This is a bit of a tipsy Friday night question... But i'm hoping this is the place to get some opinions.
I'm an ex-Londoner, who's happy to now be living in the home counties; but we do not in any way shape or form, need to be near the city any longer.
I run a software company, which gives me a lot of freedom, to the point where my excursions in to London for clients are now incredibly infrequent, maybe once every two months on average.
With that in mind, my wife and I are looking to move next year; with the aim of providng the best life going forward for our four year old son.
We currently live in a humble 3 bed semi in Kent, £1,700 per month, with around £280k left on on the morgage. Zero debt aside from that, and we live comfortably enough that i've been able to max both mine and my wife's ISA's for the last five years - both straight into an all world Stock and shares ISA, while still pumping money into my SIPP.
We have enough in the ISA's to pay off the morgage now, but I would prefer not to touch that money as it's dramatically outgrown our debt over the last few years.
What im looking for are opinons in terms of, would you move further away from London? Would you stay close to the city for economic reasons? Am I Being selfish for considering a slightly more rural life when I need to be thinking about my son's future etc?
It's a more difficult question than ever given the rise of AI and the difficulty in knowing what the future could hold, but I'm ready to spend £1m+ on our forever home and in all honesty I value the views of the people on this forum more than I do most of my real life aquiantances.
I'm looking at Suffolk and Cambridgeshire... Apparently Peterbourough has within a one hour commute to central London. I should consider that right?