Best place to figure out pension system!

jellyspots

Some great responses to think about and options.

Our mortgage rate was 4.99% so felt it was a good idea to get this out of the way. This leaves us £1500 a month better off. Plus thinking we will only have one car and a lot less petrol from driving back and forward to work each day.

I think we need to see a financial person and show them our paperwork and then can work out who to go to.

Generally things are looking pretty bright as we moved house 10 yrs ago to quite a big one, so have a lot of equity to be able to downsize to a comfy 2 bed later when the children finally leave.

Not planning on leaving the children too much as personally we think we worked hard for what we have so the children should stand on their own two feet like we do.

Obviously we would help out a little where we can but need to look after ourselves too.

princeofpounds

Ok if you were paying 5% fixed on your mortgage that is a more sensible decision. Stock based investments probably would have performed better over this time period but you would not have known that in advance.

atush

yes 5% was very high in these last 5 years- perhaps you would have been better to refinance. And gotten a lower rate- i've been paying just over 1%, and even standard rates were/are under 3%.

But in the mean time, i'd open pensions online for both of you if you dont have employers ones. Or join your employers schemes tomorrow- you dont have a lot of time to waste to start using this year allowance as a new one starts April 6th.

If you pay basic rate, then every 80 you put in becomes 100, and any employers money is gravy on top, It isn't unheard of for your 80 to become 200-300 even in that case. Amp that up by every 80 you can spare and you will be flying towards near where you need to be.

kangoora

Also, don't forget to increase your pension payments each year in line with inflation or you could get a nasty shock later on if you just put in a set amount now and leave it the same amount until retirement.