Student loan paid off! What now?

daveofstoft

So firstly, STUDENT LOAN IS PAID OFF NEXT MONTH! Graduated in 2005 so it was the older style loans but still happy it's gone. Since 2006 I've been in full time employment and recently been paying £120 ish a month off my student loan. As of next month I won't have to do it but I'm thinking that I may have a great opportunity here. I'm lucky enough to have never felt like I was paying the money, it all went out of my wages before I saw it and therefore I never noticed it. If I let this trickle into my bank I'll notice a nice bump but probably my spending will increase to take it into account much like previous small pay ruses have done.

I'd quite like to do something with the money but i'm not sure what. I'm 36 year old teacher and starting to think about retirement plans (I realise that this is quite sad) and would love to shave some years off. A colleague of mine managed to "retire" 5 years early by investing some money in his late 40's then living off the savings for the 5 years between his "retirement" and actually taking his state pension. I'd quite like to do the same or better if possible. My father in law tells me that I should be buying gold bars from Royal Mint as it's a better deal than the banks although I shudder at the idea of having a Scrooge McDuck style swimming pool of them by the time I'm ready to sell them off. That said, I like the security that the Gold will always be worth 'something'. I've seen enough global financial crises to be a bit scared of the stock market.

So two questions,
1) Has anyone invested in Gold via the sort of thing from the Royal Mint? Any good?
2) Anyone ever been in a similar situation and what have you done to invest for the future?

For clarity, I already have an ISA and a (very low rate) savings account with a couple of hundred in each which are my "car broke down" fund. I have a mortgage already and would love to pay that off sooner but that seems to be a very difficult thing to do. I can afford now to pay about £150 ish a month towards this future plan. Any advice appreciated. 

daveofstoft

Just remembered, I also have some premium bonds courtesy of a well meaning relative from years ago. I think I've 'won' twice in 10 years so not exactly getting the retirement rate I was hoping for

ColdIron

That was hard to read, I didn't get to the end. Perhaps edit it and break it into paragraphs?

daveofstoft

ColdIron said:

That was hard to read, I didn't get to the end. Perhaps edit it and break it into paragraphs?

Ouch! Hope that is better for you.

EdGasketTheSecond

1) Not used Royal Mint but people say it is fine but expensive. I think Atkinsons has been mentioned as a more cost-effective source.

Ciprico

gold is hard work, needs secure storage (costly), and it seems, reading other's experiences on here, not always easy to sell.
..and why gold, why not silver or copper, which are arguably more useful. (or the more exotic materials used in (electric car) batteries.)
An alternative could be to buy shares in a mining company, then you also get the benefits of diversification, ie most big miners dig up many materials. 
...but owning shares in a single company is risky, so you could consider something like Blackrock World Mining Trust, who own shares in all the major mining companies. They also pay a healthy dividend...
If the price of gold rises, the companies who produce it should become more valuable

barnstar2077

Still think you would be better off with a SIPP or a S&S ISA personally.  I wouldn't buy gold unless I had all my other ducks in a row first.

kuratowski

As JoeCrystal said, on the duplicate thread,
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6147666/student-loan-paid-off-what-now
The OP is a member of a fantastic pension scheme and it would make sense to maximise that before looking at other riskier investments.

No future financial advice should be ever heeded from the father-in-law who suggesting buying gold.

Gary1984

Gold has tradionally been seen as a way to store value as people expect it will 'always be worth something'.  This may well be true (though ah hae ma doots) but what it doesn't do is earn you any Income from dividends, interest or rent. You should think about instead putting your money to work for you by buying a fund containing company shares and bonds. Plenty of suggestions on other threads but the Vanguard Life Strategy funds are very popular on here. 

ColdIron

Gold would be a poor choice except as a small part of a much larger range of assets, it pays no dividends and it's a coin toss whether it's value would increase. It will always be worth something but so would cash. The problem with cash is that once you take inflation into account it would be eroded over 20 years

Your DB pension is a good one but an ISA or SIPP is probably your best bet to bridge the 5 or 10 year gap between retirement your pensions (DB and state)

steampowered

Gold is not a good investment idea. It's a non-productive asset. Unlike shares or property or most other investments, it doesn't generate income, so it's a pure gamble on whether the price will go up or down.

Stick with conventional investments - i.e. stocks and shares in reputable companies.

The best ways of boosting your retirement savings will be, in order:
- Making the most of your occupational pension scheme.
- Putting extra into a personal pension, to get the tax relief.
- Investing into a stocks & shares  ISA invested into a balanced diversified investment fund (such as a Vanguard Lifestrategy fund, other choices are available).