Mortgage free & able to live the dream!

SWSEGirl

Another lapse in posting - probably because I've felt a bit defeated by everything. Our flat is now on the market, although we have had no interest whatsoever. I had always imagined that money would be the barrier to moving and living our dream, but it appears no one wants to buy our flat, aargh! 
I'm trying to stay positive and think of an alternative plan, we could move and rent, but I don't want to disrupt my son's childcare (he's currently with a childminder) to move into a rental. I want to stay put and continue throwing money at the mortgage and savings, until we can afford to buy a second property, or accept a lower price on our flat.
Ideally (in my mind) we would wait to move when my toddler qualifies for free childcare, and we would plan to send him to nursery anyway - in January 2022. My husband thinks this is too far in the future, although I think the time will go relatively quickly. 
I'm at a bit of a loss for what to do, and feel like all our efforts are a bit pointless at the moment - although I know they're not really, I need to give my head a wobble.
Here's my numbers this month:
Mortgage Balance: £265,080
Mortgage OP: £2,000
Savings £50,000

SWSEGirl

Further to my last slightly downbeat post - I am wondering if this could be a positive for our future. If we could maintain the level of overpayments we are now, we would pay off our mortgage on our flat by 2029 (possibly a bit earlier) - then we could use any rental income to pay a mortgage on a 2nd property - which would be an incredible achievement. I appreciate this will take a serious effort - and things may delay our plans (ie. if we have a 2nd baby!) 
I would love to strive for this, but I find it really difficult trying to get my husband to engage with a plan for our future - he simply wants to move.

enthusiasticsaver

I have just read your diary and thought I would weigh in with our experience.  We moved from London to Cornwall more than thirty years ago now and don't regret it for a moment.  House prices were high in the London area we lived in and we had two small children.  Luckily my husband was able to get a job transfer (he was a medical engineer and that was a massive help. I found work relatively easily when our youngest was 2. I would say our work life balance improved massively in Cornwall.  Our daughters are now adults and one has a good job in the Cornish town we live in as does our son in law and our eldest moved to  Bristol for better work opportunities and has a very good job there. 
Personally I would not be trying to keep 2 properties.  I would focus on either staying put and overpaying the mortgage when you can or accepting lower wages and move away either to Cornwall or wherever. I have never been a fan of BTL and think it is far less problematic to invest in a diversified fund which you do not have to oversee maintenance of or vet or deal with dodgy tenants whilst keeping all your eggs in a property basket which could be going into turmoil any time now.  Also, life is for living as well as preparing for the future.  You have been very disciplined at OPs and saving but 9 years is a long time in the life of a child. 2022 is more bearable and I think you will struggle with no garden with a young toddler. Would your husband be able to keep his current job and work from home if you moved further away or would you both have to look for new jobs? I think finding work has to be the priority before the house really. 

SWSEGirl

Thank you enthusiasticsaver - you talk a lot of sense, and I do feel that I don't really want a BTL - but I do worry we won't be able to sell. I think we may just have to settle that we may make a loss, however galling that may be.
Happily my husband's work can be entirely remote, and I am looking to do 2 days per week in London (the pandemic has lead to a drive towards home working) - so we are fortunate in that respect. 
Thank you so much for your thoughts - it has really has confirmed what I was thinking myself.

SWSEGirl

My salary finally hit my account today - and this month I'm going back to using Monzo - it worked well for me in the past. I've divided my money for the month into my various pots, and I feel I can be much more intentional with my spending this way.
I also reduced my phone bill by £12 per month, I had add ons that I didn't even realise were there - which is annoying. We also need to think of somewhere better to put our savings, as it is making absolutely nothing at the moment - so that's the next job.
Onwards and upwards! 

SWSEGirl

Well, after a bit of wallowing - I'm trying to take positive action. 
I've contacted our building management company to try and reduce our service charge - it's really high at £1800 a year, so I've disputed the costs and hope to save a few hundred pounds a year.
I'm also investigating options for investments, I want to ensure our money starts working for us - we've been too complacent the past couple of years. If we're staying put for the foreseeable, I want to ensure we make the most of our saving opportunities & use this time to invest in our future. 

SWSEGirl

So it seems less and less likely we will be selling our flat any time soon. Looking at the positives - we will probably never have such a capacity to save again - our outgoings versus our income is really good at the moment, so I want to use this time to make our future more secure. 
I've been thinking about the future and the types of houses we are hoping to buy to become our forever home. They are all upwards of £600k in the areas we are looking - technically we could afford this, but I would like to be able to invest as much as we can in our next place, to give us security for the future.
In the meantime - I want to ensure our flat is as comfortable as possible, we've redecorated with the intention of selling, but that means it does feel like a nice place to be, I need to get the roof looked at - so currently in discussion with our management company to arrange this.
And finally - I'm going to speak to an electrician about sorting out some of our lighting - and make our current place as homely as it can be.
In terms of savings - I'm aiming to carry on paying £2k a month off the mortgage and put £1k in savings. I only work 4 days per week at the moment, so thinking of going full time from next Spring, which would give us an extra £540 per month (after an additional day of childcare) - I was thinking of dividing this between my pension (which is seriously suffering some neglect) and a maternity leave account, as we hope to have another baby in the next 2 years or so.
 

SWSEGirl

I've had a quiet day, so I've managed to trace an old pension pot (which I should get access to tomorrow), access my new pension pot & formulate some sort of a plan for retirement saving!
I am planning to open a LISA and pay in the maximum per year for the next 15 years (I'll be 35 soon) - this will give me £75k when I turn 60 (at least I hope it will if I've read the information right!) 
I am now aiming to be totally mortgage free by 55 (even if we aim to increase our borrowing considerably next year) - and then I hope to use my remaining working years (hopefully a decade or so) to really bolster my pension & retirement savings. I hope this sounds like a plan, and allows some room for living in between.  

L9XSS

I would focus on paying the mortgage off on the flat. Your combined incomes are very good and you are wisely, saving, paying off mortgage and using pension tax breaks. My view, sit tight for a bit longer, don’t overwhelm your self with too much. Your in a great position!

SWSEGirl

Thank you L9XSS! I am really trying to see the positives of not being able to sell, and I know we are very lucky. It's sometimes difficult with a toddler in a garden-less flat - but if I see this time as helping to build towards the future it certainly helps. 
I am trying to brush up on pensions - I have very little idea of what I'll need in terms of annual income - at the moment if I start paying 5% in I should have enough (if I include my state pension) for £23,000 per year when I retire - although I appreciate this isn't a given! That would be alongside any lump sums which should add up to around £160,000 - if I manage to stick to my LISA goals. I would hope to be mortgage free by retirement too, so I hope this would be enough to live comfortably.