Mortgage Free No Longer Wannabes - what did you do next?

Former_MSE_Andrea

We're asking our fantastic Debt Free No Longer Wannabes what they're doing next and we want to know what our Mortgage Free No Longer Wannabes are doing too to hopefully inspire other readers trying to pay off their mortgages early


Are you now building up your savings with the help of the Best Savings accounts and the Savings & Investments board.

Or are you aiming for Early Retirement over on our Pensions and Retirement Planning board with the help of our Money Makeover, Budget Planner and Income Boost guides?

Whether you've been Mortgage-free a few months or a few years please come back to tell us what and how you're doing now. We'd love to hear your "What I did next" story!

Dee140157

Since paying off mortgage, I managed to get child 1 through university with no debt whatsoever. Not so lucky with child 2 (fees went up to £9000)but that child will get lump sum to put down as deposit for house to balance out money given to child 1.

However both children following MSE way of life. Child 1 is well on way to substantial deposit for house after only 2 years out of Uni. Child 2 hopes to be up to 5 figure savings by the time university finishes. Said child already has start date for employment in July 2015!

So MSE approach continues in next generation.

Since pensions all sorted now, I am now working towards holiday No5 this year. Time has come to enjoy money and spend spare money rather than save! Not retired yet though.

Former_MSE_Andrea

Great stuff!

If it's any help there's a great early retirement discussion over on the Pensions board. It's been going a few years but it's still a good one to read through and join in with.

ml543213

Paid off my mortgage in Dec 2013 - life is definitely more relaxed and "chill" than it used to be. Emotion-wise, I feel much happier knowing that I can keep what I earn. In short, I now "work to live" and not "live to work". :rotfl:


On a more serious note: I started putting aside a fixed sum every month into a pension pot although there are another 22 years before I am qualified for a lousy state pension...


Apart from that: I took a long holiday touring around Europe (7 countries in a month and a half). Being an overt antique-lover, I splurged on a range of objets d"art that I could not possibly afford before. Without the burden of mortgage in mind, I seemed to enjoy my holidays much, much more. :j


BTW: given the pathetic interest rates at the moment, I am planning of (eventually) converting my saving into a "buy-a-second-house-as-investment-fund". It is just a thought at this stage... just a thought.

Notfarfromtheborder

In a strange way, I have changed

Having a flexible mortgage in the past (still got the facility for the next 20 years to borrow £105K) meant we never bothered about what we spent, cars, sofa, very expensive television / speaker system, holidays all just got added and then paid off by large overpayments each month. Mortgage got settled by an 'investment' coming off.

Now it's gone, I am determined not to pay big interest again, as well as determined to save, cash and pension. I may have to dip back in to catch up with some house jobs that have been put off but will clear these fast. Got statement yesterday, paid £1.23 interest last month....

My wife is going nuts, can't understand why when we owed 6 figures I'd buy anything, now I question everything.

22 years from state pension age, it wont be 22 years before I retire, that's the big goal now:j

Shineyhappy

Not that we have paid ours off yet but DH have discussed this and are planning on two things - drinking and travelling. DH has a great pension already. I am only 33 and contribute enough to my pension already.

FreshBeats

Paid off ours about 3 months ago (story below!), but I'm not sure its hit me yet. One thing I've noticed is how the universe keeps wanting me to shell out lots of money (thus blowing my savings plans!)… basically, the same month I paid my last instalment my car decided it need about £600 worth of work doing (I'd not had a new car in 14 years because I wanted to pay off the mortgage!), the month after my boiler broke down - so I need to find £2000!

Bit first world problems though - I keep reminding myself that if I had a mortgage AND these problems I'd be significantly worse off!

Let see what next month brings eh?

(Mortage Paying off story):

Bought new house about 7 years ago, and for a couple of months we had 'two' houses whilst we waited for our old house to be sold (and two mortgages!). We had to arrange quite a large mortgage payment to cover us for those two months, and the mortgage advisor said (possibly as a joke) - "Hey - if you continue to pay that amount in your new house you'll have paid off your mortgage in 7 years).

That stuck in my head, and we decided to give it a shot (knowing we could lower it if it became too much). Anyway - we managed!

Not sure what to do next really. Contemplating buying a 'flat' somewhere to rent, or, if I get a better (and more stable) job somewhere else in the next few years, we may get a slightly bigger house…. decisions, decisions.

Nice to have choices though :-)

Congrats to everyone here!

pawlala

I've been mortgage free for nearly a year now and still searching for different properties and thinking about different property ideas. I really miss overpaying (it really was addictive and now I'm detoxing for a bit lol). Once I've built up a decent deposit I'll see how the land lays about getting a 3rd mortgage and a second home.

The other thing I have been doing is increasing pension contributions and topping up S&S ISAs, just to make money go further. Interest rates beyond high interest current accounts are shockingly bad at the moment.

Apart from that I'm just enjoying a little bit of financial freedom to buy a new PC and DSLR camera, nothing extravagant though.

Durban

Paid off our 3 bedroom semi in 2013 - 13 years early.
That was that - we thought.
Howver , we then bought a detached bungalow , kept our old house and now rent it out and jointly bought a flat with our eldest daughter to help her get on the property ladder and as investment.

We now have an £88, 000 mortgage that we want to pay off early and be able if we can to help our other 2 children one day on the property ladder as we have with our eldest if we can.

If all goes well , hope to have current mortgage paid off in 7 years.

Kaz2904

We paid ours off in April 2013. After almost 2 years, we should have an enormous pot built up shouldn't we? Pah! My car died so we replaced that in the May. We then had our week long holiday in Weymouth and DH's car died quite spectacularly. His new car cost £13995 so we got a loan over 2 years for it.
We then had a big holiday last summer. 18 days touring around California, Nevada and Arizona.
We frittered around £3k on uninsured losses for cars and cat last year and after my new car got hit for probably the 20th time, the man at the garage told me it was doomed and to get a different one. So we did. That cost £1300 + tax.
We got a dog (she's saving my heating bills now though ).
We are about to spend out £4K on getting a bit of work done to the house- doorway being moved and all new guttering fascias etc. I will be replacing the kitchen this year- am aiming for October so it's finished for Christmas and neighbour tells me Howdens have good sales in October.
Kids are now far more expensive with their music lessons and activities too- but that's why we wanted no mortgage for when they got to this age .


Hopefully, the money pit will have stopped draining us by the end of the year and we will be able to start saving properly for a deposit for a BTL house.

Tiggifarfar.

Great forum & I hope to be able to update myself as were not quite mortgage free yet but only a few months left to go.

Now we can see the light at the end of the tunnel, I spoke to my husband about what we do next? We didn't have the best start as a couple, we became parents too young and the first few years of our relationship we spent living with parents, private renting & then we got a council flat. I always a knew this was just a pit-stop and not a forever home and so with us both continuing to work, we managed to get a rung on the homeowner ladder in the days when deposits were much smaller, we sold our car etc to make ends meet & so it's always been a bit of a struggle but you could also say we were determined. So what will we do when we're not struggling? It's exciting but a bit scary at the same time.