Has anyone planned on using pension lump sum to be mortgage free?

IAMIAM

Just curious as to people’s thoughts on this? Rather than focus on paying mortgage off now, maximising pension input to then use a much bigger lump sum to become mortgage free when needed/decided? 

AgathaSquirrel

I think it is a valuable thought and a lot of people in hindsight wished they had paid more into their pension as ultimately that will give them a better retirement. It is a personal decision ultimately.

Archie_Duke

@IAMIAM I’m in the position of having recently had my Armed Forces pension lump sum paid. I’ve also been steadily saving into an offset mortgage (in lieu of being able to add much into the pension due to the nature of the AFPS). I have my mortgage debt fully covered in the offset account.
I do intend to pay off my mortgage as soon as I’m out of the fixed rate penalty period, I can’t really see a downside to doing this. But everyone’s situation is different, what works for me certainly will not for everyone.

FtbDreaming

I would if it weren’t so far off. I aim to be mortgage free a long time before pension is accessible but if there was an overlap I’d definitely put more into pension the pay off mortgage with lump sum. 

rugbymadfamily

I can definitely see the benefits in it, but I'm with @FtbDreaming, I want it cleared long before retirement. Even if I don't make any overpayments, it will be gone by 58 so jo overlap for me. But if I were muh closer I would probably focus on pension fund to use it.

stuart746

I’m doing this as both my pension and my wife’s is final salary and career average so we can accurately predict the lump sum amounts at age 60. We are 10 years off and financially see no point paying the  mortgage down with interest rates so low (and fixed for 5 years) and the amount we can invest in the pension due to higher tax rates. If any of these circumstances were different I might look at it differently