Mortgage Free in Three Yrs

Karmacat

Thats a good idea ailuro - gives people a heads-up that they'll be deleted next go-round.

beachbeth

GettingThingsDone wrote: »

Hey DD - even I'm saying don't change the name, and I hardly know you.

What I have noticed, and I hope you don't mind me saying this, is that you're very quick to judge people as anti-MFW when all they are doing is suggesting alternative strategies and ideas. Everybody has different circumstances.

You're very quick to argue and even twist people's words. I gather you may have had a number of deliberate trolls, which may have driven you to reacting like this. Please chill though - this is MSE

I am a MFW, believe it or not, and I'll be a MFiT when I move to my next house (if I don't buy it outright that is).

gtd

I agree!

I started a "tell me why its good to pay off your mortgage thread" but I wasn't coming from a "paying off your mortgage is a bad thing" point of view. I wanted all you good people on the MFW board to explain to me your strategies and how you worked out what you were going to pay. Im not a troll and enjoy reading about how others go about sorting their finances. When you find people in the same situation as yourself its heartening to read about how they are dealing with their mortgages and you realise you are not alone.

I don't think DD should change his name either as I don't think this will solve anything. I realise that I will have to agree to disagree with him on some of his points and he should do the same. I have a policy of only sending friendly pm's and so he has nothing to fear from me. Sending nasty pm's is cowardly as someone else said. I don't like it when people feel they are being hounded off any of the threads on this website, whether they are people I like or not.

Im so glad I did start that thread because despite people thinking I was attacking their MFW status (which I wasn't) it has made me decide to overpay my mortgage. All the MFW's have inspired me to do this. So thanks!

Keep up with all your efforts everyone!:T

beachbeth

As I said above, well done everyone! We don't have a hefty mortgage in comparison to some people but its big enough and any mortgage is a debt that has got to be paid off at some point. This thread is quite long for me to start at the beginning but Ive read some of your posts and its nice to see everyone encouraging each other.

Please feel free to post on my "explain why its good to pay off your mortgage thread". Im interested to know if MFW's go all out to pay off their mortgages or take a more middle ground by overpaying a bit and yet still having money to spend on the nice things in life.

AnW'sMum

Hi Guys

Much as I agree with you that it is awful that DD feels the need to stop using the DD user name on these boards I think we need to support him in his decision. I am sure he has not taken it lightly and in fact I think he has decided to take this course of action to protect the thread from closure. There is a place for discussion and debate and there are plenty of debates on these very boards. Having said that this thread is essentially here for those who want to get rid/reduce their mortgages ASAP. We are not all going to agree on how we should achieve this aim but positive discussion and support will enable us to reach our goal.

As a team we have all come a long way in the last 6 months and the communal support for each other along with the hints, tips and banter are what make this thread a great place to be. Just scroll back up a bit and see how effective we have been as a team..... over £500,000 repaid by active and inactive members in the last 6 months. Remember it's the banks we are out to beat NOT each other so let's not lose sight of this fact. DD provided the inspiration for just about everyone who has become part of the MFiT gang and I am sure would deeply disappointed if we lost the focus of why we are here. Don't forget just because he won't be posting it does not mean that he is not with us, he'll be lurking of that I am certain

We need to get back on track and keep hammering away at those mortgages and not allow anyone to divert us from this.

Personally I would like to thank DD for starting this thread, TG for updating the chart and all participants for posting on their progress. Plus I quite like being a cheerleader

So down to business...... if you didn't PM Tallgirl in time for the October update then do so as soon as possible, if there are enough response she might be persuaded to update the chart again. There are 35 people currently inactive, ie who have not updated since July (or since they joined if joined since July), who we would hate to lose. Don't let those light bulbs switch off, give us an update and then we can aim even higher.

And don't forget DD we still expect to see you at the party in May 2010

GettingThingsDone

Much as I agree with you that it is awful that DD feels the need to stop using the DD user name on these boards I think we need to support him in his decision.

I completely agree - it's MSE and nobody should feel that way. It has, however, been my only bad experience on MSE. I won't dwell on it and I hope DD isn't having a hard time at work or home, and feels better under a new username.

A little about me - I'm a great believer in setting oneself goals in life, even if they are arbitrary goals (doing something is better than doing nothing - usually )

Over 10 years ago I decided I wanted to be MFiT and effectively did it (I offset my mortgage). However, I soon realised, that it didn't actually make any difference to my life. What I now realise I should have done is continually trade up, extending myself as much as possible during the recent house price inflation we've had. However, I was scarred by the 1980's and I thought being MF and DF at 30 was a pretty cool achievement.

Those savings are now invested in a reasonably untouchable asset at the moment (and I'll leave it at that for now )

I'm looking to trade up in the near future, hopefully something nearer to my 'ideal home' and I'm starting to get my MFW-feeling back again. I especially like the MFiT because it appeals to my arbitrary goal setting nature. The bit that upset DD is that I suggested a financial 'health-check' warning somewhere in the forum so that people don't think that MFW is some magical solution to their investment problems (I have some involvement in mortgage regulations).

I'm going to be lurking for a bit from now on, until I'm ready to kick-off, but I will wish you all good luck (even you DD) and I hope to learn and be inspired by you.

gtd

setmefree2

Hi GTD,

Actually, I think you've put that really well and you've made me think. I have wondered if we should really keep extending (financially that is) ourselves and keep trading up. However, you can't keep borrowing more & more, sometimes you have to pay it back. Maybe when we have cleared our debt we might consider taking on a new mortgage/debt. We live in London and you need about £200k for each house move to get "more" for your money. It is a balance with job security issues too. When you have a lot of debt you are vulnerable to interest rate rises, etc. Also, there is more to life than houses and debt, maybe later on in life me & Mr SMF will just like to sit on a beach somewhere...anyway, If you've read my diary thread you'll know we're being harassed by our neighbour at the moment (party wall stuff) - and I wish I could just change my user name:o It's tough on my kids.

TallGirl

Interesting stuff on here, nice to hear other opnions. I want to pay my mortgage off because for us it gives us the best return on our money. My husband is a higher rate tax payer and hopeless at sorting out savings accounts etc so it is much easier to have an offset mortgage. We have got some shares and I know ISA's are great too but doing it offset means your savings are tax free and you get instant access to them too. (We are with Woolwich Open Plan).

I agree it is good to trade up and extent yourself to get a bigger asset. We did think about doing that 3 years ago but stamp duty and estate agent fees are something to take into account and we decided to extent instead. We had saved up enough money to do the whole extention without having to borrow more money and we now have a 4 bedroom house instead of a 2 bedroom and are really really happy with it. It makes a big difference when we have friends and family to stay and I now have a proper home office. We love the area we live in and if we were to buy a bigger house it would be in the same area where prices are very high so it made sense for us to extent.

Anyway enough waffle from me, thanks for all the PM's yes I will do the chart again at the weekend -

PM me with your figures and we will get a final chart 6 months in. I will start to mark people off then they update so we can keep track and take people off.

NEW DEADLINE FOR CHART IS FRIDAY 19th OCTOBER

jobbingmusician

Can I make a suggestion to DD and TG? I too am really sorry that you've had such a rough ride. And I do follow some people around the board (NOT DD or TG, although I have chanced upon at least one other thread that DD has contributed to) because I know that any thread involving them is likely to be interesting (but I think I've sent about one PM on this board in my life that was not a response to a PM sent to me).

Is it possible to have 2 MSE identities? If so, wouldn't it be worth continuing to post here as our beloved DD/TG, and on other threads under your new identitiy? Just a suggestion.

PS My mortgage is now under £25k!!! :j Have Pm'd TG.

HammersFan

My 2 pence worth on the MFW or not thing....

Money experts often advice people to be unemotional about investing. But for me, owning my house outright is an emotional issue - it will be a major source of personal satisfaction and provide immense security (for me and my family). I think that fianancial issues (e.g. whether its best to invest in stocks and shares or pay down the loan, whether you migth be able to eek and extra 0.1% by using a regualr saver instead of an off-set etc.) are quite secondary to me in my motivation (unless there are major savings to be had, then I'm all for it!).

To me running an offset mortgage provides the motivation to keep going and a good enough return on my money.

Keep going everyone!!!

Karmacat

Thats interesting, GTD - I never quite got to grips with the idea of trading up myself. Plus at the age I should have been doing it, I was swapping careers - I'm now on my 3rd (been in it for 20 years), trying for my 4th (2 years now), so my income wasn't going up in the way we conventionally think. When I *did* up from a flat to a house, I did it by having a full time job, a part time job and letting out 2 rooms. I worked about 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, for about 3 years, no holidays. Then my present career started working, and when I upgraded to this house, I just paid cash, didn't extend the mortgage at all.

Frankly, I'm now at the age when I'll be trading down, which is horrifying but true - I *dream* of having an easy two-bedder with a courtyard garden, instead of a s*dding great 3 bed two bath place with Mount Everest at the back. The choice I made to carry on leveraging my income was to buy an investment property, but I didn't cost it properly, and its never made me money, which is why I'm on here. If I think of it as a substitute for trading up, however (which I never have before - so thanks for that, thats a really good idea) then its worked - if the income carries on like this, it will be £100 a week, at today's prices, which is a nice contribution to my retirement income.