thoughts/advice please

owtfornowt_2

Hi all,

Any advice/thoughts/comments greatly appreciated:

30 yrs old, have mortgage, no pension (company only offer stakeholder with no contributions)

i am re-jigging my finances and plan to take out full isa allowances for the year - full amount into a cash only isa and in addition i will take out a stock and shares isa (thinking of investing into different funds, possibly via iii)

in addition to a seperate 'rainy day' pot of money, i will have approx £5k left.

i am planning on taking out a stakeholder pension with scottish widows and put in around £100-150p.m, but the question is - should i put the 'spare' approx £5k into the pension pot?

i am thinking that the lump sum will help kick-start the pension, along with the tax benefit but my concern that it is then tied up till retirement. am i better investing the £5k elsewhere and just gradually build up the pension pot?

as above, any comments/thoughts greatly appreicated

Thanks
:beer:

Consumerist

Generally speaking, debt costs you more than you are likely get from the return on savings. With the envisaged uncertainty in the stock market, paying off debt is probably the safest strategy.

If you are brave, however, the stock market could be a whole lot more exciting.

owtfornowt_2

Thanks Consumerist, the 'only' debt i have is our mortgage which is easily covered by salary.

Anybody else any thoughts?

Thanks