The Mortgage Free in Three - Take 3 challenge (MFiT-T3)

black_taxi_2

Yeah go for it ttbg--it's your home for life

I upgraded 2009--best thing I ever did

Trying_to_be_good

TallGirl wrote: »

When I was trying to be MF during the original mfi3 we had a new bath room, cloak room and wet room and now I love them and the cost is irrelevant if its your forever house.

Hi TG - I remember the photos of your new wetroom (or were the photos your bathroom? It was a black and white shower that matched your shampoo and conditioner bottles, anyway!) - I'm a bit torn as we don't really need the extra space now, but the existing conservatory won't last more than about 12 months as the timber is/has rotten despite us giving it a fresh coat of paint, and it's single-glazed to leaches heat this time of year.

It will give us space for when we have loads of family here, and part of the deal will be that we spend more of our time off work here, enjoying everything we've done to the house, instead of going away.

Decisions, decisions!

gallygirl

I assume this won't be cheap.....in which case best get it asap to bring the cost per year down .

Seriously, if this is your forever house then I think it makes good sense to get it now. But only if we get pictures :cool:.

Trying_to_be_good

gallygirl wrote: »

I assume this won't be cheap.....in which case best get it asap to bring the cost per year down .

Seriously, if this is your forever house then I think it makes good sense to get it now. But only if we get pictures :cool:.

I LOVE that logic! :beer:

TallGirl

I agree we need pictures and yes all my renovated rooms ended up black and white but I still love them 3 years later.

Also make sure you get plenty of quotes might make it cheaper. When doing my garden I found anything with landscape gardening in the name really expensive whereas the ones we chose usually looks after rental property maintenance.

PS updated my starting point and upgraded my aim for this challenge via the google docs a couple of weeks ago hope I was not too late. Guessing FB is busy doing the updates for thevMfi3 take 2

SusanneCape

Trying_to_be_good wrote: »

Right. Am considering seriously delaying my MF date, as we're thinking about adding a very lovely orangery to the house. We have an amazing garden and this would allow us to enjoy it all year round, and future-proof our forever house for the next 30 to 40 years.

Am I mad?

Go for it. Sounds fantastic. If it improves the family's quality of life, it's a no brainer.

Keep us apprised of progress.

Best regards,

Twiggy_34

Hey guys, I've yet to read through all the old posts, but am looking forward to seeing everyone's stories and motivations, and wanted to see if I could sign up to this challenge.

I'm assuming no one will object to me sharing the back story? Apologies in advance as it's a little lengthy! My dp & I purchased our first home together earlier this year & commenced our mortgage payments in September. We were/are in an exceptionally fortunate position whereby his parents found a bargain property (a 3 storey house divided into 2 flats), and not only wanted to help us get on the property ladder, but also wanted to invest in a small property to rent out and boost their income as dp's mum can't work as many hours following a knee injury. So, they kept the 1 bed flat downstairs & sold the 2 bed flat upstairs to us. The mortgage works out more than £100 cheaper each month that our last rented flat cost us each month, but with the exception of a couple of small jobs that remain, we had been spending a lot of money on renovating the flat to be in a suitable standard to live in. As such, we knew we could afford to take advantage of the 20% overpayments we can make penalty free on the mortgage but have only just started to do that.

We entered into quite a long debate about where our money is best going as my dp's parents would like us to buy the downstairs flat from them as soon as we are able to (and continue renting it out if we choose to), so it means we need to raise as much capital as possible to do this, particularly as we will require a buy to let mortgage.

The result of this debate was that I convinced my dp to agree to partial overpayments which round our mortgage payments up to the next £100 pound mark (so just under the 20% mark) with the logic that soon we will each be saving a couple of hundred £'s a month towards a deposit and that the measly £33 each (£66 total) overpayment will barely be noticed but has the potential to save us thousands in the long run. It also opens up the option of perhaps re-mortgaging on this place in the future to help finance the purchase of the downstairs flat (maybe negating the need to get a buy to let mortgage).

So... to sum up, I guess my goal will be to over pay on our mortgage by a total of £2323 (I only set it up to start with Feb's payment so we don't quite get the 3 full years). According to the overpayment calculator, with our existing deal, if we were able to meet these overpayments throughout the life of the mortgage it would shave about 4 years off the (20 year) term, and save us over £7000 in interest!

Once I've cleared the last of my c/card debt I guess my signature will need to incorporate a savings tally for the new deposit... eek! lol

Edit: Having re-read the first post I realise my request doesn't quite comply with the criteria for this challenge, so I'd like to change my goal to reduce my mortgage by £8000 by 2015. This is what the principal loan amount will have been reduced by in 3 years time plus £1000 to take overpayments into account. I don't know if that will be right or not, but guess we'll know in 3 years time!

FreedomGirl

Hi all,

Well, this is my first post (1 month after the start) - better late than never !

I was a member of MFiT and MFiT-T2 and was lucky enough to be able to clear my mortgage at the beginning of MFiT-T2. My salary has increased since then - and so has my spending - so it is time to start thinking about focussing on retirement planning (I'm early 40s).

But to be honest I have no clue what the overall value of my retirement pot is and what I need to set my goals at.

NS&I Direct ISA (cash) 12,177.51
NS&I Premium Bonds 600.00
NS&I IndexLinked (2011) - 14500.00 + interest (won't be able to manage them online until after 2016)

Total cash: 27277.51

DB1 pension (deferred)
Statement (leaving scheme in 2008) says
Deferred pension of £1906.22/yr plus Lump sum of £5718.66
Contractual pension date of 2031
Cash equivalent to buy annuity (ignoring cash sum) is £56936.08

DB2 pension (deferred)
Statement (2012) says £1203/yr
There seems to be this confusing statement about the fact I have a parallel IPA which, if higher than my guaranteed returns at retirement, will be what is then paid.
Doesn't appear to be any lump sum payable, although there are death benefits and widows pensions.
Contractual pension date of 2036 - am assuming index linked (but not sure which - CPI/RPI)

What's the equivalent cash ?
For my retirement age, with 3% escalation, 100k buys £3871/year so this is equivalent to £31077.24 cash

DC group private pension (current) - don't know, though there is an online weblink. Must check that out !

Total cash contributions so far (mine x 2 - £1600 set up fee): £4948.31, which buys £141.36/yr
Retirement date 2026

SIPP (currently cash) - 39,663.88 (no interest paid)
Retirement date 2026 (so that produces £2857/year)

So, at rough estimate, total cash value of pension pot is

Total cash equivalent: £132625.51

And the headline is

Total (cash + cash equivalent): £159903.02

Conclusion - annuity rates are terrible and I will be working until 65 unless I do something right now ! Quite frankly, the picture is scary...

I also need to get somewhere for my SIPP cash (market is rising so wrong time to buy shares) which has interest.

FG

ps I should also look at my OH's situation as well - he doesn't have a pension right now, and my widower's pension would not keep him in beer let alone anything else.

black_taxi_2

reached a new milestone today--i now have a teen mortgage

my next milestone will be single figures 2014

g/l all

tattycath

Managed to over pay an extra £92 in January. over and above the normal overpayment.