What is your mortgage-free inspiration?

castlelough

Thanks everyone!

I have really enjoyed reading all the different perspectives on it!

It made me think too. So many people plan to save for their retirement after becoming mortgage free...and I suppose how much you would save would depend on how you planned to spend your retirement!!!!

pixiedust09

For me the security is a big reason and also so we have the opportunity to move up the ladder preferably somewhere rural or semi/rural with land or a big garden. I dream of a house in the country with chickens, large farmhouse kitchen, stone/wood floors and an aga. :D

Pennypincher2

We had a mortgage and huge negative equity in the 1980s and it was all against us. As soon as we sorted that out and finally managed to move to a house from a studio flat which my husband and I lived in for 7 years together we then had the constant nagging of 'your endowment wont pay enough etc'. The endowment was the old bit of the mortgage so not huge about £40,000 and the term of my mortgage was till I was 48 (3 yrs time). I started overpaying and when the opportunity came to see if the endowment was miss sold we switched all to repayment, cost a bit more but I was used to paying more cos of overpaying.

In the mean time we did what you are doing, about 9 years ago paid all debt off - not loads but took a couple of years and not much income. Only saved to buy things or used interest free credit card with a plan devised knowing how it would be paid off for free (interest wise).


Then 4 yrs ago moved to current house and started over paying cos we had increased term to finish when I was 52 (to feel safe) but thought I could shorten it. Now 2 years ago husband left ... Still in same house which is lovely, I brought husband out and fairly. I extended my mortgage to 65.5 years old. You can see this was not part of the master plan but once again I picked a term that felt safe to me and one can always overpay to shorten the term.

I do believe the constant push to repay mortgage, stay on top debt and to perceive mortgage as money you owe allows you to have confidence in yourself to manage on a budget, set a goal (although things do change) and work towards it. Less of a disaster when husband does the dirty too.

So for me money borrowed costs money. I want a reasonable quality of life now i.e. I want memories of adventures with my kids and holidays and space and time, so I need to be thrifty and clever. But I have no intention of working to 68 yrs old and dropping dead the month after taking first state pension payment. So I split things. I overpay and currently am aiming to reduce the mortgage to 60 years old reducing by 5.5 years and this amount may increase with time, this is savings as far as I am concerned. I overpay my pension too aiming for 60 years old. I have a house I will sell when retired and I shall down size and I may rent it out if the kids go to uni cos it will be just me supporting them financially - so I am open. That is the plan. Life has taught me to go for it but it might change and to go for that too.

Oh I use tokens, plan my meals, love it when my Mum cooks dinner for us, cant wait for the kids to go to senior school cos I wont have to pay a child minder, grow my own, make jam, make cakes, wear hand me downs (all of us), get shoes for my birthday or Christmas presents from my Mum, do sarnies, shop at Lidls, go for the day to the park with a bat and ball and so it goes on. I do it all and I work hard like ever one else but it is alright.

It is worth still knocking away at the debts then little by little just nudge at the mortgage. Increased what you pay and soon it is normal and if things change and you have to stop for a while, nothing is lost you are still nearer your goal than before.

newgirly

Hi, I would like to have some savings and be able to help the kids out a bit (not too much, as Tilly says you want them to work for it themselves )

Maybe if we could get a buy to let, and a classic Mini Cooper.

Other than that be able to go for breaks away and meals out when ever we feel like it

tea_lover

When we bought our current house we got another 25 year mortgage, which meant Mr Tea would be 64 when it was paid off and I'd be 57. Mr Tea has no pension (other than state) and I've only got a very basic work one which will buy us maybe a loaf of bread a month if we're lucky.

I'd like to be MF so we can spend the last few years of our working lives saving a nest-egg for our retirement, and having some security.

greent

We should be (if mr greent gets another job - currently unemployed) MF in Nov 2015 or sooner.

We have 4 children. The first two will end up at uni due to what they want to do (eg DD wants to be a teacher) DD will start uni Sep 2016 - so we'll end up using some of our money helping her, and then her brothers through uni. First off, though, we want to do a family holiday to US in Summer 2016 - DD will have finished school, DS1 will have done his GCSEs and it seems like a perfect time to have a blow out. Am expecting that to cost £10k min - 6 of us (5 @ adult prices, 1 child) in the Summer hols......

We do have savings as well and it would be nice to increase these. I also want to spend money on things like changing the windows and by then DH would like a new car

LauraJo

For me its about:
Security i.e. not having to work at such a manic pace just to pay the bills. Would be nice to pick a job I actually want to do to rather than one that pays the bills - not that I know what I want to do when I grow up!
Retire early - OH due to retire at 51 and I'll be 43 then - would love to be able to pay the mortgage next year and then save for 9 years before retirement
Fun - holidays, another horse and a horse box (he he don't tell my OH!)
Family - help my family out with some stuff where I can

I'm loving this thread - all of a sudden writing that down makes me feel more motivated! Thanks castlelough!

MallyGirl

For me it is about being able to retire while we are still young and fit enough to enjoy life. We were mortgage free for a bit before we bought this house nearly 8 years ago but I always knew it was temporary.
We earn quite a lot and can comfortably live within our means but this house is our retirement plan. It is probably worth around £700k so we will sell it and move somewhere less commuter belt when we retire. We each have a few pensions from various jobs but none are worth that much - we are currently on good schemes in terms of the company paying good contributions in as long as we do but we are both 46 now so its a bit late for them to build up enough with today's poor performance figures.
Our DD is just starting senior school and will be going to a grammar so that will save us the fees we have been paying for her junior school. In another 7 years she is going to need help with Uni.
We both grew up in very poor families and it is nice to be able to give our DD experiences and opportunities that we never had - we just need to balance that with our future, once she is out in the big wide world.

cardiffmatch

A lot of people have already mentioned the concept of early retirement, which is definitely one of my motivating factors. I have no intention of having to work and earn a certain amount until I am 68; choosing to work at something I enjoy is a different matter.

I'm aiming to pay ours off before I'm 40. This is to free me up to be able to take advantage of any exciting options my career may offer me, foreign work, career break, volunteering etc without worrying about how the house will be paid for.

Similarly, since we won't have children, I want to be able to afford to just go on holiday / weekends away whenever I see somewhere fabulous advertised or featured in a TV or newspaper article without having to save up... £1200 a month mortgage payments would pay for some *amazing* weekends away!

Staffordia

As my thread title says, without overpaying I will be 64 when I finish paying the mortgage. However I can retire from work at 60, and that is something I definitely want to do. This will not be possible if I still have a mortgage to pay, so looking to knock off at least 4 years, anymore will be a bonus