Mortgage Free But Really Unhappy

gavfish

Hi Folks,

i'm 37 years old and achieved mortgage free status 4 years ago (although I didn't formally pay the mortgage off as I could achieve better savings rates than my mortgage.)

I have also found a good home for subsequent savings by buying several BTL properties over the last 2 years. I have been able to do these things msainly due to making large sacrifices in my family life by working in a tough (but well-paid) job following redundancy a week prior to my daughter being born.

I now find myself in another high-pressure job that i hate every day to the point of feeling sick when I wake up. I have done my sums and based on my lifestyle I am quite cheap to keep, Have no loans and can afford to run quite a small mortgage on my own home whilst the majority of my money is tied-up in the BTL properties.

If I were to pay-off my own mortgage I would be short by 30k, However have nearly 200k invested in 500k properties. The properties return me a pre-tax income of £17k which I share 50-50 with my wife. She works and brings in about 20k.

My question for the forum is should or could I contemplate giving up work at these levels? My rough budget figures suggest today I could get-by and save around 1k per month (although my figures could be wrong). Also I am concerned my 17k income could shrink in-future with interest rate rises or void periods on the properties.

Your thoughts, Experiences and Opinions would be most welcome in helping me make the biggest decision of my life.

Cheers
Gavfish

chazsucks

Just thinking out loud here but if you have BTL properties and enjoy it, could you not remortgage some of your property and get another couple of BTLs to increase your income a little? Or even BTSs.

Check out the property tribes forums, they are really helpful over there

singhini

Just like Chazsucks, im thinking out aloud. The problem is the current job, so lets focus our energy in changing your job? (If your feeling sick when you wake up and its down to how you feel about your job, then you need to stop doing that job. Aint no job worth destroying your health over).


If ive read your post right, you need £30,000 (but you don't need it immediately i.e. no ones chasing you for the money, you would be £30k short ONLY IF you were to pay off your mortgage).


My thoughts would centre around changing the job to a less stressful job and work on saving that £30k (even if it takes you 10 years to save. lets not forget your only 37 years old)

gavfish

Thanks for the suggestions so far, I'm 30k short if I choose to formally clear my home mortgage (but could pinch that from the 200k investments if i needed to so not too worried about that).

So no-one thinks its feasible to live off 20k wage + 17k BTL income if I have no mortgage on my own home?

pathtofreedom

Anything is possible it just depends on your expenses. https://www.moneymustache.com goes to the extreme to do this but it is all about can you live on just your mrs income, to keep building your btl business if that is the route you want to go down.

How are your pension savings? How many years ni do you have as you'll need 35+ each to get the full state pension - assuming they still have it by then.

Are you planning on any more kids, as I think that would impact your costs over the next 20 years.

I'm 37 and also in a job I hate. I am looking at moving and downsizing a bit now as my house is too big. I'm focusing on pension and savings etc so I can retire early. Once I have moved then I can look again at where I'm working as I'll have a mortgage sorted out then.

optimistic-mummy

hi I have no real advice, but wanted to congratulate you on what you have achieved so far.
Id like to add no job is worth your health as previous posters have already mentioned. your still young. is a career change an option if you didn't feel 'safe' relying on your BTL income or as another poster suggested if finances allowed investing in more BTL properties which would in turn increase income


I wish you the best of luck in whatever you decide is best for you and your family

Luckyinlife

Great work on what youv managed in life so far

If your unhappy to the point it stresses you out and you lose family time just do something else easier said than done i know

Just remember family and health should be most important thing in life

chazsucks

gavfish wrote: »

Thanks for the suggestions so far, I'm 30k short if I choose to formally clear my home mortgage (but could pinch that from the 200k investments if i needed to so not too worried about that).

So no-one thinks its feasible to live off 20k wage + 17k BTL income if I have no mortgage on my own home?

Oh I think it's more than possible (it's more than we've ever earned as a family of 4). But it depends on what is possible for you.

For example would that amount be enough for you to live on comfortably if your tenants did a runner, or you couldnt find someone to rent to for a while, or one of the places was trashed and needed work doing etc.

Watty1

gavfish wrote: »

Thanks for the suggestions so far, I'm 30k short if I choose to formally clear my home mortgage (but could pinch that from the 200k investments if i needed to so not too worried about that).

So no-one thinks its feasible to live off 20k wage + 17k BTL income if I have no mortgage on my own home?

yes it is possible - but - is it possible for you? One of the things I did was sit down and work out exactly how much we needed to live on in a year. Along with all income. and play with different pictures - so what happens if x happens and so on. that gave me the answer.
Are the BTL properties on repayment or interest only ? That might be key when it comes to thinking of future plans? Like if the mrs decides to give up work also.

hildosaver

First things first - get another job.

Work out exactly how much you and your family need to pay the bills and live on (if you had no rental income coming in) and work from there.

I would consider selling off one or two of your BTL properties (if you will make a reasonable profit from your initial investment on them) and paying down most of the debt on your other BTL's or your own home.

I think it would be sensible to look into reducing the risk that you and your family are exposed to - solidify your base and then you can build from there.

Once you feel more secure in your basic finances then you can think about expanding the BTL again if that is what you want to do.

Stress is a killer and if I was you the stress from your job would only be made worse by any chance of void's in BTL's causing severe problems - get rid of that concern and change your job will significantly reduce worry and stress and also give you more security.

I'm no expert though obviously and I can only state what I would do in your situation.

gavted

£37K is a workable family income. But it may mean making decisions on holidays/day out etc.. that you haven't had to worry about before.

If you want to know if YOU can do it, try doing it now. The wife and I are currently trying to live off my salary only as she has been told her office is closing. We only got the news in mid Jan, so Feb is the first month, but its looking good. And we now see where we have been frittering money away, which is now being saved! :j

And of course, while you are doing this, you can still look at other jobs.

As you have BTLs, you probably have everything on a spreadsheet, so just check the numbers and see what pops out the end.

Good luck with your journey.