Mortgage or Holidays/Days Out

[40andFat]

What would you prioritise money wise if you had spare money. Paying the mortgage off early so you would have more disposable income later on when your kids are teens.
Or enjoying it now while they are young with holidays days out etc.
For context we are having 3 UK holidays this year and spend about £100 a week after all bills/food/petrol basically everything.
We save £200 a month into a sharesave for the kids and both have pensions but no extra to the mortgage.
Currently will be paid off when I'm 58 DP is 48 kids will be 34 22 and 19?

There's no right or wrong, it depends on your outlook to life.
I also think there's a compromise. From where I'm coming from I think that 3 holidays a year sounds a lot and £100 a week to spend just on 'treats' or 'luxuries' is a lot, and for me I'd far rather have the security that comes with knowing your house is completely owned by you, with all the freedom that give you, than have extra 'luxuries' now. But that doesn't mean have no holidays or no treats, just fewer

Life has too many unpredictables - job losses, illness, accident, etc., and I think the sense of security of owning your own home is immeasurable should any of the above befall your family.

If you were asking one holiday V extra mortgage payments I would say have the holiday and enjoy your kids while they are small. 3 holidays is excessive. And you know that.

Backforgood has excellent points. If we had that much spare we'd be saving more, but still enjoying treats and a holiday.

So, both really. You never know what's around the corner money wise, so important to save if you are lucky enough to have extra. And you never know what's around the corner personally, so enjoy the time you have now with your young family x

I chose the to carry on paying the set mortgage rate each month and have loads of holidays and trips each year.
I managed to get quite a bit of savings and now the boys are now 18 and 21 I may pay the mortgage off.

My reason was quite morbid. I had a few friends that died young. I reasoned a house is know good to them, the life insurance paid off the mortgage so their housing was secure so we may as well have a lot of fun throughout the childhood and teen years.
We've got some brilliant memories of our travels and I would do it that way if I had my time again.

I don't think anyone can answer that for you.
If you can afford 3 holidays a year, you can afford 2 and to make a mortgage overpayment or savings. That's my choice.
Most important to me has been to build up emergency savings so I have a buffer if I lose my job. Beyond that, I'm comfortable that my mortgage is a long term debt, and I love holidays.

I've gone for paying off the mortgage early. Mine is due to be paid off when I'm 40 and my youngest is 17. Then I'll have more disposable income to help them start out as adults. Young children don't want for much but young adults need a lot of help and support.

I chose to pay my mortgage off early. I was diagnosed with cancer six years ago and having the security that there is no mortgage if I ever get sick is huge. I also love to travel but three holidays isn't necessary really.

Are they expensive UK holidays? We've had 4 UK weekend breaks and 2 holidays abroad so far this year but the UK trips didn't cost much.
We only have DD and can't have more so we are just having a few years of fun times. Our mortgage isn't massive anyway.

I would pay the mortgage down. Your monthly payments will then be lower.

Plus your life begins again once the kids are grown you need money for that!

You can make good memories for your kids without taking numerous hols each year

Depends what you mean by holidays - we will have had around 6 or 7 "holidays" this year but for us a 3 night caravan trip is a holiday, as are 2 nights camping etc. Probably will only spend about £1200 in total on the accomodation side of things. 3 summer holiday breaks in the luxury lodges at Center Parcs is a different kettle of fish and 3 of those would be extravagant to me.

There is a mortgage overpayment thingie on Money Saving Expert which shows even paying.off an extra £50 per month can really shorten the life of the mortgage.

www.moneysavingexpert.com/mortgages/mortgage-overpayment-calculator

God yeah these aren't extravagant holidays. One is a week in Wales Ina big house with family cost £280 and £400 spending money. 4 days with other family in a caravan in Mablethorpe cost £300 £300 spending money then a weekend in Centre Parks for my sons 16th birthday Cody £542 spending g money £150.
I also save £200 a month into a sharesave so each child will have 10k at 18.
My real dilemma is are we saving enough we could pay probably £100-)200 a month more to the mortgage but then weekly would be able to do less with the kids. I feel like I should be saving more but I like to treat them a couple of times a month to a day out etc.
Reading it back it sounds like I should save more but then I would have to cut down on the stuff we do as a family at weekends mainly....

I also work in banking and with mortgages so sometimes cringe at myself when I know exactly how much quicker I could pay it off

You shouldn't think that less money spent means less possibility to do things with your kids!

Less options, obviously - but there's plenty of lower cost ways to spend time together.

I know what your saying we do lots of free stuff or low cost stuff too. But we are a family of 5 with 2 large families on either side. Even a birthday meal in the pub for one of them costs £50. A day out packing up sandwiches is normally £40ish. We do loads of picnics and Peak District walks with the dog all free but yeah even a McDonald's trip is £20 it all adds up. We could cut down no doubt about it but I don't think we are silly and waste money all money spent is on good family times enjoyed by all. A trip to the seaside or the zoo or a castle etc plus free things as well and that's my dilemma do I pay extra on the mortgage knowing long term I'd have more money when they start their adult lives to help. Or do all this now when they are young.

Op I don't know, it's a dilemma I am thinking about too. Every thing I read contradicts itself, some people say pay it down, others say it's cheap money, put more into investment and pensions

We are also lucky enough to have this problem, we take all the excess income and split it fairly equally into isas, cash, mortgage overpayments, extra pension contributions and holiday /Christmas savings. We book a holiday when there is enough in the pot for one.

Cash= cash savings btw.
We have about £100 a week for treats and fun, clothes etc too.

I would say carry on as you are, making memories and having experiences whilst the DC want to is so important, one day they will be doing their own thing - you may be sitting in a mortgage free house, but will you be able to look back and think that you did as much with them as possible - paid and unpaid?

Also, I second the words by what - no one knows what may happen in future - and if anything happens to you, they will be left secure by your life/mortgage insurance etc, but you also need to ensure they have lovely memories of you. I know of one or 2 who have died young'ish, it does happen.

Holidays every time. My mother died of cancer young but my childhood is filled with happy memories of holidays

Holidays and days out all the way! Who knows what's going to happen in the future? Enjoy the time with your kids while they're young.

Mortgage - we paid ours off in our early 40s and now have a bit more disposable income to spend on teenage DS.

However, DH was made redundant so our actual income is much less than it used to be - so I am really pleased we paid the mortgage off early.

I think there is a happy medium between spending all your spare cash on the mortgage or having 'nice times'.

I think it is finding the right balance that you are comfortable with. We saved for years to do a "holiday of a life time" this year, which we have had to cancel due to illness. How I wish we had done more things before and not waited until some time in the future which now may never happen.

3 holidays is excessive. And you know that

To you maybe but not to me. I've had that many this year already.

Op as long as you can comfortably afford your mortgage, then have your hols with your kids. They are only young once. And life really is short. No one on their death bed says " fuck me I wish I'd holidayed less with my kids". You know your mortgage will be paid off, so if you can have some fun too, then do so, whilst you still can.

What are your promotion / salary increase prospects like? You could resolve to put future increases towards the mortgage.

I think 58 is quite late to finish paying. If you lose your job at 50, believe me, you will find it harder to find a new one.

But once your youngest is at Uni you could downsize.

I done think you should confine yourself to a life if bare essentials scrimping, but you will be fully aware of the total interest paid over the years.,,,

So basically everybody thinks differently some think I'm good as I am others think I should save more... you see my dilemma this is why I'm in 2 minds.
My promotion prospects are unlikely but my partners are good yes either of us could get made redundant but if we did as it stands we'd both get around 30k in redundancy pay so we'd be ok short term. We sometimes get bonus's but not guaranteed.
I think I'll stay as I am for now see what happens with the 16 year old over the next few years.