Mortgage free by 2021?!

hiddenshadow

Indeed. At the end of the day, whatever works best psychologically is probably the best route, as having good intentions to do the "best" option math/money-wise is all well and good but a bit useless if you're not motivated to actually follow through.

Tweaking the spreadsheet was surprisingly easy , another win.

shangaijimmy

Mentally I'm forgoing savings whilst we attack the mortgage. My plan is to ramp up retirement funds once mortgage is gone (hopefully by the age of 45-46). The psychological impact of OP's far out weighs small savings at the minute for me.

gallygirl

shangaijimmy wrote: »

Mentally I'm forgoing savings whilst we attack the mortgage. My plan is to ramp up retirement funds once mortgage is gone (hopefully by the age of 45-46). The psychological impact of OP's far out weighs small savings at the minute for me.

SJ you do know that in the long term you'd be better hitting retirement savings now and sorting out the mortgage later?

hiddenshadow

We'll probably revert to that as our 5% deals end (think both our N@tionwide accounts lose their interest at the end of this year).

£48.62 from TCB added to offset pot, bringing mortgage (neutral) balance to £143,074.18. Might actually make the 142s this month after all!

hiddenshadow

gallygirl wrote: »

SJ you do know that in the long term you'd be better hitting retirement savings now and sorting out the mortgage later?

Indeed, we're doing all 3 fronts really...~30% of our income is going to pensions first, then we're sending 1/2 our take-home pay to the mortgage (combined regular payment/OP), and then any extra savings/OP on top. My pension fund is up 70% from February last year (including the stock market being crap for most of that time).

Ideally, being MF in our early 40s will give us a lot of security (depending on how much of that equity we spend moving to Wales). We don't want to bank on that alone, though, as we might be forced to move sooner (or later) than we'd like, or house prices could tank, etc. So we're doing the pensions at the same time.

I do (very much) appreciate that we're both pretty high earners who have the flexibility to do both at the same time.

hiddenshadow

£4.05 from Sh0pitize into the offset pot.

Almost at payout for p@nelbase too. Should be able to get away with low spends on food this next week as we're visiting in-laws tomorrow through Monday.

shangaijimmy

GG I do know that but there is some method to madness... We currently spend 35% on mortgage reduction, 35% on monthly spending/living and the other 30% goes on savings (long term and shorter holiday type savings). Mrs SJ has a very good company pension and I currently put 10% of my salary into my pensions so we are doing something on this front.

Our method/madness is that my job works around fairly substantial cycles of which the current one is due to end in 2021, and no jobs beyond that are guaranteed until renegotiations are held. So in theory my income is in threat in 5yrs time. Now that we have 3 kids (all happened after previous contract negotiations) I view our sizeable mortgage as our biggest threat, so my idea is that by the end of this period I need to be in a position that we have a significant drop in income. I want us to be in a position that we have approx a £50k mortgage at that point but still with 15yrs on the term.

BookWorm

Just stopping by to wish you a lovely weekend Did you get to see the osteo yet?

BW x

hiddenshadow

Thanks BW! Not yet, work was a bit crazy last week. Might be able to squeeze it in this week or next.

hiddenshadow

£5 from sh0pitize over the weekend. Just barely breaks the 62% mark on the 2016 MFW challenge.

Had a nice weekend visiting in-laws. DH managed the drive quite well, though I don't think he'll ever truly enjoy driving (neither do I, so fair enough).

Exchanged very late xmas gifts with everyone. DH got a geeky t-shirt and an am@zon gc from BIL/SIL, while I got...a giant fruit bowl? It's pretty, but we don't have fruit in the house, nor do we have a dining table setup (and most likely won't eat on it much as a rule anyway). I don't mind what they give me, just found it interesting that they considered DH's interests and just made assumptions about mine.

Gifts from MIL were much better...all small and practical. Socks, slippers, cutting boards, etc. Still think she bought us too much, but at least we'll put them all to use.

Surprised to manage the drive there and back on less than a tank of fuel. DH mentioned taking the dogs to the coast in the next week or 2 so maybe we'll be out quite often.