Pay off my mortgage or invest? newbie needing advice please!

kidmugsy

Paying off the mortgage sounds very sensible. One point: often people take out their house insurance with the mortgage. Do check that you stay properly insured once you've paid it off.

jem16

sall242003 wrote: »

I have just been paid out on my life insurance sadly under the terminal illness cover. The payout was approx £84,000 which is sufficient to pay our mortgage off in full with a little left over to spend.

Now our mortgage is a base rate tracker with a low interest rate of just 2.6% so our monthly re-payments are not too bad.

Should we just re-pay the mortgage in full and enjoy being mortgage free or should we move the money somewhere to gain interest and how much would this potentially earn us?

I'm really sorry to hear about your husband.

I was in a similar position almost 10 years ago when my husband died in an accident. We had around 5 years left to pay on the mortgage and the endowment policy paid it off. Never thought twice about it and I'm so glad I did. I could concentrate on bringing up my 2 sons without worrying about where we would live and how to pay for it with the loss of my husband's income. My younger son was still at school and my elder son about to start university.

Please do check on the death in service benefit as others have said. It is often part of the pension package with the company.

I wish you well.

sall242003

I just want to say thank you to everyone who took the time to reply with their advice. I paid off the mortgage with the insurance money and we have a bit left over to spend on days out/holidays with the children to create some lasting memories.
Thanks :-)

tell_it_how_it_is

Think that's a good plan, and regarding your home certainly one less thing to worry about in due course.

I sincerely hope the time you all have left together is as long and special as it can possibly be - all the best.

Newbie2saving

I lost my husband suddenly a couple of years ago. I paid off the mortgage straight away. This peace of mind really did remove a lot of financial burdens which would have tipped me over the edge and finances was the last thing on my mind, so I personally think you have done the right thing. It is amazing how household outgoings reduce dramatically once the mortgage element goes.

With regards to using the money to enjoy your family time together - brilliant idea, special times, special memories, how great to be able to do that.

Without sounding like I am being insensitive there are monies paid to widowed parents, if they are married. This helps me out tremendously and allowed me to reduce my working hours. It is basically the money my DH paid into his state pension which is now being paid back to me for our son until he leaves FT education, based on National Insurance Contributions.

I wish you, and your family well.