To be rich or not to be.......

bluecounty

That is the question.

I'd like your honest opinion please on what I'm about to write. The optimists and the pessimists are more than welcome to view their opinions.

My circumstances:

I'm 28 years old and have a mortgage on my house which has £103,000 left on it.

I invest £250 per month into a Sharesave scheme with Barclays who I work for. I will have £16250 in 5 years time in which I can buy Barclays shares at £2.55.

I also invest £100 per month in a sharepurchase scheme which buys £1800 worth of shares per year (Barclays give me £600 worth of shares for free as long as I hold them for 3 or 5 years I'm not too sure)

I have a pension scheme which I invest £90 per month into.

My dilemma is should I invest for the 5 years and then cash in everything I have and pay it off my mortgage. I'm hoping I would have around £50,000. Thats the optimistic me coming out. I'm hoping Barclays share price will have increased a considerable amount so that I make a nice profit and I'll cash in my share purchace shares which will have also risen in price and I'll qualify for my matching shares.

Or.......

Use my £50,000 and start an investment portfolio and keep on investing around £350 per month for the next 25 years. If I did this what amount do you think I could get my portfolio worth upto?

I have a burning desire to go for the 2nd option but my girlfriend is saying play it safe and pay it off the mortgage.

Optimists and pessimists...............Your opinions please!

StevieJ

Surely you would review the environment at the time, we may be coming up to another crash or interest rates could be 15% (still trying to cool the excesses of today).
If the two examples came to pass you would probabaly pay it off your mortgage.

greenface

my optimist just says well done to you for forward planning. :T

I think you will be ok

BritRael

Personally, I always go for paying off the mortgage. Especially nowadays as there's no MIRAS. My last mortgage was interest only, which I took out deliberately to pay it off in two years (it took me 26 months ).
Congratulations on your savings mentality.

amcluesent

>Optimists and pessimists...............Your opinions please!<

A man is like a rusty wheel
On a rusty cart
He sings his song as he rattles along
and then he falls apart.

A man is like his father
Wishes he never was born.
He longs for the time when the clock will chime
And he's dead for evermore.

I'm a touch pessimistic...

purch

Surely you would review the environment at the time

Yes...

Whatever plan you choose regular reviews of both the performance of any Investments, and of the situation at the time will mean the plan will almost certainly change over the years.

shabba_shabba

would'nt paying a little extra towards your mortgage should help with the interest you are paying and also shorten the term, therefore paying off mortgage quicker paying less interest and when the time comes to sell the shares (after reviewing periodically) you would be financially in the best position.

please point put any errors in my think

shabba_shabba

meant to say

Please point out any errors in my way of thinking

Oblivion

shabba_shabba wrote: »

meant to say

Please point out any errors in my way of thinking

There is an edit button

Dave.

gozomark

I will have £16250 in 5 years time in which I can buy Barclays shares at £2.55. are these options ie can you choose not to buy Barclays share if price below £2.55 ? if not, my concern would be to have so much of your investments in one company. If you have the option not to buy, what interest rate do you earn ?

iamesbo

Did I hear your right when you said you worked for a bank?