What would you do with £45k?

xylophone

Be careful of paying money into your children"s accounts because of the "£100 rule" - (does not apply to Jisa/CTF) - if you wish money to go to the chidren it would be better for the money to come from the grandparents direct. See http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/moneytaxandbenefits/managingmoney/planningyourpersonalfinances/dg_10013916
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/tdsi/children.htm

markwilkinson

If your worried about funding your retirement then it's a 2 pronged attack, in my view. 1 living 'rent free' ie having your mortgage paid off so you don't have that large expense when your income has (potentially) decreased. 2 providing yourselves with an income for your retirement. I think you definitely need to start thinking about contributing in pensions ASAP. If I was in your shoes and had that 45k I'd be filling both of your cash USA allowances for starters. Depending on your mortgage rate, paying a chunk off that to reduce your payments and then using that saving to start paying into pension funds. Anything left over I'd probably consider using some kind of fixed term savings bond?

On the pension subject, and I'm thinking out loud here. You say you are self employed? Do you have time for a part time job? If you could get a low hours contract with a company like Sainsbury, say 12 hours a week, you could start paying into the Sainsbury pension scheme and the company will match your contributions. Every little helps (or is that Tesco lol). Just thinking out loud with that one.

JuniorSherlock

Thanks xylophone I didn't know about that so that's a useful warning.

Mark, lots to think about in your post. Yes we will top up our ISAs, we had been dipping into them when we ran short every month so I will now look to moving them for a better interest rate and topping them up.

I have a fixed rate savings account with Ing Direct and I use that to may my taxes into, so I could plough some into that for the time being.

Unfortunately my line of work is pretty hefty and fits around the kids school hours so taking on more work wouldn't be viable just yet. Worth thinking about though so thanks for the tip.