Do I pay off my mortgage after critical illness?

Darren36

I am 35 years of age and recently surrered a heart attack. To cut a long story story i was a smoker loved a drink and normally healthy. turns out my condition was caused by stress (work not the wife!)and not by my bad habits. i have fully recovered and will lead a normal life (by cutting out the bad things)
I have two small children and a nagging wife...lol.
I took out critical insurance cover out which paid out last week £100,000. my house is worth 235k and the remaining mortgage is 94k. My question is, do i pay off my mortgage off or reduce it enough to be less stressful?

my instinct is to clear the mortgage and have what i earn to enjoy life?

Be good to hear anyones comments/advice

Regards Darren

Darren36

Thanks for your comments, i am about to clear the whole amount to lead a stress free life (apart from the wife and kids....lol) thats my intention and i guess it will be the best decision i can make. I can not stress how important critical insurance is worth, some say its too expensive and it will never happen to them.....well thats what i thought but decided to take it. money well spent!

i would rather have 20 years of mortgage payments and a healthy heart

Scabs

If it was me I would pay the mortgage off as the interest on this loan is a great deal higher than the interest you would recieve from depositing the money. You may well want to pay off the majority and keep a lump sum back for a rainy day again reducing your stress.


p.s.I wouldnt try and make any sense out of Koasdj as all his other posts are also not from this world.

LilacPixie

pay off the mortgage. It is one less thing to worry about and us the excess money to live live to the full.

saveup

pay it off !!! and enjoy the kids your wife and the rest of your life.

I lost a mate when we were 30 he left a wife and kids and a lot of lost people!

kalaika

I'd echo the above. Use the £100k to pay off you £94k mortgage and spend the remaining £6k on something that you and your wife and kids can enjoy, like an uber-cracking holiday.

Isis_Black

Oh god yeah pay of the mortgage!!! i would just at the chance to do that!
you would then be left with a great amount left and each month to enjoy life a lot better, hell you could even possibly thi nk of getting yourself a holiday home,(a static caravan) then you could enjoy the coast whenever you want to or lend it out to freinds and family!
but yeah jdut clear that mortgage and be happy and free!!!

Floxxie

I would definitely pay off the mortgage! And well done on the critical illness payout; unfortunately I cannot find an insurer who will cover me without extensive exclusions and additions. All the more reason for me to get this mortgage paid off :rotfl:

Spirit_2

I had a by-pass when 42, emergency, very lucky (thank you NHS) . At that time I was the sole earner and our daughter was school age. Returned to working fulltime after 4 months, and as I 'needed' to , went on to take tougher, but higher paying jobs.

Roll on 7 years and the stresses and strains have taken their toll (again!) I have added other stress/lifestyle conditions to my cardiac problems and for my well being I really do need to move to part-time working. I have taken a smaller job and dropped my salary but still need to be a 'high earner' to meet our continuing mortgage. We have reduced our mortgage term so it has 6 years to go rather than 11.

If we were mortgage free (despite work-a-holic tendencies) I could and would now change, but feel I do not have the choice to do this until our home is totally our own.

Do what you can now to give yourself choice about your work-life balance in the longer term. At this point you will be glad to be alive and full of reforming thoughts about living a healthier lifestyle. In five or six years time the novelty will have worn off and your responsibities will be prioritised over your health .

Good luck

Spirit

Barneysmom

Pay off the mortgage, that's why you got the insurance - You might not have much ready cash left but you'll be free of a big debt?
And the thing you can't buy is time, time to get out walking and enjoy the countryside or the seaside as much as possible, share time with family.

Good luck, all the best xx

Wanna_Be_Mini_Dave

I would pay off the house; then use the rest of the money for a family trip.