Moving on with things

Smudgeismydog

I’m also in the repayment camp. It can provide a huge amount of peace of mind knowing you own your home outright, and as Sarahwithlove points out, your BTL might take time to sell.

I can also understand your wife’s view on increasing income now while your outgoing are higher, so it means you can live a bit. My daughter has just aced her A Levels and will be off to Uni in September. It goes so quickly. These are the times your boy will remember, so creating memories together is hugely important.

mark55man

You've got the smarts and the resources to do it either way @alt80 - my only thing is that I played silly games when I was younger and I still have a year on a mortgage for a house I've lived in for 28 years.  I so wishI'd kept the period shorter, you don't actually save a lot by prolonging - my vote would be repayment and keep to 20 years - or if you really prefer some safety margin go 25 but try and aim to make some repayments or build a mortgage neutral fund

alt80

Thanks all. I’ve just ran my numbers through my spreadsheet and through the mortgage calculator on here on the assumption of the rate staying at the 4.19% / 4.49% for interest only. I can't say I'll trust ChatGPT again haha. 
I would like to think this is realistic- we all know the c1.5% days are over but I think an assumption of remaining at the low 4% mark is reasonable. 

Anyhow, here we go:

20 years Repayment: £3,480 (full repayment £835k)
25 years Repayment: £3,040 (full repayment £912.5k)
25 years interest only - this is at a higher rate of 4.49%: £2,110 (full repayment £1.2M), doesn't feel like much of a deal tonight haha
All assume no overpayments etc. even for the interest only option which means this is something of an arbitrary exercise. 

@Sarahwithlove
Yeah, I definitely wouldn't have made most of my life choices with hindsight ha.

I'd like to think if I took the interest only option that I'd clear down the principal well before the bank came knocking. Equally I am aware enough to know there is most likely an element of wishful thinking. 

@Smudgeismydog
Can’t really imagine not having a mortgage but I think it would do wonders for my peace of mind; I can definitely see that if I can pay off this home mortgage and have no personal guarantees it would be nice. Realistically I'll be 65-70 before I found out. 

I’m less bothered about time to sell, more bothered about getting the money out - held in Ltd. Tbf I’d prefer to have the income in perpetuity and not have to sell any of my properties so that would very much be a last resort. 

Congratulations to your daughter. I know time flies and I want to spend as much time with my boy as possible making memories for him and for my wife and I. I need to come to terms with the fact that I can’t give them everything that I’d like to- it’s a catch 22 situation between seeing more cash in our pockets now and them having more for the future.

@mark55man

I certainly wish I hadn't played silly games either. The amount of money I've wasted over the years had I been more sensible about, I'd be in a really excellent position now but I can't keep going over the past. 

I'd like to opt for the 20 year repayment, it just seems a lot and will basically force me to draw more with the knock on being less contributions to my wife and son's future. We can't give up on our time (and time away) as a family over the coming years to concentrate on paying down the mortgage at a more aggressive rate. These next years are going to be expensive to put our son through school, I had to laugh at the day they were given a list of a load of trips for the coming year including a £2.5k ski trip which is optional but my son wants to go so we're looking at £4k in trips alone this coming year plus our family holidays. Everything is extra, !!!!!! uniform takes a whole wardrobe. No idea how the hell anyone affords more than one kid.

I dread to think how hard things would have been had we not got serious about sorting our personal spending out. 

alt80

Summer seems to have flown by and by the end of this week my boy will have started his senior education. We’ve had a great time over the past 8 weeks, managed to get away for a few long weekends after our holiday, lots of good weather, wife and son have had some days out on the bike.

Decided to go with the 20 year repayment. It's a two year fix, so there's room to change our mind later but rn it feels right. We're still better off on a day to day basis than when we were paying the card balances off which will allow us to finally tackle getting a personal emergency fund together rather than the current arrangement of having to rely on shifting money about, credit cards or director's loans when anything unexpected crops up. I'm done with that. 

Picked up the C63, it’s an absolute weapon. 100% I’d lose my license if I still drove regularly ha. 

My wife and I watched a documentary about the diamond trade the other night. We’ve both been trying to move on from placing far too much value in things. Since my wife has been in counselling she has completely quit social media, she's started watching a lot of these documentaries critiquing the culture of consumption and deleted what was quite an extensive list of wants. We still like nice things but it's not the be all and end all.

Always see September as the last push before Christmas even though Q4 starts October. 

ryanm8655

alt80 said:

Summer seems to have flown by and by the end of this week my boy will have started his senior education. We’ve had a great time over the past 8 weeks, managed to get away for a few long weekends after our holiday, lots of good weather, wife and son have had some days out on the bike.

Decided to go with the 20 year repayment. It's a two year fix, so there's room to change our mind later but rn it feels right. We're still better off on a day to day basis than when we were paying the card balances off which will allow us to finally tackle getting a personal emergency fund together rather than the current arrangement of having to rely on shifting money about, credit cards or director's loans when anything unexpected crops up. I'm done with that. 

Picked up the C63, it’s an absolute weapon. 100% I’d lose my license if I still drove regularly ha. 

My wife and I watched a documentary about the diamond trade the other night. We’ve both been trying to move on from placing far too much value in things. Since my wife has been in counselling she has completely quit social media, she's started watching a lot of these documentaries critiquing the culture of consumption and deleted what was quite an extensive list of wants. We still like nice things but it's not the be all and end all.

Always see September as the last push before Christmas even though Q4 starts October. 

Checking in again.

Sounds like you’ve had a fantastic summer.

All sound like sensible and rational decisions.

Not been keeping up with all updates but is it the older V8? If so that is one of my realistic dream
cars (I.e. actually affordable in my lifetime ha. I’ll never forget flying round a roundabout in my Cooper S and exiting to join a motorway and then having a C63 fly past me like I was stationary and roaring like a banshee, it even vibrated my chest as it went past ha. 

Sounds like your wife has come a longway too. Social media is so toxic but being out of London I have become less materialistic and depressed about what I’m earning/have vs people around me. Learning to get satisfaction from the little things in life again, like playing sport etc. And popping into London every now and then to socialise with mates and not taking that time for granted.

Must be a strange situation with your son going to secondary school, wild how quickly time passes. I’m at my uncles still currently (house purchase collapsed and now buying another) and cannot wait for my cousin to go back to school. He’s got to the age where he’s a royal pain in the !!!!!! with no consideration for anyone else. In fact, I’ve just been woken up by him shouting at the top of his voice playing ps5 in the living room at 1am (hence being awake). 

alt80

@ryanm8655 good to hear from you mate. Shame to hear about the house purchase falling through but it’s good to hear you’ve found another. We have had a nice summer thanks, one of the best.

Yeah it’s the older V8 - we got one of the last ones, only had 6k on the clock. If you get the opportunity, you won’t be disappointed.

Being overly materialistic / depressed about what you do have and comparing yourself to others (always the ones with more eh?) is a sure road to some real problems in life, I know this all too well. It’s something my wife and I have both had to get professional help for. Keep on the road you’re on, building some real self worth from the little things whilst still being able to enjoy a social life too - you’ve got a good balance there. 

Ha, that’s ridiculous, fortunately not at the stage of our son wanting to stay up yet but time flies. Today has been tough, it was my son’s first day. Not really a new school, it’s just a different part of the same school but still different. He’s had a great time but we’re struggling with him growing up, really worried about his future. 

warby68

@alt80 I haven't been posting much lately (real life getting in the way) but I do want to say how lovely your summer sounds and how 'settled' you and Mrs Alt seem to be in so many areas. Your brain seems to be giving you a proper break at long last. Still not easy I'm sure, but the number of changes you've both made and are happy with is remarkable. 

And of course, last but certainly not least, Alt Jr's transition to the 'big' school today. I remember it well. One of those times when you're torn between wanting to push them on and wanting to hold them back. I'm sure he'll walk it. You're setting him up well to be a confident boy with wide interests and the knowledge he has you both right behind him all the way. But have a cry too, they never go backwards, or even stand still.