A little bit of good news

[scooterscot]

41

Wow - now you can work to live, not live to work.

[DodgyAgent]

Feels a bit strange to say this given the tulip going on in other posters' lives, but seeing as there's lots of crap news this morning I thought I'd share a little bit of good cheer; Lady Tester and I emptied our savings accounts and warchest and made our final extra mortgage payment at the weekend and so Tester Towers is now 100% property of the Tester Dynasty with no commitments to the bankers. Just have to hope I don't get benched before the warchest recovers, but it's nice feeling knowing that the roof over my head is paid for.

PS All well meaning financial advice from CUK resident BTL/stockmarket/pension experts will be ignored.

Well done but you are a long way off from being "Agent free"

[Mich the Tester]

Wow - now you can work to buy Lady Tester dresses, shoes and handbags , not live to work.

ftfy

It's not that difficult; when buying a house, decide how much you want to pay and how long you want to take to pay it off and don't borrow any more than that, whatever the bank say about your house being an 'investment'. They'll try to sell you a mortgage of 4 or 5 times your income; go for 2 to 3 times your income and pay it off with an old fashioned repayment mortgage, not some crazy endowment nonsense. Don't be tempted into buying a huge castle if all you need is a straightforward semi. Don't bother with credit cards, save instead. Never buy a new car; the depreciation costs so much you could get something fabulous for the price of a new Focus. Live well but don't be overly decadent. Keep working, pay off some extra when you can and when you have a little windfall, use it to pay off some more. Not having children makes it easier, but that's your own personal choice and shouldn't really be to do with money.

[DS23]

congrats to the testers. it's a great day when you get there.

oh what a feeling
when there's no mortgage on the ceiling!

in fact, it's such a good feeling we're about to start over again. exchanging imminently and completing early next year. he who dares rodders!

[scooterscot]

ftfy

It's not that difficult; when buying a house, decide how much you want to pay and how long you want to take to pay it off and don't borrow any more than that, whatever the bank say about your house being an 'investment'. They'll try to sell you a mortgage of 4 or 5 times your income; go for 2 to 3 times your income and pay it off with an old fashioned repayment mortgage, not some crazy endowment nonsense. Don't be tempted into buying a huge castle if all you need is a straightforward semi. Don't bother with credit cards, save instead. Never buy a new car; the depreciation costs so much you could get something fabulous for the price of a new Focus. Live well but don't be overly decadent. Keep working, pay off some extra when you can and when you have a little windfall, use it to pay off some more. Not having children makes it easier, but that's your own personal choice and shouldn't really be to do with money.

It's true. Despite impressions otherwise on here I'm not that much of a spender, don't have debts apart from mortgage. So paying that off is a form of saving I guess, almost managed a 80k of the mortgage in the last 18-20 months, but goodness it takes the shine off earning a good amount whilst knowing you're probably in the prime earning age. At the same time I don't like living for a future date. Some of the more wealthiest I know are tight buggers!

[DirtyDog]

Some of the more wealthiest I know are tight buggers!

That's generally how they get to be rich - don't spend money you don't have to. Look for a bargain. Shop smart.

When I started contracting, the target was to be mortgage free in 6 years. It's taken 7, but with one year where I hardly worked, so on target (in the IT sense of the word).

The challenge is to do it all again without being daft - just need the three houses in the road to sell first before we can consider selling this one.

[vetran]

Perzactly.

+1

late 30s . Another decade to go on this one.

oh Read my last post, sounded smug, sorry!

well done Mr & Mrs T!

[Kanye]

I paid mine off at 31 after living quite frugally for my first 2 years as a contractor.

Only a small flat in Essex but should be able to buy a nice 4 bed outright by say 35.

It's tough living in a small tulip hole when you are billing £150k a year, but hoping it will be worth it in the end.

Most contractors should be able to do this if you put your mind to it and have a second income from the Mrs.

[NickFitz]

[Platypus]

It's not that difficult; when buying a house, decide how much you want to pay and how long you want to take to pay it off and don't borrow any more than that, whatever the bank say about your house being an 'investment'. They'll try to sell you a mortgage of 4 or 5 times your income; go for 2 to 3 times your income and pay it off with an old fashioned repayment mortgage, not some crazy endowment nonsense. Don't be tempted into buying a huge castle if all you need is a straightforward semi. Don't bother with credit cards, save instead. Never buy a new car; the depreciation costs so much you could get something fabulous for the price of a new Focus. Live well but don't be overly decadent. Keep working, pay off some extra when you can and when you have a little windfall, use it to pay off some more. Not having children makes it easier, but that's your own personal choice and shouldn't really be to do with money.

Sage advice, but too late for me.... I have no mortgage because I have no house, nor any prospect of getting one before I snuff it