What did you do the day you made your final morgage repayment

SecondLegDownIsTheBigOne

suburbanwifey wrote: »

LOL, you really are sad aren't you.

Um, no.

suburbanwifey wrote: »

But since you ask, no the bathtub is not a better feeling than paying off one's mortgage, with that paid off me and my OH's money is all ours now, not a large portion of it going to a Building Society :rotfl:I'm flattered you scan all my previous posts LOL

I didn't ask about whether the bathtub gave you a better feeling, that would be an odd thing to ask. Learn to read. I didn't have to scan your posts I was actively involved in the linked conversation, which served to paint a lucid picture of the contrast between the depth of your character and the depth of your bathtub, and I have a good memory.

suburbanwifey

SecondLegDownIsTheBigOne wrote: »

Um, no.



I didn't ask about whether the bathtub gave you a better feeling, that would be an odd thing to ask. Learn to read. I didn't have to scan your posts I was actively involved in the linked conversation, which served to paint a lucid picture of the contrast between the depth of your character and the depth of your bathtub, and I have a good memory.

Like I said, you seem very sad, sorry for whatever ails you to the degree you embarrass yourself like this.

RenovationMan

setmefree2, you've used that multipost thing that makes it difficult to respond to in a 'quote', so I'll address your posts all in one if that's ok (plus the multi posting reminds me of geneers borefests and made me shudder!)

I didn't say that every person on the MFW board neglects their pensions in favour of overpayments, I said that many of them do. I'm glad that you are covering all your bases. As am I, but from what I have read on the MFW board, many are concentrating soley on their mortgages to the extent that they even have piggy banks to collect loose change to put onto the mortgage. People only have a finite amount of disposible income, I just feel that pouring it all into a single asset (ie. your house/mortgage) is not the best way to manage your finances.

Pensions get tax relief on the way in and are completely tax free for the portion that you can use towards paying off your mortgage with (i.e. the 25% tax free lump sum). A basic rate taxpayer is therefore receiving a 20% tax contribution towards paying off the mortgage. A higher rate tax payer is receiving a 40% tax contribution on his mortgage.

I never said that people should "stick all your money in a "pension pot" ( whatever that means?)"

All the financial experts agree that the cheapest and surest way to build a pension is to start early. If you wait until you are in your 40s before you start a pension you will have to put a much higher proportion of your income away than if you started when you were in your 20s. You are also more at risk of job loss, long-term sickness, etc. when you are in your 40s than when you are in your 20s.

Not everyone has unlimited amounts of cash to simultaneously pay into pensions, use their full ISA allowance, pay into NSANDI and also make overpayments. If you can pay the max into all of these, then you're doing well. Most ordinary people will either pay a little into all of them or will pay everything into one of them. From my experience with the MFW board a lot of them choose to pay off their mortgage and have the same viewpoint as you, namely "I'll sort out my pension once I'm mortgage free". As I said, I don't believe putting your eggs into a single basket is the best thing to do financially.

A pension is just a tax wrapper and so the funds, shares, gilts and bonds available in ISAs are the same funds, shares, gilts and bonds available in pensions. The difference between the two is how tax is bealt with. ISAs are taxed on the way in and pensions are taxed on the way out. However, for the purposes of using a pension lump sum towards repaying a mortgage, the sum is free of tax.

I appreciate that you personally are managing your finances well and not putting your eggs in one basket. I'm a MFWer and I'm doing similar to you, however you have to ask yourself whether we are theexception or the rule. I think we are the exception, but that's only my opinion, albeit based on many years of reading MFW threads and diaries.

SteveV2

Sat and thought.... Why pay it off when an ISA rate is higher than the mortgage rate.

So have the funds to pay it off earning more than i'm getting charged

Davesnave

Took on my Dad's mortgage instead. He'd just died and left it to me!:rotfl:

Millie_Millsters

I paid our mortgage off a month after my husband died, with a couple of endowment policies that paid out. I spent the rest of the day in the Garden of Remembrance sobbing my heart out.

DervProf

Although I haven't actually paid off my mortgage, it is as good as paid off (the only reason I haven't done so is that there is an early redemption fee).

The moment I realised that my mortgage was effectively paid off I thought "oh good, the house is mine and that's one less monthly outgoing to cover". I then poured myself a cold one and considered myself fairly fortunate to be in this position.

I wish more people could experience being mortgage free, but unfortunately we live in a country where HPI is seen as a good thing, and the consequence is that more an more people can only dream of having a mortgage, let alone paying it off well before they retire.

Generali

The day I paid off my mortgage, a feat I achieved in my early 30s by selling my home, I celebrated by renting a flat in Central London. Not commuting any more was brilliant.

gallygirl

To me, 'paying your mortgage off' is shorthand for 'having enough money to pay it off if I choose to'. Not that I'm any nearer by that definition either :rotfl:.

I have a 5 year plan (well, 4 yrs 4 months now ) to save enough to pay off 2 btl mortgages and mortgages on own home. I am physically OP'ing on one that is at 4.99%. When that is done, in 7 months time, I will start by filling ISA's (ISA fund curently at £1 as emptied to buy a repo last year). Then once 12/13 & 13/14 ISA's filled I will save elsewhere if I can get a better net rate than highest mortgage rate (unlikely as it is 2.99% and I am 40% tax payer). Carry on like that until savings pot > mortgages.

When that is done? Definitely crack open the champagne (actually, will be doing that each time a mortgage is fully offset :beer:). Then? Assuming all goes to plan, sell own house, move into one of the little btl's. Spend the next x months doing up others & selling (unlikely to be much capital gains ), do up last btl & sell. Naff off to Spain . May decide to keep btl's and live off income but personally would prefer the money in the bank.

no_debt wrote: »

we went onto a four day week last year i love it 3 days off at weekend i save a lot more now. i am 47 years old happy with my house i bought and no that what ever happens me the wife and kids will have a roof over our heads.
maybe sometimes feel a bit smug but i worked and paid for it .

I think a little smugness is allowed under the circumstances - well done

RenovationMan wrote: »

I didn't say that every person on the MFW board neglects their pensions in favour of overpayments, I said that many of them do. I'm glad that you are covering all your bases. As am I, but from what I have read on the MFW board, many are concentrating soley on their mortgages to the extent that they even have piggy banks to collect loose change to put onto the mortgage.

I'm possibly one of the people you're thinking of as I have a piggy to collect loose change and pay it off my mortgage when full . I talk only about my mortgages as it is a mortgage free board - that doesn't mean I neglect my pension. With basic tax relief (yes, I plough the additional 20% rebate into my mortgage) and small employer contributions I have over £800 a month going into my pensions. However, despite the obvious tax advantages I don't like the idea of a pot of money I can't fully access so I don't think I will be upping my contributions further.

ETA: The piggy bank and other little OP's such as £5 Halifax each month are small but they DO add up and just as importantly keep my interest up and help me keep sight of my goal. If I decided to concentrate on my pension I would adopt the same method of a large payment every month amd lots of little ones (albeit paid as a lump sum).

vivatifosi

We're not there yet, but we have taken a steep repayment plan for our current house and the more we repay the more years we've sheared off on the two occasions we've remortgaged.

As we're a bit out from our target at the moment, we celebrate each time we hit the milestone of taking a further £10,000 off the mortgage. It may be we go out somewhere, or just have a takeaway, the important part for us is acknowledging that we've passed another milestone. We passed the latest figure last week and will hit the next one in Spring 2013.