To pay off or not to pay off

Gabriel_Martyn

Please help. My repayment mortgage has 8 years to go. Amount outstanding around £10,000. I am 67 and my wife is 71.
My car needs replacing. I can scrape up £10,000.
Should I
a) Pay off the mortgage and be debt free or
b) Use the money to buy a car and carry on with the mortgage
c) Pay off mortgage and get equity release to lend me enough to buy the car and go on long holiday.
Gabriel.

Bernard_Coleslaw

Good evening, Gabriel, and welcome.

This may not be the correct forum to answer your question, but don't worry, there are plenty in the Pure Money forums who will be able to help. I'm sure a moderator will be along before long to point this query in the right direction.

HugoRune_2

unless you are desperate for a car or holiday then a) , I did last year and its a very nice feeling.

Alleycat

Most definately a. You can go on holiday anytime, but paying off your mortgage would be a priority I think.

Ms_Chocaholic

I don't want to be rude but, given the ages of you and your wife, if you can afford to continue with the mortgage payments, I'd take a holiday and buy a cheaper car

nelly_2

pay it off buy a cheap car and full AA cover

IvanOpinion

Gabriel, welcome to MSE, even though this is not the best board to post this request on I am sure you will get some good input.

From my own point of view I would go for option C. If you have equity in your house then you should make it work for you and enjoy your retirement. You may want to leave the house to children etc. but I am sure they would prefer you to enjoy your retrement rather than worrying about such things.

However, before selling the family silver, make sure you talk to a good financial consultant who will outline the options.

Ivan

Graham_Devon

Gabriel_Martyn wrote:

Please help. My repayment mortgage has 8 years to go. Amount outstanding around £10,000. I am 67 and my wife is 71.
My car needs replacing. I can scrape up £10,000.
Should I
a) Pay off the mortgage and be debt free or
b) Use the money to buy a car and carry on with the mortgage
c) Pay off mortgage and get equity release to lend me enough to buy the car and go on long holiday.
Gabriel.

Not being rude here in the slightest, just being realistic.

If you stated you were 30, I would have said A. However, your not, and you are in retirement years and you should be enjoying it. Go for C.

magyar

Agree with (c), and most importantly Ivan's advice about getting some proper financial advice (not least from people on other boards). Equity release is a sensible way of using the value of your house, but watch out because there are sharks out there.

You're obviously still both fit enough to enjoy a nice holiday. You can't take your house or car with you.

Glad

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere (please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].