Newbie investor. Where to start?

dont_look_now

Mishomeister said:

Just had a look at my old pension pot from HSBC bank. It is saying there that the pension will only be available to me at 65yo.

Are you sure? What kind of pension is it, i.e. DB (defined benefit) or DC (defined contribution)? Most DC pensions are available at age 55 under current legislation, though the Government has said they intend to raise this to 57 (to keep it 10 years less than State Pension age). 65 may just be the default retirement age they are using for illustrative purposes.

If you can show me the pension schemes where I can retire at 53 I will happily reconsidr my options.

As above, most DC schemes are currently accessible from age 55. But you could retire at age 53 with 90%+ of your savings your for retirement inside a pension, and just spend down some of your non-pensions assets for the first 2 years of retirement, until you get access to the pension. So look at your assets holistically. You probably don't want 100% of them inside pensions, or you really couldn't retire before 55 or 57 or whenever. But you probably do want quite a lot of assets inside pensions, unless your plan is to become very poor when you spend your last penny at age 65.

ColdIron

When you retire what will you use to replace your salary to fund the lifestyle that you will have become accustomed to? Or do you intend to work until 67+ and rely on the state pension, currently a shade more than £9k pa? That will be a pretty grim existence

To be fair, many people make the same mistake when young, miss out on a few decades of free Government money and then find they have to work for longer than they want when they are 25 or 30 years older, and spend the last decade trying to catch up while kicking themselves for their lack of foresight

A word to the wise, with a little planning now you can avoid all that, your older self will thank you for it

dunstonh

With the pensions, the goverment also keeps moving the goalpost and by the time (if) I get there, they may say, that you are not allowed to access money until say 65.

Actually, there has been very little moving of goalposts on pensions.    The changes have actually increased accessibility and options rather than restrict them.  For the minimum age to move to 65 would require the state pension age to go to 75.

Pensions are also an easy target for the government if they need money and the government wil need money very soon, to pay for coronavirus measures.

That is a very poor assumption to make.  Pensions already have a wealth tax on them (called the lifetime allowance) which the majority of the public never get near to.    ISAs, savings and all sorts of things are just as easily targetted if they wanted (and nothing suggests they will target them)

as opposed to the pensions, tha twill only start to benefit me at the age of 65.

If 65 is your chosen age to retire then that is when you need them to start benefitting you.   However, its accessible at 58 if needed.

It is easy to talk about believing in pensions basing your opinion on the past days of much and much earlier allowable retiurement ages.

The rules on the pension minimum retirement age are known.

Just had a look at my old pension pot from HSBC bank. It is saying there that the pension will only be available to me at 65yo.

If you were in the defined benefit scheme then that will be the scheme age.  If you were in the defined contribution scheme then that is just an age selected for the statements and it will be available earlier.

Being a man, there is a very substantial chance I may not live until then, especially having to work a lot until.

Ridiculous comment.     You are seriously underestimating life expectancy.  

If you can show me the pension schemes where I can retire at 53 I will happily reconsidr my options.

You cant.  However, planning requires you to cater for age 53,54,55,56,57,58,59,60 etc etc.    To get optimal outcomes, there is no one best solution.    Different options will be best for different times.   So, if you really feel you can afford to go at 53, you look at options that can fund the gap until the pension can be drawn.    Then the pension can be used as it would be highly tax-efficient to fund the gap to state pension age.

Thrugelmir

Mishomeister said:

DiamondLil said:

Mishomeister said:

Thanks. I don't believe in investing in to pensions as you only benefit from those if you survive long enough

Really not interested in to putting my money in to something, where I will get no benefit of any kind from, for at least 20 year, until I turn 55.

With the pensions, the goverment also keeps moving the goalpost and by the time (if) I get there, they may say, that you are not allowed to access money until say 65.

Pensions are also an easy target for the government if they need money and the government wil need money very soon, to pay for coronavirus measures.

Might have to stick to ordinary savings or look at peer to peer platforms

It was because I did believe in pensions that I was able to retire at 53. You've had some very good guidance here and you choose to dismiss it.

If you can show me the pension schemes where I can retire at 53 I will happily reconsidr my options.

Get rich quick schemes aren't readily available. One has to graft extremely hard, manage finances well or be fortunate enough to receive an unexpected windfall. The trouble with speculating is that it is double edged. Many an entrepreneur has lost their shirt. 

Sailtheworld

Mishomeister said:

DiamondLil said:

Mishomeister said:

Thanks. I don't believe in investing in to pensions as you only benefit from those if you survive long enough

Really not interested in to putting my money in to something, where I will get no benefit of any kind from, for at least 20 year, until I turn 55.

With the pensions, the goverment also keeps moving the goalpost and by the time (if) I get there, they may say, that you are not allowed to access money until say 65.

Pensions are also an easy target for the government if they need money and the government wil need money very soon, to pay for coronavirus measures.

Might have to stick to ordinary savings or look at peer to peer platforms

It was because I did believe in pensions that I was able to retire at 53. You've had some very good guidance here and you choose to dismiss it.

Being a mortgage broker with a good level of understanding of taxation and mortgages of the buy to lets as well as having many contacts in the buy to let industry amongst the experience buy to let landlords, that can help me to start up, when the time comes, yes, I am more confident in investing in to something I understand fairly well as opposed to the pensions, tha twill only start to benefit me at the age of 65. Assuming of course I live that long as opposed to dropping dead much earlier because of being overworked.

It is easy to talk about believing in pensions basing your opinion on the past days of much and much earlier allowable retiurement ages.

Just had a look at my old pension pot from HSBC bank. It is saying there that the pension will only be available to me at 65yo.

Being a man, there is a very substantial chance I may not live until then, especially having to work a lot until.

If you can show me the pension schemes where I can retire at 53 I will happily reconsidr my options.

No matter where you work you'll have a better understanding of your job and the industry than the average man in the street. That doesn't make necessarily make it a good area to invest in. As you have to buy at least one house to get into BTL it's likely that you'll be very exposed to the housing market. Then you need to consider that your income is already linked to the housing market so you're pushing that exposure already.

It's unlikely you'll be meeting the grim reaper before the age of 65 but you can take pension income from the age of 55 (a couple of years later for you?) if you're worried. 

If you want to retire at 53 you need to increase your savings rate to about 50% (assuming you're around 35). Stick most in a pension and put some in an ISA to tide you over for two years.

RobHT

It seems you wanna retire soon then, if retire at 55 is considered to be too old by you, same way if you wanna live the life like a youngester as me.

So, the way is to invest 3-5k a month in VLS80 or similar...
Do you have these money? If you don't, invest what you can and keep an eye on everything, but the retirement date incredibly raise if you do not invest this amount, and in any case, you need to plan well your life cost and budget expectations every month, count also inflaction.

Even if you should succeed, I would always work 2-3 months a year just to have some cash, trying to withdraw as much less as possible from nesteggs.