Balance of probabilities

[Bosworth]

I used to think the same but have now completely changed my mind.

Having lived within my means all my life, with no debt except my mortgage, I am now loading up and spending as much as I can.

The business I have built over the last few years may or may not survive. If it fails, I may as well have converted as much cash into ‘things’ as I can.

And, more importantly, we are at the start of an economic apocalypse. The money printing will be staggering and therefore debt will be eroded faster than you can say ‘but they were feckless’.

Sadly, I have completely changed my view on debt and am embracing it.

[Arwen Thebard]

I used to think the same but have now completely changed my mind.

Having lived within my means all my life, with no debt except my mortgage, I am now loading up and spending as much as I can.

The business I have built over the last few years may or may not survive. If it fails, I may as well have converted as much cash into ‘things’ as I can.

And, more importantly, we are at the start of an economic apocalypse. The money printing will be staggering and therefore debt will be eroded faster than you can say ‘but they were feckless’.

Sadly, I have completely changed my view on debt and am embracing it.

I completely understand your thinking on this, hope it works out for you.

[peejay]

I can't advise you what you should do but I can give you my experience.

I was living in a mid-terrace house smack in the middle of a town centre (literally could have hit the local police station with a stone if I tried hard enough). Conservative club 3 doors one way, church 3 doors the other. I'd lived here for 22yrs, 2 of which were lodging with a friend until I bought the place from him. Financially I'd been all over the shop over the years, low point 10yrs ago was baliffs taking stock.

Last year I found myself having had a great paying job for 7yrs & had built up a good war-chest but was trying to think what best to do with it. My options were:
1) Renovate the house (it badly needed doing for various reason)
2) Pay off the interest-only portion of mortgage (hadn't really been keeping up the ISA over the years for reasons touted on above)
3) Something else (wasn't sure what)

A chance conversation with a very good, and financially savvy, friend pointed out to me that in certain areas you could get a lot for your money so I investigated & decided to up sticks & move.

We fell in love with the 2nd house (bungalow on large pot) we viewed and I actually initially turned it down as "only" having 3 beds, until I realised you can't change plot or location but you can change the shape of a house.

I was actually just about in a position to buy without having to sell the existing house right away so was able to avoid chains. The plan was to sell the original after a couple of months or so of renovation etc.

Renovation proved harder (getting builders) than anticipated so have gone around a few merry-go-rounds with the original property and Covid-19 has put a bit of a kaibosh on selling for now. So, I'm pretty mortgaged up, for now (pending selling old place) however I can categorically unequivocally state that it was the BEST thing I've done in the last 25yrs!!!

I cannot IMAGINE how utter sh!te it would have been cooped up in the old place, with noisy neighbours etc. & I'm pretty genuinely sure my OH would have topped herself by now (she was struggling a lot in the old place).

So, the morale of my story is that happiness is priceless, so is sanity. Yes I have a bit of worry selling the old place but if push came to shove I could sell it cheap quickly if I needed to but I'm not desperate ATM (stamp duty refund is the next milestone to lose out on if it isn't sold by end of this year).

So, it isn't always just about money...

[Medusa]

My two pennyworth. We have 4 children and had to move to a bigger property when our 4th (surprise baby) was on the way. I was a stay at home Mum who did various little part-time jobs outside of husbands working hours to make ends meet and returned to full time work when the youngest was about 9. The house needed huge amounts of work done, most of which we have done ourselves to save money. It has been a financial struggle at times but it was one of the cheapest suitable properties in the area we live in due to the condition. It has taken us a lot of years to get it to a decent standard and we have now paid the mortgage off. 1 grown up child still lives at home and I am desperate to move to another location where we have a smaller property, which is a bungalow/cottage with some land and to semi-retire, however we have hit barriers. Not all of our kids have been supportive, especially the ones with their own children, the one who lives with us doesnt want to move away and due to age it may be difficult for us to find part-time employment even though husband is skilled. The area we want to live in wont necessarily be easy to access by train for relatives who dont want to or are unable to drive a few hours. We also now have two sets of very elderly/unwell parents who we are providing support to and are both starting to feel the ageing process ourselves. If you are going to do this, I would suggest doing it now whilst your children are young and will hopefully easily adjust to a new area, schools etc and whilst you are both fit and healthy. Dont overstretch yourselves to where money causes you concern and stress every single month or where you arent able to have a small emergency fund and ensure that you will be able to find work in your planned area along with your partner if/when the times comes for them to return to work. My husband isnt a risk taker, I am more so, but sadly I feel that we may have left this huge life change too late now. As peejay said this isnt just about money.

[Trojanhorse]

Personally I would keep saving.

If you or your wife can find something to buy and sell online or have another skill it does all mount up these sales.

I did that after uni to pay my debts of and years later I still do it and saved enough for a nice house in a village.

Once this is over I am going to look to move again but somewhere even more remote with more land.

The other action to do is see if you can change your mortgage now (might not be possible) and see if you can save some money. Still pay the same but it means you over pay by more thus paying it off earlier.

[izzy_mack]

As I'm always saying (to rolling eyes from my family) there's two ways to have money, one is to earn it and the other is not to spend it. If you are really keen to move then you'll find the extra effort to live frugally and save every penny towards it. Check out self sufficiency and frugal living websites. Also sites like Mark Boyle living without money, not that I'm suggesting that but it might give you ideas.

[Arwen Thebard]

In these uncertain financial times, savings are being eroded faster than you can top them up thanks to inflation and low interest rates. If things get worse, as they could easily do and soon, hyperinflation is not out of the question and our cash savings will be worth even less, even quicker, while our property asset values go down at the same time.

Not a good time to be a saver if you want interest to build up your pot, but potentially some good opportunities / bargains ahead if you can buy property without borrowing too much. Financial normality rules are gone for a while, everyone is just guessing at what comes next.