Help - why do I want to be mortgage free?

Dr.Lou

I think if you can do it in such a short timescale and whilst you are still young then that is great and I think it will make a major difference to your future.

My OH and I wanted to get into a position in which we could pay off our mortgage for similar reasons to you. Here are some that I can think of:-

a. To have children in the future and not have to worry so much about taking time off to care for them when they are young.

b. I'd like to spend a little time travelling perhaps, just for a couple of months. I guess it's a little easier if you don't owe anything to anyone and have savings etc. Also the opportunity to rent out your home if you want to go for a longer time than this.

c. Ability to work part time / take a lower paid job that you love/ start a business etc without worrying about the financial aspect so much.

I guess I just hate being tied down too much and I assume that having no creditors/ higher net worth gives you the oportunity for more choice in your life to do what you want to do.

Plus life unfortunately does not always happen according to plan and I guess having a little buffer zone helps somewhat during the harder times.

Hope this makes some sense, just got back from the pub so maybe it's a bit unclear.

watcherman

Dr.Lou wrote:

a. To have children in the future and not have to worry so much about taking time off to care for them when they are young.

Agree totally with this one...My wife took a 5yr career break when our daughter was born, and that was a fantastic thing for us to be able to do.

justruth

What a pleasant dilema to have! I suppose the best reason to pay off the mortgage as fast as possible is that you then save huge amounts of money, give yourself freedom and flexibility and protect yourself from raising interest rates and unexpected events in your life. The latter can also be achieved by putting the money into savings.

There is also the fact that as you pay the mortgage off, you increase the equity in your home so that when you come to move again, you have a greater deposit which leads to you being able to buy a more expensive proprerty than you would otherwise be able to afford.

There is a lot to be said for living simply and having enough money to see you through any unexpected events. However the choice is entirely yours.

Prudent

I have paid of my mortgage and love the security and freedom that brings. Just a thought though... If you are planning a family perhaps now is the time to enjoy the luxury holidays. Its fun, but not nearly so relaxing with children, especially on flights.

A_Nice_Englishman

I too have paid my mortgage off. It was a great feeling to go into the bank, ask them how much I owed them and write out a cheque for the amount!

As Prudent says, there is the security and freedom it brings.

Knowing that nobody can take your home away from you.

Being able to take pretty much any job you fancy.

Never being stuck in a job you hate in order to earn enough to pay the mortgage.

OverlandLandy

You need to look ahead I guess.

You will work for around 40 years.......but that also has to pay for the following 10,20,30 or so years...how will you survive with no real income?

roswell

im 25 and hoping to be mortgage free soon, That wa y i can come to work each morning knowing that at the end of the month what it says on my payslip is mine not the banks. and i shall find a new use for my mortgage payments.

cupid_s

I will have been at uni for almost 8 years studying so I can do a job I love and it'll pay enough that only one of us needs to work at any one time to keep up payments (and overpay by about 70%) on our current house and raise a family without worrying too much, so being stuck doing something I hate in order to pay the mortgage would never happen anyway. I know both me and my OH are really lucky because of this. Though our current house is too small for the 2 kids we want so building up the equity in our house to move somewhere else is a plan we have.

But prudent your point is great, and there are places I want to go which really aren't suitable for young kids.

We can pay of our mortgage before we have children. But only if we really put every spare penny into our mortgage fund. But for the next 18 months or so we have no holiday time we can take anyway so we'll throw as much money at the mortgage as we can in this time and just see where we are then. At least we'll have the choice then.

Thanks everyone for your stories and advice

SammyD_2

Put it this way. We still have a mortgage. I have a one year old and a three year old I barely see. I went back to work when they were each 8 months old to pay our mortgage. But we have only six months to go. Then I quit and we live on my husbands income. We compromised when we bought our house and bought something my colleagues all sneered at (wrong postcode, 1930's house). We never made a better decision...they still owe close on £400k for their purchases, we are almost free, and have had a lovely safe family neighbourhood to live in.

undercoat11

I agree with all this. Our life style didn't change much when we paid our mortgage off and we don't go in for flashy cars and expensive holidays, but we do enjoy not having to give half our income to the bank. I can't imagine how depressing it must be to pay, for example, £1500 to the bank each month. I don't really like my job, but it is well paid and I have lots of friends there, so I decided to stay for the friends, not for the money. However, I might be made redundant next year, but I am not worried about it at all financially because we don't have any outgoings, except for things like gas and council tax. It is the pure freedom of being able to do whatever you want and not being tied down by a loan from the bank.