Saving vs effort

pennystretcher

OK so a friend of mine has been telling me for months that I should start a blog on saving. So here we go.

My second mortgage started with £29k in 2013. After that I have been paying anything I can afford towards mortgage (and cut down on savings that I hold), no matter how small the amount was. So my current amount outstanding is £2725. I could let it run for the next couple of years with my monthly payments of £100, but why should I? For my fellow posters, if you have something that is GUARANTEED over return for more than 2.36% a year, let me know. For everyone else, what will you do with money after your mortgage has been paid for?

pennystretcher

looking back at my mortgage payments, some of them are less than £1. I guess every little counts?

trailingspouse

I think it's foolhardy to overpay the mortgage at the expense of savings, unless you already have sufficient savings to cope with whatever life might throw at you. Once you've put it towards your mortgage you can't get it back, no matter how much you might need it.

We're only now (in our 50s) overpaying our mortgage - in the past, spare money went on doing up the house, or paying for kid-related things (anything from a slide for the back garden to a photographer for their wedding, depending on their age...). Now that they're all independent, and the house is sorted, we are putting our spare money into the mortgage - but we still have £15,000 in easy-to-reach savings, just in case. And I wouldn't do it if it meant scrimping and saving in our day-to-day living.

AnotherJoe

pennystretcher wrote: »

OK so a friend of mine has been telling me for months that I should start a blog on saving. So here we go.

My second mortgage started with £29k in 2013. After that I have been paying anything I can afford towards mortgage (and cut down on savings that I hold), no matter how small the amount was. So my current amount outstanding is £2725. I could let it run for the next couple of years with my monthly payments of £100, but why should I? For my fellow posters, if you have something that is GUARANTEED over return for more than 2.36% a year, let me know. For everyone else, what will you do with money after your mortgage has been paid for?

Very little in life is "guaranteed" but if that's your sole criteria for investment returns I can guarantee you you'll get extremely poor returns long term.

Do you have a pension?
An emergency fund?
Any investments?

Eco_Miser

pennystretcher wrote: »

For my fellow posters, if you have something that is GUARANTEED over return for more than 2.36% a year, let me know.

Nationwide FlexDirect Current Account 5% for a year on £2500.
Tesco current account 3% guaranteed for two years (but so popular it's not currently available).
Several others that are not guaranteed, but are instant access so you can make hay while the sun shines, then dump it in the mortgage when the rates drop.