10 Years to Freedom...

MortgageFree2030

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bexster1975

Very best of luck.

£200 for two adults a month is very do-able. I shop at Lidl or Aldi mostly, so if you have either nearby, worth a try if you haven't before.
I meal plan, batch cook and freeze, and make fake-aways for treat evenings/ weekend evenings.

Bexster

kev2009

Hope it all goes well, I've just made a Op to my mortgage and plan to try and do the same next year so i can re-fix at a reasonable rate i hope. Then i plan to OP each of the next 5 years to get the mortgage down and then re-assess whether to keep going to 0 OR then just pay the monthly payment and let it run its course as i'm hoping it will be significantly lower outlay each month which would then in turn allow me to pay extra into my pension as I can't decide what I want to do in retirement yet (got 20+ years to decide) but i don't want to be short or not be able to have heating etc on and some figures I've seem mentioned, from my pension predictions, i'll be short (this includes my work pension & SP) so not a good outcome. Admittedly, the figures online all assume certain things of which I may not do so difficult to judge but would sooner have too much than not enough as i'm sure i could force myself to spent it if too much

Kev

kev2009

Thanks, you will find that most Regular Savers have a limit you can pay into them each month i.e £250. If the 2.75% one is the one i think you are on about, it has a max payment of £125 i think.

What I do, is simply put the money aside each month into a savings account, then at the end of the year or near the end, i assess do i need the money or part of the money etc and then if i deem i think i'll be ok and wont need it, then i make a 1 time OP. At present i keep the term the same and lower my monthly payment but that's mostly due to (a) means my monthly payment is lower to less to find and (b) my fix term is up next year so in case interest rates go up, i'm wanting to keep the term the same in the hopes my monthly payments wont go up massively. Once I've fixed for another 5 years (which is what i'm currently thinking) then i'll switch and OP and reduce term and keep monthly payments the same as i'm hoping by the end of that 5 years (so 6 years from now) my mortgage will be much lower and i'll then assess do i want to let it run its course paying a much lower monthly payment or continue to OP each year and potentially clear it earlier.

The thing with pensions is difficult to predict what you will want to do in retirement and what money you will need. You will find on the forums they advise putting into pension as you get tax paid in on top so hence boosts the pension further. Mine is salary sacrifice so i don't think i get the tax on top as they pay it before i get taxed so essentially I've not paid tax on it but it doesn't' get added to my pension to my knowledge. Some peoples view is when they take the 25% tax free lump sum when taking the pension, they will use that to pay off the mortgage but personally i want mine paid off well before i retire and i'm currently thinking the 25% tax free amount i get would pay for some big home items such as new roof, windows, re-decorating, carpets etc maybe even get a newer car by then. Of course some of those i plan on doing when in last few years of work but i'm certainly thinking windows and roof will probably come out of the 25% tax free as needed plus once the roof is done, that would probably see me out unless there is some damage done to it some how. Car would be nice too but that depends on if i can still drive by then

Kev