mortgage free in 4 years hopefully...

Savingdad

The plan so far..
I took out an endowment product when I was 18 that ran for 25 years, that matures in 4 years and although there is an expected shortfall I have been saving to cover it.
My mortgage is thankfully a small one, 50 k left to pay and I overpay by 100% each month to bring it down while I still have a 2.5% interest rate, using the overpayments calculator on here shows me I will have just over 20k to pay and the endowment and the money I I have as my emergency fund should cover it.
Does anyone have any insights or advice that I may of missed ?
I am married but my wife doesn't work at the moment as she is a stay at home mum and I work full time to make this happen while still enjoying a family life with my wife and child.

edinburgher

It sounds like you've got yourself covered assuming the sums are right.

Are you thinking about paying it off even sooner?

Savingdad

I am trying but at the same time we need to make memories with our son and as it all comes down to august 2018 when the endowment matures I think it will be more a case of how much savings I get to keep back rather than paying it of any earlier but certainly if my outstanding balance ever gets below my emergency fund amount it will be paid off the following month and then my mortgage payments directed to rebuilding the fund.
Only then will I feel I have managed to get debt free.
My mortgage is the only debt I have so any extras I make during the year go to lowering the balance to.

Savingdad

Im going to print out a 10 x 10 grid with each square representing £600, I might subdivide the top row into quartets as I think extra £150 repayments will be more reasonable to accheive than £600 and it will give me some incentive anddd show the rest of the family what we are scrimping for lol.

apple_muncher

Brilliant idea!

Savingdad

Lol, I just made the grid and put a little roof and chimney stack on and drew a couple of flowers in the garden so the squares make up the " bricks" of my house.
Once its all coloured in its all ours :rotfl:

Miss_Moneysaver

Hi,

We are in a similar position. We have increased our payments to make sure £10k a year comes off the mortgage and, like you, we have a 25 year endowment due to mature in March 2017.
I am hoping that I will be able to pay off the remaining balance with savings but I think another year of payments is looking more likely. We have just agreed to have double glazing done on the house (4 bed detached) so another £5k to pay off.
Hubby works full time and I work part time. We bring in about the same. We have 2 children aged 10 and 6. I am tempted to return full time to throw extra at the mortgage but I don't want to end up with no life and every second, away from work, spent doing housework/shopping etc.
The idea of being mortgage free in less than 5 years is amazing. Can't wait!

Savingdad

Yep, there is a balance between having a life and making memories and having fun with our 3 yo.
We have a family holiday every year and days out, mortgage free is a dream but I won't punish my kids to get there.
I think on track to me mortgage free in London before 50 is good enough for me for now.

Savingdad

Well that's a Halifax reward account opened with the specific intention of funneling my mortgage payments through it, the mortgage and home insurance count as the 2 direct debits needed and simply but transferring the money to pay them into the account will earn me £160 this year and then £60 a year going forward, any extras I can put it to can go in the account and be used for extra payments off the mortgage.

Savingdad

So that's the transfer into my shiney new Halifax account set and the mortgage payment moved onto the account along with uping my overpayment for the 4 the time this year.
Everytime I up it to as mush as I think we can afford I still have money at the end of the month, so I up the payments again.

abouttimetoo

Hi SavingsDad

Well done, you're going great guns. I can see you want to throw everything at the mortgage but have you also thought about using savings accounts that could pay more than the 2.5% interest rate on your mortgage?

Regards
ATT