Skip to main content
You've paid off your mortgage!  Now what?
Paid off your mortgage?  Woo-hoo! Break out the champagne and celebrate the freedom you must now feel! But once the dizzy excitement has passed, what will you do next?

Discharge or not?
The first question is should you discharge your mortgage? You might be able to keep the loan facility open, with a zero balance, and retain the option to redraw on the loan account if you wish. This can be a handy way of meeting unforeseen expenses in the future, or opening up investment opportunities.

If you decide to close your loan account check first if there are any costs involved. For example, you may lose an associated credit card. Or you may be up for substantial break fees if you’ve paid off a fixed rate mortgage early.

One of the traditional delights of closing out a mortgage has been receiving your title deed. However, with many states moving to digital land titles settlement processes this will become an increasingly rare pleasure. If you do happen to receive a paper title, remember it is an extremely valuable document that requires safe storage – perhaps with the solicitor who holds your Will.


Cash flow and equity
With your mortgage paid down to zero but still open, a number of opportunities arise. The best one is the extra cash accumulating in your bank account. Do you want to spend this on lifestyle choices such as home renovations, holidays or regularly dining out? Or maybe save it for a rainy day? Or use it to boost your retirement savings through salary sacrifice? (You can, of course, do a bit of each).

Then there’s the equity in your home to consider. It may seem strange to celebrate the paying off of your mortgage by immediately redrawing on it, but if done wisely, investing those redrawn funds in a portfolio of sound investments could hasten the day when you reach financial independence. You may also reap some tax benefits. 


Explore the options
Perhaps you want to simply enjoy the freedom of being mortgage-free. Whilst this is a great choice, if you want to investigate the wealth creation opportunities that open up once your home is paid off always seek professional advice.

Your Hindsight Wealth adviser can help you explore a range of options that are appropriate to your circumstances. With a well-crafted financial strategy and a little patience you can look forward to celebrating more of those woo-hoo moments in the future.



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Times are tough. How can you position yourself to minimise the impact?

The last few weeks have been extraordinary to say the least. We’re battling a world wide health crisis and we face uncertainty in many aspects of our lives.  It’s true that there are simply some things beyond our control and we will more than likely see many changes to our everyday lives for the remainder of 2020 and beyond. So, what can be done?  On the other side of this, many people will be left with dramatic financial stress, whether it be periods of unemployment, depleted cash reserves or battered superannuation balances.  And for many, timing will be an issue. Those who were weeks ago contemplating retirement may now need to change their plans. And those that are still accumulating for retirement have more than likely just seen their investments and superannuation return to levels of 5 or 6 years ago. Essentially the clock has be wound back in one way or another.  It may well be a good time to take stock and lay some foundations for when thing...
Before you get excited (or not), I don't offer Pet Insurance, however I have received many questions about it.  So I thought I would offer some thoughts to consider for your independent pet insurance research. Australians are a nation of animal lovers.  According to the Australian Companion Animal Council, we have one of the highest incidences of pet - ownership in the world! Dogs and cats are our favourites; around 36% of Australian households own a dog, and 23% own a cat.  We're familiar with the companionship pets bring, and the social interaction they foster, but there are other benefits too: Lowered blood pressure and cholesterol; Increased physical activity; Strengthened immune system and reduced incidence of allergies and Children learn responsibility, empathy and respect. When considering a pet, you expect costs like food, bedding, the annual vet visit and so forth, but there are other costs you may not have thought about. Let's start at t...

There is no better time than right now to review your super!

So by now we all know that Australian and global investment markets have fallen significantly, it’s on the news, in the papers and I’ve been publishing recent posts about it on LinkedIn. What’s causing it?   Truth is, it doesn’t really matter.  Oil prices are down, there’s talk of China slowing, commodity prices are down and so forth.  Historically there is always something occurring on the world stage that can cause negativity in markets.  Investors start to worry, they sell their investments at low prices, lock in losses only to have someone come along, buy them up and enjoy the gains as things recover. Warren Buffet, the world’s most famous stock market investor famously said, “The stock market is a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient”. And we can see this today.  As I write this, global stock markets suffered a large decline over night, with the expectation being that the Australian market would follow this morni...