Best broker for index investing with vanguard when starting with a small balance

Mistermeaner

Oh and in terms of platform I use charles stanley with amounts and funds similar to you and find them great.

masonic

ggb1979 wrote: »

most importantly did I read you have not yet bought a house? One of key steps imo to early retirement is to outright own your home.

That's certainly a key means to reduce risk within your outgoings. However, providing you are able to buy a house outright at the point of retirement, you can fulfil that step. If the capital can be better deployed prior to that, then an argument can be made for delaying the purchase. For example. if retirement means changing home, then a transaction needs to be made regardless. Any intermediate property that is purchased needs to make sense financially over that timescale. Often the comparative cost of renting makes it a no brainer, but not always.

deeppo0ckets

You're right, I don't yet own a home which could throw a spanner or two in, but all being well with some short term adjustments to save up that crucial deposit, mortgage repayments are factored in to the plan.

Unexpected expenses are covered with my emergency fund, and if I have a baby on the way I'll be looking for better paying work sooner rather than later! I'll be damned if I have to work to 65. Life is for living after all.

The income from returns would still sustain mortgage repayments, but having it paid off much sooner would be a boon, but I struggle to see when market returns are around 7% annually why I would pay of a mortgage any sooner!

Mistermeaner

deeppo0ckets wrote: »

You're right, I don't yet own a home which could throw a spanner or two in, but all being well with some short term adjustments to save up that crucial deposit, mortgage repayments are factored in to the plan.

Unexpected expenses are covered with my emergency fund, and if I have a baby on the way I'll be looking for better paying work sooner rather than later! I'll be damned if I have to work to 65. Life is for living after all.

The income from returns would still sustain mortgage repayments, but having it paid off much sooner would be a boon, but I struggle to see when market returns are around 7% annually why I would pay of a mortgage any sooner!

Because interest rates may not be this low forever and also a house is more than bricks when you have a family: it becomes a home and kids thrive on stability.

Your clearly not daft and nit making any commitments that cannot be tweaked and amended along the way I guess I'm just saying expect the unexpected and be prepared to flex. Kids particularly change alot, both in terms of cost and outlook and priorities.

For example would you work 10 years past your planned retirement date to pay for your 3 kids to go to uni, their weddings and help them out with a house deposit?

deeppo0ckets

Fully appreciate where you are coming from! Owning a home is a must for my myself and my partner, there's no getting around that, and it's a highly emotional purchase but one worth making for future self, after all it's still a valuable asset. Ultimately the rate at which we pay off the mortgage will come down to where we stand to gain the most in the long run.

As for helping out the kids, I hope to give them (hoping to stick to one actually!) everything I had and more which means a helping hand through uni (but certainly not a free ride, they will work through as I did - character building and all!). Sadly I will not be funding any fairytale weddings but would consider a little boost on to the housing ladder if it's practical move for the kiddos, however I don't anticipate that any of this would keep me in work any longer than 1 year.

Kendall80

deeppo0ckets wrote: »

Fully appreciate where you are coming from! Owning a home is a must for my myself and my partner, there's no getting around that, and it's a highly emotional purchase but one worth making for future self, after all it's still a valuable asset. Ultimately the rate at which we pay off the mortgage will come down to where we stand to gain the most in the long run.

As for helping out the kids, I hope to give them (hoping to stick to one actually!) everything I had and more which means a helping hand through uni (but certainly not a free ride, they will work through as I did - character building and all!). Sadly I will not be funding any fairytale weddings but would consider a little boost on to the housing ladder if it's practical move for the kiddos, however I don't anticipate that any of this would keep me in work any longer than 1 year.

We're putting £100 a month into Mrs K's ISA (Lifestrategy 100 initially) to provide a boost for our little terrors - at our discretion. We will increase this amount to allow for unknowns and of course inflation. They also each have a JISA which should hopefully be worth 5k-6k on their 18th.

We're using the Charles Stanley Direct platform and unless fees change we wont need to transfer out to a cheaper option as the amount is highly unlikely to exceed 30k.