Not a spring chicken!!!

334 Posts



Hi :j
I read this forum most days and sometimes get very despondant that there are very few 'older' posters trying to finish their mortgage. Is this because they are all paid up already?:( I am 3 years away from 50 and hubby a bit older. We have 98,000 left and I hope to finish in 6 years. Anybody out there willing to give me a bit of moral support? I overpay by £500 each month but this may stop when eldest daughter goes to uni in 2 years.
I read this forum most days and sometimes get very despondant that there are very few 'older' posters trying to finish their mortgage. Is this because they are all paid up already?:( I am 3 years away from 50 and hubby a bit older. We have 98,000 left and I hope to finish in 6 years. Anybody out there willing to give me a bit of moral support? I overpay by £500 each month but this may stop when eldest daughter goes to uni in 2 years.
0
This discussion has been closed.
Latest MSE News and Guides
Replies
I am 42 and have been overpaying one mortgage or another for over 10 years but still here.
My husband is 10 years older than me and we have little children who will go to uni when he has retired and twins so they could go at the same time. I would like to pay my mortgage off 2 years early to have just a moment where we are both working before they off to uni. So my financial situation is not uncomplicated. Also I intend to retire at 60 but don't get my old age pension until 66 and one month. This year has been a wash out for overpaying because of DH health but hopefully back up and running - it is a marathon not a sprint and things do come along.
Both of you are doing fantastic, I dont know how you are overpaying £500 per month what a lot of money.
Anyway well done Miss Penny
April 2016 £114,599.83 (3 mortgages now)
Nil debt for some many years now perhaps 8. Need to save for a tent for holiday this year but nil else.
Over paying about £500 per month but fancy £600 so will have to think of some very money saving techniques...
I am the same age as you, and last year I got divorced. The upshot of this was that I ended up with a mortgage of £120,000 which I am trying to pay down as quickly as I can. I work full time as a contractor, so I only have 6 months work guaranteed, and I do not get any maintenance from my X towards my two teenage daughters, so I want to clear as much as I can, when I can.
clyndu - I also lurk of the "all the things" because I rarely get much time to post, and I feel somewhat in awe of all the people who can find time to do surveys etc.
I am going to try to post to my diary more often - I keep telling myself!
Good luck with your journey, I have subscribed to your thread!
MFW - Starting mortgage April 2010 - 120,000
MFW - restart Nov 2013 - £70207.88 & £14086.49
Current balance - £62459.49 & £10380.19
Juliff - I have noticed your diary too and thought how strong you are to deal with such a mortgage on your own. Please post back more often and let us know how you are getting on. Although I have a lovely hubbie, he is very laid back and does not worry a single bit about out finances. Hence I am the one with the grey hair. I am going out shopping for wedding clothes today and sadly instead of being excited about the occasion I can only think of the expense of all the clothes and present etc. Hubbie only has one suit and I think he got married in it 22 years ago!:rotfl:
We took out a 15 year mortgage and at the moment with overpaying as we can, are down to £43821 with another payment due [technically today].
We are both part-time workers and I'm self employed so we've had to be quite inventive with overpayments and don't make them regularly but as and when really but that seems to work for us.
Good luck with your mortgage free quest and I look forward to reading about how its going.
I think I was having a 'down' day when I lasted posted.
You are correct that our situations are very similar. We took out 110,000 and were 50 and 46 at the time and over 12 years. We plan to clear it in 7 years but that will take some doing! :rotfl:
My youngest child is 12 so no part time work for us for a long time I'm afraid. never mind we enjoy what we do and get the long holidays to relax.
It really does help to know that others are still battling with mortgages well into their 50's. I am hitting the mid life thingy looking backwards over my shoulder and doing the 'if only' thing. Meanwhile hubby seems to have a new lease of life and being really positive. I think I just need to hit 50 and I'll be fine!
We have conversed before, and like you I am very envious of the foresight of the younger posters on here. I got my first mortgage in 1979 at the age of 18. My husband (yes really) and I bought a fixer upper for £9000 and put down a £200 deposit! It seems like another world....
Two years later we sold it for £15,ooo and bought a bigger house for £25,ooo. Four years later, sold it for £44,000 and bought another fixer upper for £48,000, later borrowing another £20,ooo to extend it. 16 years later we divorced and sold it for £285,000. We split the procedds 50/50. I bought a little house with no mortgage for £120,000 and was mortgage free. Then two years later I remarried and we bought a forever home together, selling the little house for £150,000. We had to take out a small mortgage and have £56,000 still to pay.
If I think that I have made mortgage payments of a rough average of £500 per month for 32 years (I am 50 now), that comes to just under £200,000. If you add to that about £10,000 in moving and legal costs plus the £40,000 OH contributed less first OH's half of the big house... and consider that our house is worth about £300,000, we have made approximately £20,000 in a thirty year investment in property!!!!!! As we have certainly spent much more than that on home improvements and renovation over the years, I can safely say that buying houses is a mugs game! We have never added to the mortgage to consolidate loans or buy cars or holidays. A large proportion of my life has been focused on making ends meet which just would not have happened without a mortgage.
But of course, that leaves out the big upside.... In a few years we will have no rent or mortgage to pay and we can choose where we live and how to decorate. I still don't think I would advise a young person to buy though.
I seem to have ranted on. sorry about that!
Squirrel:j
Still thrifty though, after all these years:D
I'm an oldie too having turned 50 last August. Our challenge is to be mortgage free by my 55th birthday. You are putting a goodly amount away each month and should be congratulating yourself for what you achieve. Well done and I look forward to reading your updates.
All the very best,
Spigs
I agree with your sentiments and therefore get a bit cross with myself that we came very close to being mortgage free and then moved again! :mad: Still, hubby and the girls love the house and I suppose we can always downsize later. (Although it's not that big!:o)
With regard to young people today - what alternative do they have? If they do not buy a house of their own then they will need to rent. Surely it is better to eventually own your own house than forever pay a landlord?
Thanks for your comments Spiggle, although I am not sure how long we can maintain our overpayments. I had no idea how expensive teenage daughters can be!!!!:eek: I read you post today on your diary and hope things are sorted speedily for you on the health front.