go mortgage free?

Oldfaithful_2

Good afternoon

Can anyone help? I am lucky enough to have come into some cash that will enable me to pay off my mortgage in full. I currently pay interest at 1.84% on a one bed flat and my current mortgage product runs out in August. The plan is to live mortgage free for 12 months or so then look to to move to a bigger place with a nice down payment, whatever I have saved in the meantime and take out a new mortgage. I have considered other investments but seem to always arrive back at paying the mortgage as the most financially beneficial without getting into complex risky investments which don’t appeal.

My questions are;

Is paying off the mortgage the best thing to do financially without getting into complex investments with risky returns?

Will I have a problem when I eventually come around to taking out another mortgage on a new place in a year or so without having an existing mortgageIE do lenders prefer borrowers to have an existing product in place rather lending to an unknown entity?

Any advice would be much appreciated

Regards
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