Project Mortgage Neutral Begins

Hi. We have just remortgaged on our larger product and while mortgage freedom is still the ultimate goal I am working on the smaller challenge of mortgage neutral first.

We have a smaller mortgage that we transferred when we moved 5 years ago and a larger mortgage that topped it up.

Mortgage 1

Total £32097.21
Interest 2.68%
Redemption Date Februray 2030
This is a tracker mortgage, we are not tied into anything but the deal is so good that unless things change substantially I don't intend to change this.

Mortgage 2

Total £103615.51
Interest 1.74%
Redemption Date February 2030
This a tracker mortgage too with the current deal ending in August 2018.

First and foremost I want to get rid of the larger mortgage even though it has the lower interest rate as it is the biggest debt and is the one product we have that could be a struggle if we ever got stupid interest rates.

We are due to hit mortgage neutral in July 2021. This is worked out with all our mortgage rates staying the same and not receiving any interest on our savings. I am hoping the fluctuations in these will even each other out.

While Mr AJM is happy to reach mortgage neutral, mortgage free and therefore retire early this a solo journey with it all being my effort. We haven't changed our lifestyle at all so there are always other things we can do but this is not so important to us at the moment.

I will add more as the next few days go by. Recently I have been guilty of ignoring my thread but I am hoping starting a new thread will get me on here a little bit more.
MFW 2024 No. 7 £300/£1200 MFiT-T6 No. 70 £14473.17/£22787.04
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Comments

  • edinburgher
    edinburgher Posts: 13,450
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    Happy new thread day - sounds like a cunning plan :j
  • Popgirl
    Popgirl Posts: 124 Forumite
    Hi AJM

    Good luck to mortgage neutral and beyond. Subscribed to your last thread, subscribed to your new one. :T

    Popgirl x
  • try_harder
    try_harder Posts: 1,527
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    Hi ,i shall be following with interest,i am aiming to be mortgage neutral around 2021 too but probably december so slightly after you .Good luck.
  • Good luck ajmoney, you can do it :)
  • ajmoney
    ajmoney Posts: 6,218
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    Thanks for the comments so far, it is great to know that I'm not talking to myself :rotfl:

    I have really been spurred in by seeing the difference in our daily interest on this new mortgage deal.

    With a slight extra push in our OPs we will be below £100k for the larger mortgage by the end of the year. Depending on the calculations from the BoE decision on Thursday we may even make this without trying. I am stupidly excited waiting for the letter to come through to tell me what the new payment will be.

    It is a lovely day here so we are heading out to make the most of it before we are battered by the gale force winds tomorrow. I will add more about our savings and us etc when I get back.
    MFW 2024 No. 7 £300/£1200 MFiT-T6 No. 70 £14473.17/£22787.04
  • ajmoney
    ajmoney Posts: 6,218
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    edited 6 August 2016 at 3:04PM
    I have some spare time so a little about me.

    I am 37, have been married for 5 years and live in Scotland. I am in the armed forces and have a little over 6 years left to serve. Mr AJM is a little older than me and is a secondary school teacher.

    Ideally I would like to be mortgage free by the time I finish my current job so I don't have to worry too much about salaries when I come to getting a new job (although I am currently planning on going into teaching). However we would need to make a big change to our lifestyle to be mortgage free in 6 years and this is a marathon not a sprint. Mr AJM is happy for us to become mortgage free/neutral but leaves everything too me. We split all household bills and joint spending down the middle and the rest of our wages are for ourselves. The sooner we can reach mortgage neutral I can work on bolstering our savings so we know what we will have left if we decide to clear the mortgage.

    We are currently on target to be mortgage free in June 2024.

    I am currently saving £100 in my S&S ISA each month and £250 into my RS account which is 5% however I am normally managing to max out the £500 payment. When the account ends in December I will transfer this into my ISA complete with the interest and hopefully be able to set another one up depending on the current interest rates.

    I know it would make far more sense for us to save rather than OP but we are doing both as mentally I like to see the mortgage reducing. We have put £985 each into our household bills account for years, our bills don't come to this anymore but rather than reduce it I transfer what is left to the mortgage as an OP so it is money we are not used to anyway.

    I currently live away during the week and am at home at the weekends. I have a rough budget I work to while I am away and the plan has always been to move the money left over across to savings at the end of each week but I haven't done this yet so when I head back to work next week this will be the first thing to start.

    I don't know if any of my ramblings make sense but it always makes me feel better to get my ideas out of my head and then look back over them.
    MFW 2024 No. 7 £300/£1200 MFiT-T6 No. 70 £14473.17/£22787.04
  • ajmoney
    ajmoney Posts: 6,218
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    My mobile contract is up for renewal in the next month so I am trying to find the best deal. I thought it would be easy but I would rather change energy supplier!
    MFW 2024 No. 7 £300/£1200 MFiT-T6 No. 70 £14473.17/£22787.04
  • Hi AJ

    Shiny new diary 😉

    No clue whether this helps but we all switched to Giffgaff and have found them to be fair and reasonable. We have similar free phones and using our monthly GG service has saved £££. We can go up and down in terms of package. Mine is £7.50/12 for example and DS'S is £15.

    Good luck xxxxxxx
    2004 £387k 29 years - MF March 2033:eek:
    2011 £309k 10 years - MF March 2021.
    Achieved Goal: 28/08/15 :j
  • If you can convince your nearest and dearest to switch, Giffgaff can be amazingly cheap. We buy £5/month bundles, that includes 125 mins, 500 texts, and 100mb. You can pay more if you need more. The crucial point is that by topping up £5 or more a month, you get unlimited free Giffgaff to Giffgaff calls and texts. My monthly allowance is tiny, but I use WiFi most of the time, and since 90% of my calls and texts are to other Giffgaff numbers I usually end up with most of my allowance still intact at the end of the month.

    You can setup automatic renewal via direct debit too, so it "feels" like a monthly rolling contract.

    Only caveat is to check what network coverage o2 have in your area. Giffgaff piggybacks their network, so no o2, no Giffgaff.
  • ajmoney
    ajmoney Posts: 6,218
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    Thanks Tilly and SSS for the giffgaff advice, I will take a look over the next few days.

    I am back at work now, it is definitely getting harder being away from home, I think because I am not so busy out of work time so I am trying to rectify that.

    Panicked earlier as I thought I was short of money for the month and then realised I had deducted £330 when it should have been £118! We have a wedding to go to next week and have some family staying for it, once that is over I will commit some more money to my RS account.

    My great North run attempt is 5 weeks away and my running has taken a step back over the 2 weeks so I am going to get back into it tomorrow. It really is good for my soul which is needed as I settle back into work.

    I hope everyone has had a good day.
    MFW 2024 No. 7 £300/£1200 MFiT-T6 No. 70 £14473.17/£22787.04
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