your health and you’re getting to the age where it would be difficult to find similar level rôles if made redundant etc. Pay down the mortgage and focus on being able to retire at a sensible time.

If you have the ability to knock £80k every year for five years off your mortgage, why not knock £50k off for eight years and have £30k a year for nice holidays and teenage trests?

Same boat as you OP, we’re doing 2 with a view to doing 1 when everyone has left home

We’d like to pay off the mortgage as one job loss and we’d more than likely have to move. And that possibly wouldn’t be a bad thing in the end as we are probably going to move on the next 15 years anyway, but the thought of having our hand forced in a depressing way in what might be an awkward time of life just hangs over us. We’ve never consciously decided to live like this, it’s just happened.

We aren’t ‘tight’ as such. We buy good quality food. We buy kids things that they want but not to a silly extent like their friends We do things like get them an iPhone but a fairly standard version. We drive a car that we bought outright that gets us from a to b. Not what’s deemed a premium brand but drives. We just don’t eat out much or go to the likes of Alton towers or the zoo. These things cost so much and it’s not something we really value. But maybe we should try doing these things more. We’re either being boring or teaching our kids the value of money.

And of course a chicken doesn’t last 5 days - in any other world than mumsnet world.

Having read your update I think 1.
You're eating well and doing stuff - just not going over board.
We did 1
4 kids.
Ate well
Paid bills.
No exotic holidays, or brand new cars. Etc
Paying the mortgage off is a great feeling.

Live your life.

There's no guarantee you will be in good enough health to enjoy life when you've finally paid off the mortgage, so live it now.

If it was just you and DH I'd say 1 or 3

But as you have kids,
go for 2.

They really aren't young for long.

I don't think teens would want to uproot to the countryside, so keep that for when they have left home

Option 2. You will have paid it off before you retire? You will hopefully be in your early 60s in good heath, older children and lots more free money, that doesn't seem that bad. You can always pay more in if you are able each year, but restrictig yourselves so much to paying off in five years instead o ten seems pointless.

Are there good jobs and schools in the country?
And a lower paid job doesn’t necessarily mean easier or short hours..
There will be grandchildren eventually - it would be nice to be retired or part time then.

I think it depends on what you call living your life?
I lived mine while I paid off the mortgage and actually found I was much happier without all the "stuff"
The constant wheel of more?

I got off it

Oops posted too soon
I realised that working long hours to buy stuff was not for me

Settled on a happy medium, zero debt, mortgage paid off.
This is life and happiness, just not the " happy life" that the advertisers think you should have

Bit of both. Over pay a bit but enjoy life. You could be dead tomorrow and your family will just remember you working all hours in a job you dislike rather than fun memories of doing whatever you want

2 definitely. Take the kids to the theatre, take them on holiday, do stuff together, finish early and just chat. They will be leaving home soon.

I wholeheartedly agree

Absolutely 💯

Having lost two close friends and a relative in the last two years in their fifties I'd say live for now.

I’d do 3, living a simpler life and having more time to be with the people you love and do the things you love is worth a lot.

If you think moving to the country would have a really negative impact on your kids well being then I’d go with number 2 until they’re older and off to uni and then do 3.

I agree with the poster who said 1.5. BUT I'd pay £40k off the mortgage and invest £20k. If a job is lost, there's then a tiding over fund if necessary. Also, you are only 50 and you have to live.

2 no question

We've always been good savers, but since a cancer diagnosis in our 50's have also lived more in getting pleasure from our money now.

You never know what's going to happen.
We have teens too- they won't be coming on holidays with us for much longer.
X

Paying your mortgage fortnightly is more efficient.

https://www.savings.com.au/home-loans/monthly-fortnightly-weekly-mortgage-repayments

That sounds very like us, OP.

We found that when the DC got to teenagers was the "right" time for us to put more money into outings/holiday/experiences/eating out as they appreciated them more - and before they got to the point that they didn't want to do stuff with us any more. With younger children we could have a great day out for next to nothing by going to a biggish park with a picnic or by going on a cycle ride- this is not so exciting for a teen!

Live now. Always live now. When people proudly claim to have paid their mortgage off at a young age I just feel sad for them, not impressed. Whilst I have kids, they are the priority, I have decades ahead of me to overpay the mortgage and get it paid at a reasonable time, but now is not that time.

When people proudly claim to have paid their mortgage off at a young age I just feel sad for them

This has to be a joke?

@TowerBallroom no not at all, obviously I don't mean if people are genuinely comfortable enough to live a good life (subjectively) and pay off, then sure great, but I've seen so many threads over the years (admittedly less so recently, used to be more common) that talked about scrimping to overpay and I just think that's sad, personally. I'm young(ish...) now, have a family now, my expenditure is the highest it'll need to be now, I don't want to limit my life too much just to have a shit ton of money in my 50s and 60s when my kids are grown.

We are high earners and have excellent pensions so I'm not saying we want to scrimp in our 50s either, but I am more comfortable spreading the burden of our mortgage over a longer period for a more comfortable life, whilst accepting it means paying a lot of interest.

Oh fair enough
It's not something I've ever seen, people living horribly just to pay their mortgages off, living on beans!

Most just budget well and it's amazing how quickly you can get it down with regular overpayment.
That's the secret, you end up paying far less interest.
It's like a snowball rolling down a hill!

We actually didn't tell anyone in RL, just quietly did it