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mortgage

Pay off the mortgage or invest? There’s no simple answer, which is my excuse for writing, and writing, and writing…

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FIRE in the hole [Members]

The traditional way of gearing up to invest by running a mortgage is riskier than you think…

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The UK inflation rate is down to 2.3% in CPI terms. The RPI inflation measure has fallen to 3.3%. Either way, the pound has stopped losing purchasing power like a proverbial drunken sailor on shore leave. This end to our run-in with runaway inflation is to be welcomed – but maybe with a wistful sigh from [...]

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Remortgaging in the midst of the Mini Budget madness unnerved me, but I’m still not paying it off just yet…

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Swap rates and mortgage rates

Fixed mortgage rates are mostly determined by swap rates, but bank margins also enter the picture…

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Everything is worse when rates rise.

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Mortgage risk: a checklist

Having a big mortgage on your personal balance sheet dramatically shifts your financial posture.

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Can you cope with higher mortgage rates? Best check before you have to.

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What is the advantage of choosing an offset mortgage – assuming you’re even lucky enough to be able to get one?

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Is it reckless to take out an interest-only mortgage? Not if you have a plan…

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Be careful writing to company bosses. You might just get what you ask for.

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How a dark sense of foreboding about imminent market collapse and the unnecessary pursuit of further gain forced me to eat humble pie.

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Why I’m not paying off my mortgage

With low interest rates and a recovering economy it’s more tempting than ever to invest rather than pay off the mortgage. Is it worth the risk?

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How it feels to be mortgage-free

Why paying off your mortgage may be the best decision you ever made.

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High inflation is hear to stay, but the good news is mortgages are cheap. Carefully taking on debt is looking like a no brainer.

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What happens when you despair that your financial goals look so far away? It’s time to reaffirm where you’re going, and why.

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The new FirstBuy scheme will help first-time buyers get on the housing market, by giving them access to a new £250 million fund.

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An interest only mortgage gives you more control over a huge chunk of your money, but with responsibility comes risk.

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What to make of news that HSBC, the UK’s biggest bank, is offering new customers a mortgage matching deal from Monday 14 April, which will match expiring fixed-rate deals for another two years? Other banks are bolting and nailing shut closing their doors to business and putting their mortgage rates up. Have the senior bods [...]

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We can’t wish away the credit crisis. However sensible you or I have been with our investments, borrowing and spending, we can’t wind back the clock and stop bankers throwing money at poor people who’ll never be able to pay it back, and who are often now paying a far higher price – repossession, dislocation, [...]

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The only good debt is dead debt

The only good debt is debt you take on for investment. Unless you run your own business, that begins and ends with an affordable mortgage to buy property. Get out of debt of any other kind, as soon as you can. Pay it off! Kill it dead! Borrowing to invest in shares is too risky. [...]

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