Early Retirement Pay off Mortgage

tease

Hi I am taking early retirement - i will get a lump sum of 145K which is my outstanding mortgage - the issue is that i have a terminal cancer and may not live longer than a year - should i pay off my mortgage now or put the money into isas etc - which would be best for my estate.

Thanks

originalmiscellany

I don't know, but just wanted to extend my sympathies to you at this tricky time

tease

originalmiscellany wrote: »

I don't know, but just wanted to extend my sympathies to you at this tricky time

Thank you for your sympathy

Thrugelmir

A mortgage free house is one less issue for your executors to deal with.

As the mortgage will still need to be paid until the property is sold.

Jenniefour

Very sorry to hear about your situation. Unless there is a pressing reason to do otherwise, and there may be, I would not put top priority on paying off the entire mortgage. Whatever you do with your lump sum I think it's very important to consider your own quality of life and what you might want to do with the time you have left. This might include issues like the kind of care you would like to receive.

So please do include these in your decision making about the money - making your estate a little less complex to deal with if you have no immediate dependents - and I'm assuming you haven't - is, in my opinion, not as important as enjoying the rest of your life and being assured that you recive the quality of care that you would like. Consider using some of this money to make your life easier and enjoy yourself.

Thrugelmir - is that right, that a mortage would still have to be paid before the property sold? I thought, perhaps mistakenly, that a debt in the name of someone who has passed away would be taken out of the monies of the estate after probate is granted and the property can be sold. There must be many executers who do not have the money to hand.

DVardysShadow

Jenniefour wrote: »

Thrugelmir - is that right, that a mortage would still have to be paid before the property sold? I thought, perhaps mistakenly, that a debt in the name of someone who has passed away would be taken out of the monies of the estate after probate is granted and the property can be sold. There must be many executers who do not have the money to hand.

Thrugelmir said UNTIL the property is sold. The executors do not pay from their own resources and if it are no resources to pay it in the estate, this should not hinder a sale - the debt will accumulate and be paid off from the proceeds.

getmore4less

tease wrote: »

Hi I am taking early retirement - i will get a lump sum of 145K which is my outstanding mortgage - the issue is that i have a terminal cancer and may not live longer than a year - should i pay off my mortgage now or put the money into isas etc - which would be best for my estate.

Thanks

Sympathies, I know how tough this will be, my mum lasted a year from diagnosis.

The first thing to do is decide what things you want to do with the time, money no object, you never know you might have longer than you think so make the most of it.

Having access to ready cash might become very important in the future so don't become asset rich cash poor just yet.


On estate planning,

Talk to your executors and start getting all the paperwork in order, let them deal with the day to day and geting legal/tax advise.

Asset identification is potentialy one of the issues for executors so having that done with your help is a major step.

What you/they do to simplify depends on who is going to benifit from your estate, is/was their a spouse and how big it is estate.

If there is IHT(estate over £325/£650k) to pay having that in readily availble cash in an institution that supports the Direct Payment Scheme

One thing that can simplify is to gift everything and/or get everything into joint accounts, centralise any investment that don't generate CGT liabilites over the limit(2 tax years worth) to reduce the number if institutions you have to deal with.

This option can complicate in some circumstances.

Is the house liable to be sold or kept. getting valuation now might help with the overall assesment of where you are estate total.

A rough idea of who is involved may help with identifying some options.


Another thing to consider is POA and if this will be needed.

justme111

I would ask myself who would be paying a mortgage and from what money as I would not be working from now on. I would not like on top of other things to deal with becoming homeless. I know people who lived with terminal cancer for 7 years ( may be even more but not sure). Tease, wishing you to make the best decisions in a difficult situation and get the most of your life.