Negative attitude to becoming MF by a friend!

Saver-Rob

I'm 23 and have started on the road to mortgage free by overpaying £300/month, total monthly repayment now @ £900/month.

People cant understand why a 23 year old even wanted a mortgage and now cant understand why I would want to pay it off.

I'm hoping to be mortgage free between the age of 35 & 40 and will have saved myself somewhere in the region of £60,000 in interest.

I think I'm in the right though!

co123456

gallygirl wrote: »

am sure it was 5p Courgette actually :rotfl:

4p actually :cool: in the form of a cheque, too.

Agree with the above.... good to come on here to talk money, then head back to real life to switch off (from money) and enjoy the fruits of your labour.

RenovationMan

Your friend's reaction could be linked to the way you phrased your desire to be Mortgage Free. If you said you were planning to make serious cutbacks financially that would negatively impact your lifestyle, then perhaps she simply wanted to reassure you that you didn't have to do this and that as long as you could afford your monthly mortgage repayments, that was the important thing?

I'm a MFWer, but wouldn't advise overpaying a mortgage at the expense of enjoying your lifestyle*. We have such short lives to be overly concerned with a debt that will be paid off eventually anyway.

* I'm not saying you're doing this, but if you were then it would explain your friend's attitude.

GEEGEE8

Think of all the interest you will save by paying it off earlier too ! I bet that will add up to quite a few thousand!

Courgette

Courgette wrote: »

Come on here, we love hearing about how people have found 2p on the street and legged it down to the bank to pay if off their mortgage! :T And you think I'm joking! :eek::eek::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

gallygirl wrote: »

am sure it was 5p Courgette actually :rotfl:

cheeryoleary wrote: »

4p actually :cool: in the form of a cheque, too.

Okay, here goes: my name's Courgette and I'm a mfw addict. On Tuesday at the hospital I saw 5p on the floor near the parking machine. I'm on crutches at the moment and heavily pregnant so I cleverly used a crutch to pole dance down, grunting and huffing and puffing as I did so, retrieved said 5p and put it in my purse!

This weekend my husband will be taking back a box of disposable maternity knickers to the shop cos I've since found some cheaper. I haven't told him yet!

Primrose

I don't think you have to feel guilty about trying to pay off your mortgage early. Life has a nasty way of coming back to bite us at various times in our lives, often in late middle age, by way of redundancy or unexpected health problems. If that happens and you have made no serious efforts in early life to plan for some financial leeway if disaster strikes, it can seriously derail your life and leave you with lasting financial worries. To be mortgage free means this BIG burden is lifted from your shoulders. Others may prefer their expensive holidays abroad, new cars and other luxuries. All those things won't have counted for much if you're made redundant in your fifties and still have a big mortgage to pay off with no salary coming in to pay it. We had a big private celebration the day we paid our mortgage off early, and as it happens, redundancy did strike later. The fact that we had no mortgage payments to meet meant that that we could rearrange our lives on a much smaller income and survive. And if you get used to living on a smaller income while overpaying your mortgage, you will be able to manage much better if difficult circumstances hit you later along the way.
And why pay all that extra unnecessary interest to the banks when all they do is fritter it away on risky investment ventures that, as a tax payer, you'll probably end up having to fund a second time?

d-seven

Courgette wrote: »

It's odd isn't it. I told a couple of people at first but I don't bother now as people just think I'm weird. I guess if I'm honest it's also not that thrilling a topic of conversation so probably best left out of real life.;)

Come on here, we love hearing about how people have found 2p on the street and legged it down to the bank to pay if off their mortgage! :T And you think I'm joking! :eek::eek::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

I completely agree with you Courgette. A few close friends and family know about the fact I have paid my mortgage, but no-one from work knows. I think the OP has a good point, though.. a lot of people see having a mortgage as 'the norm'; it's what everyone should do and just get on with it. Just leave them to wallow in their negativity

I remember talking with a friend many years ago at the start of my mortgage about changing mortgages in order to get a better deal to pay off more of the mortgage, and he gave me the kick up the !!!! I needed to do it.
I have done it a few times over the last 12 years. sadly he didn't take his own advice and had to sell his his flat at a massive loss last year because he lost his job and was in danger of being reposessed
due to mortgage arrears and debts. This january I paid off the mortgage on my flat and was worried about telling him. He is a good mate and was pleased for me.

It's not interesting really, except when talking to like minded people!

As far as picking up coins goes, I found 2 x 1pences the other day (go me! :rotfl:). They went straight into my savings tin!

ernie_3

Yes i have also had many friends and work colleagues pass very negative comments. I think what you have to realise is that its down to your self motivation/ disipline. You have sat down with your partner or had a "light bulb" moment thinking we can do this, we can be mortgage free quicker. You usually find that people who are negative are those who are jealous, and that their way of venting their fustration.If you do a search on me "ernie 3" you will see "our story"..very similar.

Keep up the good work, it can and is addictive. It is all about balance. Food, health, bills..then overpay..hope this makes sense

cheers from a beautiful and sunny Plymouth
Ernie 3:)

27col

OP, do what you think is right for you. Anyone else's opinion is just that, an opinion, and as such, of no importance to any decision that you might make.
As a person of an older generation the idea of going into debt has always been anathema to me and others of my age. The only debt I ever had was a small mortgage and it was a great day when we finally paid it off. On the other hand we never bought anything until we had saved up for it, to us, there was no such thing as a "must have".

zzzLazyDaisy

Primrose wrote: »

Life has a nasty way of coming back to bite us at various times in our lives, often in late middle age, by way of redundancy or unexpected health problems. If that happens and you have made no serious efforts in early life to plan for some financial leeway if disaster strikes, it can seriously derail your life and leave you with lasting financial worries. To be mortgage free means this BIG burden is lifted from your shoulders.

This is SO true. I became mortgage free many years ago when I was working and earning enough to overpay. My prime motivation was that I was born with a degenerative health problem and always knew that I probably wouldn't work until pension age. I just wanted to be free of the worry of 'what if'.

What actually happened was that about four years after becoming mf, I had a car accident that left me disabled and unable to work. My income is now drastically reduced, but with no rent or mortgage I am able to get by. I am just so very grateful that I made those decisions when I was young enough and fit enough to follow through.

But I don't tell many people that I am mf, because I got so fed up of people saying things like 'you are so lucky that you don't have tyo worry about a mortgage'.... 'luck' had nothing to do with it!!