The Case of the Overwhelming Mortgage

edinburgher

I know it's going back a week or so, but I would also consider a version of using the university investments that we have for our girls (well, sort of). By the time DD1 is ready for further education or her own home, she should have ££,£££ held in an ISA in my name. If we can afford to, I may well keep the money invested and we'll just give her £££/mth from earnings until the nominal pot is exhausted. All hypothetical, of course, and we'll see what the future brings.

Well done on the stakeholder pension gains, I love checking in on my SIPP periodically and seeing how it's doing with minimal intervention 😊

AgathaSquirrel

I started an investment Isa but didn’t get on very well with it. I really want something I can put money in and not have to make any decisions about. I liked the child trust fund. It’s grown on its own without any help from me.

AgathaSquirrel

Pay day. Money shuffled around. Almost have the money for the UK holiday with my mum in May and money is now saved for family June holiday.

Health related item for youngest will be paid off this month.

Another small mortgage overpayment. Will go into £38000s next week when standard payment comes out.

AgathaSquirrel

Just remembered I’ve lent the youngest £200 to go into Nationwide savings account so she is eligible if Nationwide do their annual payment this year. This means I have the holiday money for May and the additional money coming in from my adhoc job will be spending money. Happy days.

AgathaSquirrel

Did a shift in my adhoc job yesterday. Bit more for the holiday fund. One more week of work then off for a week (need to work on the Wednesday but nothing too arduous). Desperately needing a break. Was last off at Christmas. Mainly meeting friends for coffee. Trying to keep some pottering around the house days as well. Hoping for some good weather today (looks good at the moment) and will do some work in the garden. Need to fit in a food shop as well. Tempted to go early and get the supermarket out of the way.

AgathaSquirrel

Next week’s mortgage payment will see us back at £37000. This was our mortgage figure on our old house before we moved. It’s a good psychological barrier to have reached. We remortgage in September. Not looking promising for our remortgage. Think it will be higher than I was hoping for. All being well we will hopefully be able to go for the 6 year term but over pay in 3.

Mr A is managing work. Anti depressants have been increased and weekly therapy commenced. He’s doing better. Job situation still isn’t ideal but he’s not in the right head space to do anything about it yet. This will be a factor we need to reconsider when remortgaging.

Deposit paid on eldest’s accommodation for September. Last day of school this week. Very proud of her and looking forward to seeing how things progress in her next chapter.

Youngest has been studying hard and we’re starting to see results. Started to make sense of the type of learner she is and have been able to put things in place to support her.

AgathaSquirrel

Had a couple of conversations this weekend about student finances. One couple we know are paying for their daughter’s accommodation and she’s using her savings to live off. She won’t get a student loan. It’s got me in a bit of a head spin wondering if we are doing the right thing. Our eldest will have some money coming to her when she’s 18 and could use this instead of a loan… but I’ve always felt LISA and ISA were the better option. Start saving for house deposit now. Some money earning interest for a car in the future. I’d love to see her debt free but the reality is I’m not debt free. I’d love to say we’ll pay for her accommodation but we’ve budgeted £4000 a year and this won’t cover accommodation. My sensible head says she’s lucky we’ve saved and can help. My emotional head wants to find a way to avoid all debts.

beanielou

My DS & I saw things differently. When he repays his student loan we both see it as a graduate tax. That is Martin Lewis’s take on it too or it certainly was when DS was at university. He makes one payment a month for his loan. This includes his undergraduate loan, Master’s & post grad qualification.

AgathaSquirrel

That has always been my view as well. She’s the Scottish plan 4 loan. So regardless, by the time she’s slightly older than I am now, it’ll be gone.

We’ve saved the parental contribution of £3000 per year and will be giving an additional £100 per month as we are aware student loans have not kept up with the cost of living… just having a wobble I think. Also aware those whose parents can afford to pay for the accommodation and get the loan will have more to live off… but that’s just life isn’t it. We all cut our cloth. We’ve done our sums and think she’ll be OK but it’s hard to know. We’ll just need to give it a go and readjust if she’s struggling.

If we stick to our plan she will have the start of a mortgage deposit once she graduates. Hopefully the long game is the way to go.

glass_half_full

For what its worth @AgathaSquirrel I think you are making the right decision re the maintenance loan. Our DS went to uni in 2017, wow nearly 10 years ago. Back then the annual living cost outside London was £9000 (I notice estimates now from £11k to £18K). His maintenance loan was around £4000, we paid him £1800 and his grandparents gave him £3000. I think this is one of the best kept secrets by the government(s) ie the ever widening gap between how much students need to live and their maintenance loans. They have no choice but to work or receive support from parents.