Anyone else a closet MFW?

Prof-Peach

Well after a lot of looking and reading this is my first post and firstly hello to all;)
What can i say, this thread is the one for me i've been visiting this site for ages and very usefull it is too.
As for being a closet MFW i'm in, or is it out? (of the closet that is?)
been wanting to get rid of our mortgage for ages and have only recently made some steps at doing it but this thread has given me insperation,

What a top site and some like minded frugal people

Thank you long may it continue:T

moanymoany

We are on the point of retirement and it was the thought that we would not be able to pay our mortgage (even with the compensation) that turned us into being money savvy.

We try not to think about all the money we wasted - we never thought of paying our mortgage off, but we could have at least halved it!

We have a few people we talk to about our moneysaving habits. Our daughter and her civil partner are now followers because they have seen how much we have managed to do in the last few years.

We have one car, five years old and we will buy another when we retire, about two/three years. That's another thing. If we had been money savvy, even fifteen years ago, we could have been retired now.::mad:

This site is a great point of contact for all like minded folk. I have found it wonderful to know just how many of us there are out there.

Little confession. I can't get to grips with all the acronyms. What is MF and MFW?:o

TallGirl

Morning MoanyMoany

Just to let you know that MF is Mortgage Free and MFW is Mortgage Free Wannabe

Hope that helps and good luck with clearing your mortgage early.

zhari

Hi everyone, I have been a long time lurker on this site and this thread has just inspired me to say hello to you all.
We first strarted to think about saving interest on our mortgage by 'stoozing',in a small way, after hearing Martin on a radio show about three? years ago. By offsetting we have managed to save £5000 in interest. A few months ago we 'upped' our mortgage payments by £120 pounds a month (and are also trying to pay a bit more than that each month if we can). I love the thought that we are saving the interest and reducing the term with every little extra pound we can. It seems quite exciting to me when I queue up and hand over my extra cash. Then rush home to check my outstanding balance on the internet. Everyone I know is spending madly and has credit card bills and cant understand my idea to pay off early gives me a thrill!!!! It is so lovely to read your threads and know you 'get it' too.
Thanks all for the continuing inspiration. xx

ailuro2

Another way to look at the people who are paying interest on their cards every month is that they are the ones who are keeping the banks profits acceptable to their shareholders, thereby lowering the banks' need to make some money out of customers like us who pay as little to them as we possibly can.:D

I do feel sorry for them and explain it's only the one year you have to go without before you can buy something rule, but people just laugh and look at me as if I'm daft.

For those who haven't heard my 'only one year' theory, it goes along the lines of ....

save up for a 12 months whatever the loan payments would have been on the item you want.Buy it,continue to save the monthly amount as if you were paying the loan.Get the next thing you want,except you will be able to afford the bigger and better version of whatever you want because you made interest on the money instead of paying out on it.-so you only go without for one year! Simple, eh?

Yes, I know it isn't always easy for a low income family to do when they need an essential item such as a new washing machine, but doing it on a smaller scale to save up for Christmas from January to December is a prime example of how it can work for everyone.;)

moanymoany

About two years ago my hairdresser - all of 25 or so - said he had bought a new house and kept the flat he had bought when he was 18.

He and his OH had had dinner with an old friend and partner to celebrate them buying their first house.

In the chat the old friend said to my hairdresser 'It's all right for you...... you have a flat and a house...got on the property ladder early' My hairdresser went puce just telling me the tale. 'When I was 18 and had saved a deposit and most of my income was going on a mortgage, what were you doing? You were clubbing, you had two holidays a year and a nice car. The money you spent could have been a deposit.' I got the impression that he was now an ex-old friend. But it's true. If you are money savvy from the start, however you learn it, you are very lucky.

It was him who, when talking about 'Spendaholics' said 'they want to have a champagne lifestyle on beer money'.

It seems to me that other people put what one does on top of what they do. If they spend hundreds a month on clothes, going out etc. and someone else pays a mortgage and an overpayment, they think the overpayment and mortgage is ON TOP of going out etc. They don't realise that the clothes and going out doesn't happen. That is a bit confused and I hope you all can work it out!:o

On another thread there is a reference to a book 'The Millionaire Next Door' by Thomas Stanley.
http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/s/stanley-millionaire.html Just tried this, it doesn't work. Type the title and author into Google and open the New York Times hit that comes up. Sorry.

The first chapter is on this site. Worth reading, quite an eye opener.;)

scottishsuz

Hello all,

This thread has made me smile so much as so much of it rings bells with me. I'm 25 and really want to be MF asap but its really hard when all of my friends are off out on nights out and are buying themselves pretty clothes when I'm still wearing clothes I went to high school in!! So far I've turned down two nights out this week that both would be really good fun.

When I told one of my work mates that I was overpaying with a view to paying it off, she scoffed at me saying something along the lines of 'mortgages are a fact of life, you'll want somewhere bigger at somepoint so how can you be mortgage free?'

I guess she is right in part that I might want somewhere bigger later in life but I figure the more equity I have in my flat just now the better the position I'll be in if/when I move on up the property ladder.

Overpayments are my friend

Suz

Helonearth

Suz,

Sounds like you are in the same position as me. I'm 22 and have only just bought my place 8 months ago. I haven't got as far as overpaying yet as I am still working on the money I overspent for the 1st six months after moving out.

It really gets to me that some of my friends are still in Uni getting drunk every night and basically having a great time, when I am living on such a tight budget just to be able to to afford a glass of wine at home at the weekend.

I know that I've made the right choice and it will all pay off in the long run, but it seems so hard some times!

Oh well, got to think of the bigger picture!

Hel
x

scottishsuz

Hi Hel,

I only over pay by £30 a month but in the long run it adds up to a big saving, check out this calculator from channel 4 http://www.channel4.com/money/homebuying/overpaycalc.html I'm slightly obsessed by it....

You've made a good choice, stick with it, besides you're liver will love you for it hehe

Suz
x

moanymoany

My DH brought this book back from his recent working trip to the USA. All who have posted on this thread, who feel just a bit out in the cold because you are going against the spending flow TAKE HEART, you are on your way to being wealthy.

The message this book gives is frugality.

1. Budget, know where all your money goes. Live frugaly.

2. Do not spend all your income, save what is left.

3. Spend time planning your investing.

4. Make sure your partner is on the same wavelength.

Guess what. The people who do this have happy marriages that last. They are happier than people who throw their money away on depreciating assets. The book is worth a read. The libraries should have copies as it is not new. If not request it, they should get it for you.

Super congratulations to those of you who are in your 20's and doing this. I wish I had had your good sense when I was your age, I would certainly be retired now with a nice bit of dosh behind me to pay for it.;)