What was your turning point to become a real MFW?

setmefree2

happilass wrote: »

Now, I still hear all my friends and collegues talking about aquiring trifles but I now know that it is possible to get rid and it is sooooo much more exciting to pay off the mortgage than compete with their endless buying.

So agree with this bit:T:T I still like buying things if I need them. But the whole focus of our life now is getting rid of the mortgage and not acquiring stuff and I feel like I have been relieved from a burden....

Jonbvn

setmefree2 wrote: »

So agree with this bit:T:T I still like buying things if I need them. But the whole focus of our life now is getting rid of the mortgage and not acquiring stuff and I feel like I have been relieved from a burden....

I find it interesting to hear colleagues talking about their latest "toys". I think they see me & OH some sort of weirdos, given that we do not participate in the same overt "consumption". We realised that OPing the mortgage was a good idea as soon as we took it out in 2006. Since then, and mainly due to MSE, we have come to understand that being MF is only one part of wealth accummulation, and is not a goal in itself.

setmefree2

Jonbvn wrote: »

We realised that OPing the mortgage was a good idea as soon as we took it out in 2006. Since then, and mainly due to MSE, we have come to understand that being MF is only one part of wealth accummulation, and is not a goal in itself.

It is just one of my/our goals too. We have pensions, cash ISAs, other savings as well.....

......but none of them will give me the same joy and sense of achievement as owning my own house!

bungrefurb

for us it happended when i accidentally came across this website.......then started frequenting the forum. And finally joined a challenge. The hardest part was getting Mr Bungrefurb on board.......we are both careful with money and do not have debts apart from the mortgage. He couldn't see how it would be possible, the calculators have been extremely useful for this. We have put in many scenarios and each time the figures change. As others to be mortgage free is just one of our many goals in life, but the buzz we now get from overpaying any amount we can is worth it.

taka

When I got my 1st mortgage I was utterly petrified by the scary amount I owed. When I sold that flat, and bought another one years later, I wanted to keep the term the same as the origional one but I couldn't afford to do so. I was on a low salary so I had to take out a fresh 25yr mortgage again. The mortgage advisor pointed out that with the nationwide mortgage I was taking out could be overpaid a small amount a month (I remember £100 but I'm not sure). That was the 1st time I'd ever heard of such a thing and it really appealed.

Fast forward a few years of not doing anything about it, I came across MSE. :money: I got my finances organised and realised that if I stuck to a budget properly I should have spare cash... then came across the brand new MFW board and joined the MFiT challenge.

I never really believed I could make my MFiT challenge but I smashed it about a year early! :j I had included a further advance for work on my flat I was thinking of taking out (but never did) in that challenge but took a loan out / saved instead. I only actually started OPing officially in July. :rotfl:

My plan is to be Mortgage free by the 25th anniversary of my 1st mortgage draw-down date in 2019. Actually I'd loooove to be MF by 40 but thats in 2015 - a bit too soon I fear...

deefadog

Mine came to me when i realised that people around me were due to retire and still have mortgages. - This scared me a little to be honest.

Then when i looked into it the amount of interest you save is phenomenal! - then a kind of greed of saving the interest kicks in :rotfl:

Also the fact that if something did ever happen to me earlier than it should then my family would at least have a roof over the heads!

Cars, Av Equipment, expensive jewelry etc just seem so pointless when you think that way!

ernie_3

moneysavingotter wrote: »

Hi All,

I would love to know what prompted people into becoming real MFWs. I definitely credit this board, although I couldn't say exactly when I first started to seriously consider it. I signed up a year or two ago to Martin's MS emails, and over the past 6 months to a year (I think, hard to remember accurately) discovered the forum.

I'd always tried to cut a year or two off the mortgage when switching to a new deal, even before that, but I don't think I'd ever actually formalised the thought of paying off the whole thing significantly early.

Switched to offset about a year ago and set up to pay off a little bit more automatically each month, and then in the last couple of months finally persuaded OH (with the help of spreadsheets from the forum, so thanks all) that it was worth significantly OPing, as we could potentially pay off in the forseeable future.

So it took a while, but now fully in the swing of it and enjoying the forum challenges

What about other MFWs?

MS Otter.

myself i overpaid for 6 years got he mortgage down to £16,000.In may decided to get a vw campervan. All the money i have overpaid let me do this, but now on track to be MF in 6 ish years. see my thread "our story":rotfl:

wynnvegas

I was there even before the possibility of having a mortgage was open to us - ironically, when I was mortgageless and, as such, mortgage-free.

We had always had a good go at keeping out of debt and clearing any debt that we did get into asap (normally for cars) so when we did get the mortgage in 2003, I knew that the idea would be to pay it off in ten years. As we began to earn a bit more money and took the opportunity to pay off the mortgage, the idea of hitting our mortgage-free date before 30 became the aim.

Like so many others, finding this site and a load of like-minded people really concentrated the effort with money-saving tips and a bit of guidance/support here and there - as such, barring anything unforeseen and major, we'll now be mortgage free on 01/12/2010 - aged 29 and starting to contemplate semi-retirement!

We have gone against the conventional wisdom somewhat as I've never had more than £1,000 in the bank - every spare penny above that goes straight to the mortgage so we wouldn't look too hot if either of us lost our jobs - the mortgage has always been the biggest driver and we'll look at sensible saving and investing once that's out of the way...

ernie_3

moneysavingotter wrote: »

Hi All,

I would love to know what prompted people into becoming real MFWs. I definitely credit this board, although I couldn't say exactly when I first started to seriously consider it. I signed up a year or two ago to Martin's MS emails, and over the past 6 months to a year (I think, hard to remember accurately) discovered the forum.

I'd always tried to cut a year or two off the mortgage when switching to a new deal, even before that, but I don't think I'd ever actually formalised the thought of paying off the whole thing significantly early.

Switched to offset about a year ago and set up to pay off a little bit more automatically each month, and then in the last couple of months finally persuaded OH (with the help of spreadsheets from the forum, so thanks all) that it was worth significantly OPing, as we could potentially pay off in the forseeable future.

So it took a while, but now fully in the swing of it and enjoying the forum challenges

What about other MFWs?

MS Otter.

please see my thread, now back on track, like people say its :rotfl:its very adictive
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=894767

Redbedhead

I actually started making payments when i had my first mortgage 9 years ago. I had it on my own and it was right at the top end of what I could afford then so I decided if I had spare money I would put it to the mortgage. When I got a payrise, I would put 50% of the extra take home against the mortgage.

After the first year my mortgage payment went down but I carried on paying the same amount.

After 4 years or so in the house I wanted some work done and so I stopped overpaying then but got back on track and managed to clear the extra mortgage I had for the building works by the time I sold the house 3 years later.

We have now been in this house 2 years and had to get a far bigger mortgage to buy it (with my H this time) and we moved while I was pregnant so in the past 2 years with a new baby and both of us being made redundant during the past year we haven't paid off as much as we had hoped but it is still better than nothing at all.