Mortgage Free in Three Yrs

Dithering_Dad

How exciting is it to watch your shares fluctuate!! Why did no one tell me about the delights of the stockmarket!

I'm £50 up so far - which is better than the immediate £70 down I was when I first invested. What a rollercoaster ride!

Kaz2904

I have to say that with this current situation I am thankful that we are doing what we are doing.
We don't earn vast amounts of money but we use what we earn to its maximum advantage.
When we remortgaged from our Northern Rock mortgage after our first 2 years we actually borrowed more than we had the first time. We got stung by the "financial adviser" who got us our new mortgage. He charged us £3000 for his services despite me asking all the way along whether we would be charged and he just skirted the issue. He then put our new mortgage through before the old one had come out of its redemption period so we were charged for that too. I think myself lucky for this happening when it did because it focused me and DH into making sure we were fully informed about things and never to get stung like this again.
We do still make financial booboos but are better than before because I put in the time and effort to research things.
When we moved here in 2005 the interest rate fell quite a long way from the 5.29% that we have. We questioned whether we had made a good decision in taking a 5 year fixed rate and felt that we were still right because it enabled us to plan for the future.
With this challenge we will owe much less when we come to the end of our tie in. The interest rate will still affect us but it won't be the difference between being able to afford the repayments or not.
I agree with DD about the ISA allowance and DH and I will be opening up one each. Depending on the interest rates we may well stop our mortgage overpayments next year and just stick money in savings instead. The goal will always be to clear the mortgage but we need to do it in the cheapest way possible. I am currently looking at how much it would cost to stooze into savings accounts and whether it would be viable to do this.
Of course if we are able to get a good amount saved in savings and ISA then when we do come to remortgage we will probably look into getting an offset mortgage that allows your ISA to be offset. I'm still not sure about these though. I think it is probably better to get a well paying ISA and keep it separate and just work on having the savings offset against the mortgage.
I feel that this should work well for us because we have a loan from my mum and save every month to repay that. She doesn't want it repaid until we have all the money so we could use this to clear the mortgage without actually having to use it IYSWIM?
Interesting times though. I wonder if it will affect the housing market and make people question their financial habits? I fear not as the media have done a very good job of making this Northern Rocks fault. It's not because people are borrowing too much money and living beyond their means, it's because the banks are lending irresponsibly. Yet when they are now reviewing their lending habits that's wrong too!

Kaz2904

DD, how did you get this ISA if you don't mind me asking?
I may have to spend an evening on the shares and investment board tonight!
Feel free to pm me if you don't wish to clog up the board- just a link will do if you can spare the time. Don't worry if you can't though.

Trying_to_be_good

DD

If you have Microsoft Money it tracks the online price for you, and gives you the stats of progress, too. Thoroughly addictive. I had Friends Prov shares, but sold them to pay into the mortgage so I don't have to worry so much about the ups and downs now. But I still use Money for all my financial stuff, updating it most days!

cazmanian_minx

Dithering_Dad wrote: »

How exciting is it to watch your shares fluctuate!! Why did no one tell me about the delights of the stockmarket!

I'm £50 up so far - which is better than the immediate £70 down I was when I first invested. What a rollercoaster ride!

Oh Gods, no-one tell him about spread betting!!!!

Caz

Dithering_Dad

Hi TTBG, I've just spent a happy 2 hrs setting up my shares on MS Money. Look pretty good with the "portfolio manager" tool. Forget Mortgage repayment, this is the future!!! (just joking).

Hi Kaz, I went onto the Hargreaves Landsdown site and got their Self select ISA (http://www.h-l.co.uk/shares_and_stock_markets/isa.hl). You fill in the form, select your shares (I got HBOS, NR & A&L) with how much you want to put in them and enter your trusty debit card number and off you go. The shares are bought pretty much straight away and my internet logon worked after about an 1.5 hrs.

They say the minimum is 3k, but the lady I phoned said I'd be ok just putting 1k in. I actually put 4k in cos I'm insane!! :eek:

djbd1973

TallGirl wrote: »

I think it is quite scary with the mortgage market at the moment. Northern Rock has been lending 125% on mortgages by adding secured personal loans to the 100% mortgage so they are bound to be exposed if interest rates goes up. However the other banks could get hit as well and what about the real subprime mortgage lenders.

I have bank shares in Denmark and they have taken a huge hit too so think I will stay away from shares at the moment.

Lots of people in the papers etc are starting to suggest a worldwide recession is on the cards, and with everyone getting jittery with all that has been happening here, in the US, and across the stock markets, its easy to see why things could get scary for a lot of people. I wonder how many people would be able to afford interest rates as they were 17 years or so ago?

lunasaver

Hi there all

I'd like to join your challenge if it's not too late?

Just been inspired by ShineyHappy, I too am a single part-time working mother, I bought a shared ownership the year before I got pregnant and things fell apart. I'm proud to say I have not yet had to sign on for any benefits despite recieving nowt from her dad. I am able to do this by renting out my spare room, and being v frugal!

I currently own 25% and the lodgers money just covers the rent, services and some of the leccy.

My plan is to become an ebayer, join quidco, all the survey sites I can muster plus all the click through sites and try my hand at spread betting! Hopefully able to overpay by £50 - £100 per month.

I asked for my current balance at the mortgage yesterday and was told I owe £45320 - but I'm not sure if this might be the figure from April, would they normally be able to give you a figure over the counter?

I've just discovered this site and it's just what I needed!:T

ailuro2

Hi Lunasaver- you may qualify for 'top ups' in top of your income.
If you qualify then you should claim- you paid the tax, so are entitled to it, hence the website www.entitledto.org ?

djbd1973

ailuro2 wrote: »

Hi Lunasaver- you may qualify for 'top ups' in top of your income.
If you qualify then you should claim- you paid the tax, so are entitled to it, hence the website www.entitledto.org ?

That is a good website. I good friend of mine found that he was entitled to money he had not previously considered due to his circumstances.

Every little bit helps, and its your to take but you have to claim it to get it.