Katkatmachine’s Adventures to Mortgage Freedom and Life Updates

katkatmachine

What's your interest rate on your current mortgage? Is it fixed, term length?
5.03% fixed until April 2026.

I assume your savings are tucked away in an ISA?
Yes, in ISAs. 

Are you both contributing into a workplace pension?
Yes, 7% for me plus 3% from the company. I also put GBP 100 per month to my LISA account.
My partner puts 9% and 3% from her company.

We’ve thought about what @beanielou commented above, and yes the house prices are indeed increasing which will affect our HTB loan. So we’ve agreed that we will pay off the loan end of this year instead of next year. We will not go on a holiday anymore to Strasbourg. Although we will be missing out on a holiday, we will be looking forward instead to finally paying off our HTB loan. I think that is a good compromise.

Money_Monkey

Thanks, I just wanted to get a clearer picture of your finances to offer any suggestions. It sounds like your pretty clued up finances wise. Do your usual review again in 6 months at time (before you clear the HTB) and see where you are or if you need to adjust your plans.

I understand the goal of clearing your mortgage, but it's finding that right balance between work and personal life. 

Life is short, the HTB loan will get paid off. Just my opinion, take the holiday.

katkatmachine

Spoke to our finance team today and asked them to increase my workplace pension contribution from 7% to 10%. In terms of value it's not that's big of an increase since my salary is not that big but hey every little thing counts!

I'm also checking my partner's and see if we could bring it up to 15% from 9%.

Money_Monkey

I agree with that 100%, good on you both.

The earlier you start the better. The combined power of government top up (tax relief), compounding and, long term stock market returns is hard to beat. I have been paying into my kids pensions for a number of years and maybe one day in the future they will appreciate it.

katkatmachine

2024 End Year Review

Original mortgage: £276,250 

Mortgage left: £241,00

Remaining full term: 19 years

HTB: 10%

Savings: £50,000

Credit card debt: 0.00

Last July, we went back to our home country for a month-long holiday, it’s been five years since our last visit! We spent quite a lot, but honestly, the long break was so worth it. 😊

Whilst we were there, my family and I also took a week-long trip to Japan. As an otaku and a huge anime fan, visiting Nippon was a dream come true and it was absolutely amazing! I loved it so much that I’ve decided to take a sabbatical with my partner when I turn 40 (in five years) to backpack around Japan for 2-3 months. One week there is not enough! I want to visit the whole country even the remote areas!

To make that happen, I’ve set a big financial goal: save at least £100K in savings and investments within the next five years! To achieve this, we’ll be putting aside £1.7K every month.

We've also finally cleared all our debts except for the mortgage. We paid off our car finance, so now me and our Hyundai i10 will be together forever (or at least until it decides to give up on us 😂). No more credit card balances or transfers either. With those extra funds, we’ve started making £500 overpayments on our mortgage each month. This will reduce our remaining term from 19 years to just 13!

About our HTB loan, we plan pay it off using our savings by June next year.

It’s still a long journey, but we’re getting there, one step at a time. 💪                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Love,
Kat