mortgage-free by magic?

mountainlioness

We've got term insurance... tbh I'm not worried about "losing" our OP if something happens to DH. OK we would get less out of the insurance company than we would have done, but is that really important? You pay a lesser monthly premium (ours is £12.02 through Cavendish) and am sure in that event you'd have more than enought to deal with mentally and emotionally without worrying about whether your strategy was worth it. Mortgage being paid off would be enough for me... Certainly that wouldn't be a good enough reason to my mind for not OPing at all. Also, if you do OP you have some flexibility, usually able to reduce term or payments - OK normally you'd reduce term but in times of reduced income, say maternity leave, being able to reduce payments might come in handy. If you take the route of "what if?" and don't OP at all, you lose a bit of flexibility short-term as well as incurring more interest long-term.

Dithering_Dad

You can always renegotiate your insurance every 5 years or so. With a much lower mortgage your premiums will be much lower.

Once our MFi3 challenge is completed, I'll be looking to re-insure. Just before I start the MFi2 challenge

mountainlioness

Good plan DD!

Rebob

When you were talking of there being no difference of being a MFW or a DFW, there is. Unless you have a high loan to value mortgage, a mortgage is a debt that you can, if you want to, get out of more easily by selling the house. This is what my mum told me years ago when a friend said our mortgage was the same as her having numerous loans.

We were hoping to sell our house and downsize to pay off a lump of our mortgage, but nothing is selling round here, as my health is getting worse so dh is now unable to work the same hours as he did. Our neighbours think we are loaded as we have changed cars and dh has recently returned to work after 8 months on SSP. It is not luck or someone paying your way it is blooming hard work!

Everyone gets their own money and there is nothing wrong with saving/overpaying mortgage instead of spending everypenny and more.

Mozette

I can't believe the attitude of some people. Good on all of you paying off your mortgages more quickly. I was once mortgage free, and it was brilliant! I'm not now, but if I'm ever in a position to be so again then I will like a shot.

Why does it matter to other people what you do with your own money? If you choose to spend it, so what; if you choose to shorten your mortgage term, so what.
To each their own, I say!

rlc22

As a wannabe MFW (;)) I just wanted to say that I've got a lot of respect for anyone who is overpaying their mortgage and even more for those that are doing the MFi3!

It gives me great faith that you can pay off a mortgage and doesn't have to be a payment that you make every month for 25 years.

I saw the thread on the house board that DD mentioned and I can't believe the negative reaction he got. I would have thought that the people who are concerned about falling house prices would be more supportive of a MFW!!

Anyway - just wanted to say that not everyone has a negative reaction to these things and keep up the good work! And hopefully I'll be joining you soon in the quest to be mortgage free...

zekepes

We are not mortgage free yet but if things go to plan we should be in 3 years. Very few people know we are overpaying our mortgage to such an extent, so this has only really come up with MIL/FIL.

They simply never viewed their mortgage (which is now paid but on the normal 25 year term) as debt. MIL said we were 'lucky' to be able to do it and we are so some extent. MIL has her children young and they had flown the nest by the time she was in her early forties but she still chose not to work. I have worked part-time (and I am lucky that it was a choice for me) since my son was 3 months old (which wasn't easy as I was breasfeeding exclusively but I was lucky that is was only a few hours here and there (I am an A level teacher)). We pay my entire wage extra off the mortgage. They could have done that.

I think it is inevitable that people get a bit defensive about these things. It is much easier to dismiss someone as 'lucky' than question what you have been doing instead. MIL always seems to 'big up' the work she does in the home and seems to think that our house is clean, garden tidy and meals cooked by magic - not that I do all of that plus a job. That irks me tbh but I can also see why she does it. They made a choice and I don't think it was the wrong choice, or think any less of her for it, but you cannot have your cake and eat it!

DH will freely admit that he is 'lucky' to earn a high wage (that allows us to live a comfortable life and overpay our mortgage even if I didn't work). He does work very hard but then so do a lot of people. When I worked full-time as a secondary teacher it was a 55-60 hr wk job (ok, I know that we have great hols!), sometimes very stressful. I don't think my DH works much harder than I did then but he does earn several multiples of my full-time wage simply by 'falling into' a line of work that pays so well.

We are also lucky that we have the basic common sense to live well within our means. We know of several people, who have pushed themselves to the max debt-wise, despite earning a good wage. Flash cars, big house etc. Slightest sign of trouble and it really bites. DH's 'best friend' now doesn't speak to us because when a company that they bothed worked for went under he ended up losing his house and we kept ours, depsite DH being unemployed for 6 months. Why? He remortgaged it every few months (as prices were increasing) to fund a flash lifestyle.

Anyway, to avoid all of this I think it is the best policy simply not to mention being mortgage-free just enjoy it.

Steel_2

People seem to hate it if your ahead and try and drag you back, or lord it over you smugly if they perceive they are ahead.

I've stopped telling people around us the finer details of our finances or talk about money in front of them.

It just brings out the worst in people.