Cooking the Books podcast: The couple paying off the mortgage in five years, despite three kids

Janet and Scott Young, with their daughters Ava and Wren. Photo / Supplied

Each week BusinessDesk and the NZ Herald's Cooking the Books podcast tackles a different money problem. Today, it's how one family plan to annihilate their mortgage. Hosted by Frances Cook.

It's hard enough to scrape together a house deposit and buy a place, but then comes the challenge of paying it off over 20 or 30 years.

But what if you could pay it off faster than that, and get all the freedom that comes after you've got rid of one of your biggest expenses?

People often spend anywhere from 30 to 50 per cent of their income, sometimes even more, on keeping a roof over their head.

So today I'm joined by a couple who want to kill their mortgage in the next five years.

There is a small catch though. They're about to have their third child, and one of the ways they keep the mortgage small is by living in a small house.

So the question now is, stick with the five-year mortgage plan, or risk the future plans by moving to a bigger home?

For the latest podcast I talked to Janet Young.

For the interview, listen to the podcast here.

• If you have a question about this podcast, or a question you'd like answered in the next one, come and talk to me about it. I'm on Facebook here, Instagram here, and Twitter here.

• Listen to the full interview on the Cooking the Books podcast. You can subscribe on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, or