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Dreams can come true
ShineOn
Posts: 9 Forumite
Next week our final mortgage overpayment will be winging its way to the Abbey and we can, at last, join the MF crewe. I can barely believe it.:beer:
Twenty-three years after picking up the first ball and chain when signing along the dotted line at the Nationwide for a modest, two-bed flat, we are finally cutting loose and ready to enjoy a MF life – for a while at least.
Should we head to the Caribbean for the first time, take the kids back to Disney in Florida or perhaps upgrade the old Mondeo to one of those flash Audis with the sexy lights along the grill? Oh, the thrill of it all.
But this mail is not to gloat, merely to thank ‘Sir’ Martin :money: for showing us the light and to encourage you to keep going on your MF journeys with the likes of Dithering Dad and Tallgirl. Perhaps our story may give you a few pointers about how it can be done.
Just over two years ago my OT and I were facing something of a mid-life crisis. At 44 and after six moves around the country, our mortgage stood at £120,000 with another 11 years to run, our endowment policy was expected to fall short by at least £40,000 :mad: , we were living beyond our means, the kids were about to start university and our 40-year-old swaying shack was in dire need of some serious financial investment.
With talk of a growing financial crisis in the US, I was starting to fret about my job and knew something had to be done – and fast.
A new housing development had just been started eight miles along the road with some ‘posh’ Charles Church houses. So up went the For Sale sign and six months later we were safely tucked up in our new, 5-bedroom all-signing, all-dancing abode – a cool £90,000 cheaper than the shack.
While we miss our old neighbours and the bigger garden, the restless nights were instantly replaced by a more contented sleep :A . And the dream of becoming MF before turning 50 suddenly became very much possible.
The biggest delight was cashing in the endowment policy and putting a stop to the annual ‘red letter’ warnings which spelled out how far short out were we likely to be at the end of the 20-year term.
To anyone who is clinging on to their policy in the belief they will come good in the end, my advice would be to cut and run if you possibly can. It’s simply not worth the worry.
The move still left us with a £30,000+ mortgage, as well as loans for the new furniture, carpets, curtains etc. So how did we get to where we are? Well, we...
*Changed from a fee-paying NatWest account to the free, better interest-earning Halifax
*Set up an online facility so that we could check daily where we stood financially.
*Kept our monthly mortgage payments at £800 instead of the new £300
*Used modest work bonuses to reduce the capital on the fixed-rate mortgage payments without incurring early redemption penalties
*Took Sir Martin’s advice to switch utility suppliers
*Stopped payments for additional health insurance
*Used the move to join an NHS dental practice and stopped paying monthly fees to a private clinic
*Negotiated an excellent deal with Sky to supply free telephone calls, plus TV and internet broadband instead of using different suppliers
*Cut back on meals out and used special offers on the Moneysaving website
*And set up regular savings accounts for Xmas, birthdays, bills etc to avoid expensive months
While we may have taken a fairly drastic step in downsizing – albeit to a larger property – it’s clear that with a bit of willpower and a healthy dose of reality, dreams can come true.
Good luck with yours!
Twenty-three years after picking up the first ball and chain when signing along the dotted line at the Nationwide for a modest, two-bed flat, we are finally cutting loose and ready to enjoy a MF life – for a while at least.
Should we head to the Caribbean for the first time, take the kids back to Disney in Florida or perhaps upgrade the old Mondeo to one of those flash Audis with the sexy lights along the grill? Oh, the thrill of it all.
But this mail is not to gloat, merely to thank ‘Sir’ Martin :money: for showing us the light and to encourage you to keep going on your MF journeys with the likes of Dithering Dad and Tallgirl. Perhaps our story may give you a few pointers about how it can be done.
Just over two years ago my OT and I were facing something of a mid-life crisis. At 44 and after six moves around the country, our mortgage stood at £120,000 with another 11 years to run, our endowment policy was expected to fall short by at least £40,000 :mad: , we were living beyond our means, the kids were about to start university and our 40-year-old swaying shack was in dire need of some serious financial investment.
With talk of a growing financial crisis in the US, I was starting to fret about my job and knew something had to be done – and fast.
A new housing development had just been started eight miles along the road with some ‘posh’ Charles Church houses. So up went the For Sale sign and six months later we were safely tucked up in our new, 5-bedroom all-signing, all-dancing abode – a cool £90,000 cheaper than the shack.
While we miss our old neighbours and the bigger garden, the restless nights were instantly replaced by a more contented sleep :A . And the dream of becoming MF before turning 50 suddenly became very much possible.
The biggest delight was cashing in the endowment policy and putting a stop to the annual ‘red letter’ warnings which spelled out how far short out were we likely to be at the end of the 20-year term.
To anyone who is clinging on to their policy in the belief they will come good in the end, my advice would be to cut and run if you possibly can. It’s simply not worth the worry.
The move still left us with a £30,000+ mortgage, as well as loans for the new furniture, carpets, curtains etc. So how did we get to where we are? Well, we...
*Changed from a fee-paying NatWest account to the free, better interest-earning Halifax
*Set up an online facility so that we could check daily where we stood financially.
*Kept our monthly mortgage payments at £800 instead of the new £300
*Used modest work bonuses to reduce the capital on the fixed-rate mortgage payments without incurring early redemption penalties
*Took Sir Martin’s advice to switch utility suppliers
*Stopped payments for additional health insurance
*Used the move to join an NHS dental practice and stopped paying monthly fees to a private clinic
*Negotiated an excellent deal with Sky to supply free telephone calls, plus TV and internet broadband instead of using different suppliers
*Cut back on meals out and used special offers on the Moneysaving website
*And set up regular savings accounts for Xmas, birthdays, bills etc to avoid expensive months
While we may have taken a fairly drastic step in downsizing – albeit to a larger property – it’s clear that with a bit of willpower and a healthy dose of reality, dreams can come true.
Good luck with yours!
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Comments
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Congratulations
I'm still a long way off achieving the same security - Why dont you add yourself to the Mortgage Free Roll of Honour sticky at the top of this forum - I love reading those - and go back there for motivation frequently.
Topaz0 -
Sounds like a good idea, Topaz. Once I get confirmation from the Abbey that the house is actually all ours, I'll pop one up there.0
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Congratulations, it's good to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
We've still got approx 19 years left to go on our mortgage, cant overpay very often as i'm a SAHM and hubby is the only one working. (i will go back to work eventually though!)
Good on you, well done xxMy beloved dog Molly27/05/1997-01/04/2008RIP my wonderful stepdad - miss you loads:Axxxxxxxxx:Aour new editionsSenna :male: and Dali :female: both JRT0 -
Well done amazing achievment.0
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Congratulations. Very inspiring.0
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MF - there's nothing quite like it is there?
I got shot off my endowment after 10 years - probably the best thing I'd ever done. Like you I felt a sense of relief at seeing the end of those red letters and the sense of throwing good money after bad. If only I could go back in time and stop my gullible younger self from signing on the dotted line…MFW Challenge: Mortgage free in 2008! ACHIEVED!0 -
Nice one! Good to hear that.Mortgage overpayments since November 08: £32,500 - balance is now £81,200
On a Lifetime tracker +0.38% repayment mortgage
Hope to be Mortgage free by 2015! (or maybe 2014 if the rates stay low.....)0 -
Well done - truely inspirational!Predicted Net Worth 31/12/2018: -£38,898.03/-£34,616.86Target 31/12/2019: -£25,000Extra Income 2019: £1,500/£732.38Target Weight Loss 2019: -14 LBs/-2.5 LBsAs at 3/4/2019 MFiT-T5 No 490
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Wow! I'll have to make sure the celebrations live up to your poster, Setmefree!:beer:
Best of luck with your own journey. You know it'll be worth it in the end.0
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