Mortgage free by 43

So technically I was 42 (and 10 months) but 43 rhymes so I’ll go with that 😉

I first remember setting myself this goal about 5 or 6 years ago aiming to have my mortgage paid off after about 7 years which felt doable at the time and I’d be 45 then which felt good. I have to say - this was an emotional decision and not a financial one (as many people tried to tell me). Yes, I could have made more money investing rather than paying off my mortgage as interest rates were low at that time, I know enough to know that, but for me the decision to focus on paying it off was all about freedom. Now interest rates have gone up I’m also pretty darn glad from a financial point of view though.

Anytime I think about my values and what matters to me ‘freedom’ is the first thing I think of. This could definitely be a trauma response from the burnout I had (see other posts) or a safety / protection mechanism from childhood experiences but to me it felt important. It was also part of wider life freedom and could greatly influence how I worked and lived my life in general giving me so much more flexibility.

How to be mortgage free:

1. I decided to tell people about it. Declaring this as a goal meant there were people to hold me accountable so some degree, to celebrate my success and made it more real to me. It also gave me tips and inspiration from friends who had already paid their’s off and were reaping the benefits by working more flexibly etc.
   

2. Live below your means. This is pretty basic but not very many people do it. Every time I got a promotion whilst working in consulting colleagues and friends would ask me if I was going to get a bigger flat for example - why would I?! There’s nothing else changed in my life apart from how much money I make (apart from my responsibilities at work and my sales targets). Although I did spend more on things and started to not worry too much about the odd £100 dinner or £50 dress I still kept my spending and big expenses under control and made sure that I could have lived on half or even a third of my salary if I needed.

   
   

a) Mortgage and household bills:

• Mortgage: I was always on the look out for the best deal when renewing and made use of the additional amounts I’d paid off each time to get a better rate. Due to this my mortgage amount didn’t really increase in the 10 years I had the flat and stayed around £900 per month. I also made sure to overpay during the mortgage term as well as at renewal when I had spare cash (my deals allowed 10% overpayment mostly so I stuck to that and then paid off more end of term). The key thing for me though was that I never sized up my flat. I love my one bed flat! Yes I sometimes would value a second bedroom for working but overall it works for me and I don’t really need more space.

• Bills: To be honest I’ve not nearly been as hardcore as some people whose blogs I’ve read on this topic. Over the years I make sure to keep subscriptions to a minimum, it’s way too easy to just add another £10 here and £10 there on music, streaming etc etc so I’ve stayed very conscious of what I subscribe to. On household bills I stay frugal as well, not just for the financial aspect but also from a CO2 point of view and doing my bit for the planet by using less gas and electricity. In winter I try to keep my place around 20 degrees Celsius and use hot water bottles and blankets to keep cosy. Being neurodiverse I also hate big lights so cosy soft lighting is great for me and the bills 😊. I always used to take a mobile phone deal as well with a monthly payment but as I got more disposable cash I’ve found that buying the phone outright works out much better and now I’ve just got a £5 per month charge for data, calls and messaging.

• Food shopping and eating out. This is definitely one of the bigger expenses for most people. Again I think being neurodiverse helps here actually! I like my food but I’m also not fussed at all about eating the same thing over and over, in fact I tend to eat the same thing every day for each meal (porridge, salad/stew and stir fry miso soup) which makes food shopping quite easy as I know exactly what and how much I need for each. Batch cooking like this is also great as saves on waste, cost and time! I’m also a massive fan of the budget food shops and all about the Lidl and Aldi for most of my things as well as supplements online and from other supermarkets and speciality shops. Eating out is quite a big part of my expenses and I do enjoy meals out with friends and with my partner. I would say that I do tend to eat out about once per week, so again not nearly as hardcore as other super-savers. Personally I think you need these treats, especially as a means to bond with friends and family, but if you want to get there quicker then this is definitely one to cut back on.

b) Lifestyle. This is quite a broad category and everyone designs their lives in different ways. I do think that whether you have children or not is a lifestyle choice (this may not be a popular opinion) and I’ve chosen not to go down that path and have designed a very free, unburdened life for myself. Now I know this isn’t for everyone and that’s fine but for me this has allowed me to live a lot cheaper and more flexibly. I also don’t drive or have a car and so have very low mandatory outgoings. I walk as much as I can when I’m in London so that keeps commuting costs down but I know thats a massive privilege. My partner and I do have a shared cat which lives with him so that’s added to expenses over the last year but not a great amount.

c) Intentional spending. I think it’s important to spend some money on what makes us happy and gives us joy whether that’s going to the theatre, gym membership, yoga, sports, drinks with friends etc. I think the key is to pick what the main things you love are and spend a bit on that. For me, I really enjoy theatre and live music so I’ll splash on that from time to time but balanced with cheap or free activities.

d) Free entertainment. Being on the lookout for deals and free things to do is great! Personally I love walking and can happily spend a day going to a new part of town or walking a familiar route again or meeting friends for a simple coffee and a wander or going to one of the museums for the free exhibitions. Depending on where you live there’s usually some good options, especially getting out into nature for some mental health boosting free joy (bring your own matcha latte from home for a nice treat).

3. I’d be kidding myself if I didn’t add privilege (white, middle class, cis, straight(ish), Western European) to this list. I’m very aware of mine and how much it has helped me get here and I feel very lucky. I come from a well-off family so always knew I had a safety net to fall back on if needed even though I’ve been supporting myself since I was 18. I’ve also had good work opportunities and although I’ve worked hard to get to where I have I know that others may not have been given these opportunities based on their background, birth country, ethnicity, gender or sexuality.

4. Circumstances. Firstly, I was only able to put a deposit down for my flat (less than one quarter of the total value) when I did as I inherited money from my mother who died. I guess that coming into that money in your early 30s can be seen as fortunate but I’d rather still have my mum. That said, I would not have been able to buy that flat when I did had it not been for that inheritance as I was not earning that much at the time. That is the only time in my adult life that I’ve received any money from my family. Secondly, Covid happened. It was a hard time for all of us and I was fortunate not to lose anyone in my life to the diseases but what it did help with was saving money. It’s incredible what a year of staying in does to the finances! This was a massive boost to my savings and took a couple of years off the total timeline bringing the repayment time from my original plan of 7 years down to 5.

5. Maximising income. This makes it sound like I was very intention about making as much money as possible which is not how I live my life. Don’t get me wrong, of course I have enjoyed making money but it’s not the main driver for me. What drove me most in my career reflecting back is boredom and worthwhile work. Having ADHD I like change so rarely stay in a job for more than 2 years and I need to find it interesting and be able to learn and grow. I also value doing work that helps the world in some way so working in the energy industry has helped that greatly. Progression has always also come naturally to me (even when I’ve not really wanted it) so once I started working in consulting 8 years ago it was relatively easy to maximise the income and save even more with every pay rise. The key I found, coming back to the point of living below your means, is to increase savings and pensions with each pay rise so that you don’t really notice it.

So these are the things that have helped me reach my goal in about 5-6 years by the age of 43.

The numbers:

I took out the mortgage of £280K in September 2014 (deposit of £70K making up the total value of £350K) and paid it off in full in December 2023. During that time I also bought out my ex partner for £10K when we split up in 2016 and also paid about £15k to buy a share of the freehold in 2018.

I’ve struggled to find the exact details of how much I paid off during different times so will try to find more and add later but it definitely increased as my income increased so most was likely paid off from 2018 onwards.

The benefits:

I’ll do a separate blog post on this but in summary, I paid off my mortgage in December 2023 and by August 2024 had saved up enough backup cash that I felt able and safe to quit my job (director at a smaller management consulting firm) and then set off travelling for 4 months with my partner - we’re currently in Nicaragua!

My intention when setting this goal was that I’d be able to be much more flexible with work and even try to re-qualify as a coach or maybe even a psychotherapist as I’d have low bills and more flexibility. So far I’m enjoying travelling and in no real rush to start anything new but will see how that goes when I get home in a few weeks. I’ve also been able to rent out my flat whilst travelling which has pretty much financed the whole thing as we travel cheap (budget £30 each per day) so it’s also tempting to just keep travelling…I will keep you posted 😎

Thanks so much for reading and hope this was helpful! ❤️ Any questions please just ask! If you’d like to follow along on the journey, hit subscribe out on the main page to get notified of new posts.