Being mortgage free

[Charlottesquare]

Moderator Message:
Split off from this topic to keep that one on-point. - Chris

Fixed Rate Mortgages (very low rates) came to an end on my property portfolio - so I took money out of "Equity / Fund" investments and paid off the mortgages rather than re-mortgage or slide into much higher SVR. In the long run that may end up being a mistake - who knows - but I'm happy with the decision, it was mine

As someone who paid off their mortgage many years ago now, before I started to seriously ramp up my income-investment portfolio, I will always say that the personal well-being benefits of such a move simply cannot be quantified or calculated in terms of 'pure financial returns'...

My recommendation from this point forward would be to simply forget about even the chance of such a move being a 'mistake', and just enjoy the feeling of being free of what is often a considerable amount of debt every morning when you wake up...

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

I agree- being mortgage free is a very pleasant feeling, notwithstanding ours was not significant when we redeemed paying the balance a few years back lifted my spirits and made me far more relaxed, it was like ticking off one more thing on the retirement checklist, pensions in place, tick, state pension years, tick, mortgage cleared, tick.

[daveh]

As someone who paid off their mortgage many years ago now, before I started to seriously ramp up my income-investment portfolio, I will always say that the personal well-being benefits of such a move simply cannot be quantified or calculated in terms of 'pure financial returns'...

My recommendation from this point forward would be to simply forget about even the chance of such a move being a 'mistake', and just enjoy the feeling of being free of what is often a considerable amount of debt every morning when you wake up...

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

I agree- being mortgage free is a very pleasant feeling, notwithstanding ours was not significant when we redeemed paying the balance a few years back lifted my spirits and made me far more relaxed, it was like ticking off one more thing on the retirement checklist, pensions in place, tick, state pension years, tick, mortgage cleared, tick.

And having now paid off your mortgage you will have freed up a regular cash amount that you are no longer paying to your mortgage provider, you can now direct this to your investments and rebuild them. Plus you no longer have to worry about affording the mortgage payment with rates going up markedly.

[Charlottesquare]

I agree- being mortgage free is a very pleasant feeling, notwithstanding ours was not significant when we redeemed paying the balance a few years back lifted my spirits and made me far more relaxed, it was like ticking off one more thing on the retirement checklist, pensions in place, tick, state pension years, tick, mortgage cleared, tick.

And having now paid off your mortgage you will have freed up a regular cash amount that you are no longer paying to your mortgage provider, you can now direct this to your investments and rebuild them. Plus you no longer have to worry about affording the mortgage payment with rates going up markedly.

In theory, and yes, some of the extra cashflow has swept into ISAs, but some has also swept into extra holidays (two this year to date with a possible third in October) and other ways to spend money. Whilst saving is important I have listened often enough to my 93 year old MIL's regrets about not taking enough holidays/trips with her husband who died in his 50s- investments and savings are not everything.

[Grumpsimus]

And having now paid off your mortgage you will have freed up a regular cash amount that you are no longer paying to your mortgage provider, you can now direct this to your investments and rebuild them. Plus you no longer have to worry about affording the mortgage payment with rates going up markedly.

In theory, and yes, some of the extra cashflow has swept into ISAs, but some has also swept into extra holidays (two this year to date with a possible third in October) and other ways to spend money. Whilst saving is important I have listened often enough to my 93 year old MIL's regrets about not taking enough holidays/trips with her husband who died in his 50s- investments and savings are not everything.

Very sensible advice, there really is no point in being the richest person in the graveyard.

This is very neatly encapsulated in the tagline used by my firm of Financial Planners, Paradigm Norton, "Money matters but life matters more"