Your thoughts please

bowlhead99 wrote: »

It's pretty tricky to give 'life' advice without anything to go on. But whether the end goal is children or comfy retirement or whatever, overall you're looking to make some sort of investment to be able to afford it.

Investing in investment funds - as much outside the scope of tax, as possible - is obviously one of them, as long as you hold back enough cash for Linton's 6 months living expenses in cash (and other major purchases on the horizon - car, wedding, big holiday - that you couldn't easily do without or defer).

The living expenses should include the mortgage even if you have a plan to get a lodger to pay it - because the lodger income (after tax) is not guaranteed. Who knows, you might struggle to find a tenant you get on with, or might meet a potential partner that you want to have move in, who can't or won't pay.

Investing in 'yourself' in terms of skills, training etc may provide a boost to future income, and compound annual salary increases for a couple of decades, that couldn't be achieved by spending the same sort of money on investments instead. It depends what career options are open to you, what independent training you can pay for to obtain or perhaps what kind of new work roles (maybe even taking a short term paycut) you could do to get more on-the-job training and skills.

Obviously taking that to the next level, giving up the whole career to go solo with your own business is something a lot of people wouldn't have the appetite for - your £100k spent on a career break and some startup capital could turn into millions and even if it's more modest, can still deliver the type of independence from 'working for the man' that many dream of but few achieve.

You mention investing in yourself in nonfinancial ways (e.g. health wise). Improving the quality of what you eat, spending money on a more active lifestyle, and focusing time on exercise or cooking rather than work and ready meals can deliver some serious rewards. Doesn't do anyone any good to have the biggest pot of cash in the graveyard. And if you're currently not healthy, maybe getting healthier helps you have more confidence going out and picking up that partner who makes your life complete.

Certainly satisfaction and happiness does not just come from wealth. Rather than spending hours reading investment how-tos and investing £50k, you could spend hours reading exercise how-tos and invest in a more basic investment product that gives a bit lower return. Perhaps you could skip a promotion at work and NOT take on the extra stress or extra time at work, giving you the ability to keep healthy with wealth as a secondary consideration. Being 65 without enough coins to rub together to keep warm is something that should concern you. Not reaching 65, or reaching 65 with some chronic health problem from years of bad living, is not something you can fix by throwing money at it.

At the end of the day, life advice is about moderation. Don't fully dedicate yourself to career at the expense of health and fun with friends. Don't invest all your cash in a high risk/reward fund and not be able to cover the surprise period of unemployment because nothing was held back. Don't keep all your cash back for the unemployment and have it all eaten away by inflation rather than doubling with investment growth every decade or two.

A bit of self education. A bit of focus on health. A bit of rainy day savings. A bit of investment. A bit of mortgage so you have free capital available to spend or invest as you wish. A bit of time with family and friends and meeting people and holidays.

Once you've sorted out the priorities from among that lot you can look at the next level: what is the 'best' savings interest rate or combination of them for £x; what is the most suitable investment fund for a lump sum of £y and ongoing payments of £z and my goals of abc; what is the best diet and exercise regime I can realistically stick to; what is the best training provider in my career field in terms of bang-for-buck or professional credibility; what is the best dating website or holiday company for my needs.

etc.