Paying off mortgage before 55 when single

Dalradian

Lot of changes since last posted.  Moved into my dream home and did some basic work on it.  Managed to overpay my mortgage in the first year which stood my in good stead as I put my notice in at the end of 2019 because I was not enjoying some changes in my role.  I had a number of interviews and then COVID lockdown happened!  So have been using my overpayments to suspend paying my mortgage until I find work. So plans of early retirement suspended for now.  

A_Frayed_Knot

Lovely to hear how you are getting on, and congrats on the dream home.  Thank goodness you had o/p which gave you options.

Ah, Covid - has a lot to answer for, however you had extra payments in the mortgage so to speak.  Hope you manage to find something soon, shame about the early retirement plans but hopefully this time next year should be a different story. 
My work has a 2 year plan for this Covid "thing" as I call it.  Think they have been told "be prepared" and a lot are snapping up Christmas presents just now.   That's what I call being "prepared" !!!

LeighofMar

Congrats on the dream home. Sorry about COVID postponing your plans though. I hope that you will be able to find something and resume your retirement plans as soon as possible. 

Dalradian

Thanks for the comments, I feel very grateful that my approach has saved me a lot of stress. I mean, I won't likely be able to retire when I planned but at least am not needing to immediately stress about my mortgage and have expenses money stashed away.  PS I need a reminder on how to update my footnotes -  I must be missing something obvious!

Dalradian

Back in work now, so hopefully will do well and can start paying down my mortgage again. A few maintenance issues means I have had to spend money on fixing issues such as a small pipe leak, service vists etc which is painful but something I had budgeted for in my contingency spend. 

Dalradian

Back again after some time.  Changed job again into something I am much happier with and using the quarterly bonus to drive down my mortgage and pay into pension.  Target is to get below £100k on the mortgage by the end of the year, from a £150k mortgage when I moved 3 years ago.  Considering I was unemployed for months during lockdown I call that back on track.

I know there is a big discussion on FIRE blogs about paying into investments for the compounding gains versus paying off a low % interest loan.  I understand that, but having overpaid my mortgage meant I could suspend my biggest outgoing with no penalties or credit impact and didn't have to liquidate my savings when they had taken a hit to keep me going.

DTucker1983

Woohooo way to go. You never know which investment will pay off.

powerspowers

Well done for getting on track!! I agree that paying off mortgage seems more tangible and is more of a benefit if your circumstances change. It’s just different approaches to risk and sometimes too much ego in the fire convos! Good luck with the early retirement plans even if they are shuffled back somewhat

Dalradian

Its my mortgage tracker rate increasing every month, I have been more aggressively overpaying mortgage and am getting close to breaking £50k left to pay back.  So have been revisiting my finance and thoughts and have put an offer in on another house in a smaller town and put mine on the market. 

Bit worried with the slowing market, but if I can sell, I should clear enough money to be able to take time off or go part time.  Would be quite a bit less monthly money but not having to work is quite attractive thought.  Will see if my plan works, worst case is I just keep working and pay off the mortgage as fast as I can and stay in this house a bit longer.

Dalradian

So, my timing sucked as the housing market has locked up, but after getting one offer which didn't go through as they couldn't sell their house I have a no chain offer.  Fingers crossed I can move to a smaller plot and pay off my mortgage (now less than £50,000) as well as having the opportunity to go semi retired or retired. Wish me luck!