How much do you put in your pension?

[Fred Bloggs]

Invest the max you can in ISAs till all the money is in the tax shelter. Will take a few years though as you're limited to ~£30k a year for the both of you. Nice situation to be in really.

[DonkeyRhubarb]

We will discuss this with a trusted IFA but since we're on the subject of pensions I wondered what anyone thought?

If you've got a mortgage, you might want to consider paying it off. Maybe even trade up to a bigger/nicer house.

Property (hard assets) is about the only thing I feel comfortable with in the financial mess the world is in. Eight years of ZIRP and QE, with anemic growth to show for it, make me very wary about the future of all paper securities (shares, bonds, even fiat money itself).

As a child of the 1970s, this decade feels very déjà vu. Even the current EU referendum is an almost identical replay of what happened in 1975, although I suspect the result might be a bit closer this time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United...ferendum,_1975

[Fred Bloggs]

The big difference with the 70's is that back then we used to get 20 to 25% annual pay rises and if you mortgaged to the hilt within 3 years it had been inflated half away. Plus, you got tax relief on it too!

[ChimpMaster]

If you've got a mortgage, you might want to consider paying it off. Maybe even trade up to a bigger/nicer house.

Property (hard assets) is about the only thing I feel comfortable with in the financial mess the world is in. Eight years of ZIRP and QE, with anemic growth to show for it, make me very wary about the future of all paper securities (shares, bonds, even fiat money itself).
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I would agree.

I wouldn't bother with ISAs because the value of your cash will be eroded quickly compared to other assets and cost of living (inflation isn't always what BoE tells you).

500k is a good sum. Pay off your mortgage, put some into BTL to generate you monthly income - and keep it on repayment mortgage so that you have a solid nest egg in ~20 years' time. I reckon you can generate £2k to £3k monthly income from an easy BTL portfolio with 500k. With effort you can get double that, but you probably wouldn't want to actively manage it as a business I'm guessing.

Some into your pension if you are so inclined.

Perhaps a bit of everything.

[d000hg]

Agree about cash ISAs but was thinking a fair portion should probably go in stocks/bonds/etc. And I sem to recall you can put all kinds of things in an ISA now, maybe even stuff like Zopa which I would like to test out.

It's a nice position but I feel the responsibility of having to be wise with it.

[DonkeyRhubarb]

Agree about cash ISAs but was thinking a fair portion should probably go in stocks/bonds/etc. And I sem to recall you can put all kinds of things in an ISA now, maybe even stuff like Zopa which I would like to test out.

It's a nice position but I feel the responsibility of having to be wise with it.

I would proceed with extreme caution. We are not living in normal times, unless you think 0% interest rates (negative in some countries) and printing money is the new normal.

And be careful who you listen to, even IFAs.

[WordIsBond]

Agree about cash ISAs but was thinking a fair portion should probably go in stocks/bonds/etc. And I sem to recall you can put all kinds of things in an ISA now, maybe even stuff like Zopa which I would like to test out.

It's a nice position but I feel the responsibility of having to be wise with it.

It is rarely unwise to pay off a mortgage.

[northernladuk]

It is rarely unwise to pay off a mortgage.

Unless it's not yours

[Fred Bloggs]

I would proceed with extreme caution. We are not living in normal times, unless you think 0% interest rates (negative in some countries) and printing money is the new normal.

And be careful who you listen to, even IFAs.

I would say especially IFAs. There are, IME, a lot of very poor ones. Some who may even be border line dishonest to get a sale. It is a long story how I came to that opinion.

[DonkeyRhubarb]

It is rarely unwise to pay off a mortgage.

WHS. Best "investment" we ever made. Owning your own home, outright, gives you a lot of freedom.