Free at Fifty? 30 June 2013 at 12:01PM in Mortgage-free wannabe 9 replies 1.6K views

Ashingtonian

Hi all. Having just recently paid off my last payment on my car and now debt free I thought I would start chipping away at my mortgage, which currently has a balance of just under 46k and is due to end in 2027.

Having just turned 40 myself out of curiosity I tried the overpayment calculator to see how much extra a month I would need to pay to get this paid off for my 50th birthday and was pleasantly surprised to see I only had to overpay an extra 100 a month to achieve this, which I have setup with the bank. I am on a good rate of base plus 1.69% (2.19%) thanks to having a current LTV of 42%.

I could probably stretch to overpaying 200 a month and get it paid off in 7-8 years but this figure would mean cutting back on entertainment etc and we have to have a life in the meantime! Plus I would like to build up a small emergency fund of say 1000 for any unforeseen circumstances....

Will do six monthly updates if anyone is interested of course lol:rotfl:

Mowie

Best of luck Ashingtonian. I'm just starting out too, quite exciting to see the difference the payments make.

Ashingtonian

Mowie wrote: »

Best of luck Ashingtonian. I'm just starting out too, quite exciting to see the difference the payments make.

It certainly is.

Radish72

Ashingtonian wrote: »

Will do six monthly updates if anyone is interested of course lol:rotfl:

You will get far more addictive than that, post every few days as it really keeps you motivated (plus we are a bunch of nosy parkers)

Ashingtonian

Ok first overpayment made yesterday, so I'm up and running. If I can continue this modest 100 a month extra the mortgage will expire in October 2023, six months after my 50th birthday, although ideally I would like to make the final payment on the 1st April that year, just a few days before my 50th...would be a nice present.

Obviously there will be several expected and unexpected one off things to pay for during this time....therefore I will be looking to maintain a minimum of 1000 in my bank to cover the less expensive things as they arise and I have a low interest CC in reserve as well.

Fortunately my home is quite modern, being built in 2001. Therefore things that could be quite expensive to fix such as damp or a new roof should not be an issue within the next 10 years. I will probably need a new boiler before then, but the current one is ticking along fine at the moment. Ideally I would like a new kitchen and/or bathroom within that time as well but that will have to depend on being able to save for it separately.

Obviously interest rates are only going one way in future, but hopefully future wage increases should offset this (I'm on a lifetime tracker with HSBC).

Next update in six months time....

Ashingtonian

Just bumping this old post. Long story short I overpaid as much as I reasonably could but fell for a new build home just a stones throw away from where I grew up so decided to sell up and have just recently moved into it.

The upside to this is I have a home with an up to date kitchen/bathroom and brand new boiler etc, all things that were overdue for replacement in my previous home. Of course the downside is I had to add £15k to my mortgage to cover the sale/purchase price difference and legal fees etc.

So as it stands I owe approx £47k over a ten year term which equates to £430 a month (I'm on a 1.89% fixed rate at the moment). In order to clear that before my 50th birthday in just over 6 1/2 years time I would need to overpay about £200 a month.

As it stands that is pretty much all of my remaining income each month after everything has been paid for, so obviously that is not possible at the moment. However I think £100 is, so I will try and keep that up for now and see how things pan out.

Ashingtonian

Re jigged my spending and it looks like the £200 a month overpayment needed is just about manageable, so fingers crossed I will be mortgage free 3 days before my 50th birthday, then I will have an extra £630 a month to spend on whatever I like:j

Brokeattheminute

HI Ashingtonian I owe nearly the same amount as you am 42 on the 9th October and am aiming to be mortgage free round 2023/2024 def before im 50 in 8yrs 2days time.Am overpaying by 120 per month.

Ashingtonian

Brokeattheminute wrote: »

HI Ashingtonian I owe nearly the same amount as you am 42 on the 9th October and am aiming to be mortgage free round 2023/2024 def before im 50 in 8yrs 2days time.Am overpaying by 120 per month.

Good luck to you.

Ashingtonian

Managed to get a CC cash balance transfer of £3600 for 32 months 0% interest for a fee of only £60 and have duly transferred this into my mortgage and I am now at the max 10% overpayment limit until next June. Hopefully this has taken in the region of a year off my final repayment date.

Now I will concentrate on paying off this CC hopefully by next June and will then begin my next round of overpayments on the mortgage.