Financial health check/checkpoint

Thrugelmir

69 is late to plan on repaying the mortgage. Once people reach their fifties job security and finding new employment of a similar nature diminish rapidly.  Life can change extremely rapidly. 

justme111

Presumably in retirement you will not have private school and mortgage expenses and will not be saving money for future as you do now either.  Who would not you look at your yearly spending now ,and deduct the above costs from it - you would know how much you will need. Then you can figure out how large pot of money you need to sustain that lifestyle with the level of probability of success of your choosing and see for yourself how it adds up. Then you can discuss numbers with wife as just saying " we need to spend less" is meaningless unless she understands the reasons for it and hopefully supports your  choices.

enthusiasticsaver

Several things jump out at me.  
You have over £400k in pensions and are contributing 24%  per annum if both you and your employer are putting in 12%.  As you presumably are a high earner will you hit the LTA if you intend working until 65?  

Your mortgage is relatively high still and 19 takes you up to 69.  I would be looking to repay that before retirement.  That may not be an issue if you intend working until 65 but as your finances seem relatively healthy and you have substantial assets in property and pension is early retirement a possibility? 

Have you checked your wife's pension provision? As an ex teacher presumably she has a teachers pension which is quite good but if she has not worked for a while it might be worth opening a SIPP for her and putting the £2880 in each year.  What about her NI contributions?  If she has been claiming CB that might help but if your income has meant she has not been claiming it then she will miss out on state pension if she does not have enough NI contributions. 

coachman12

Reading from the original post through the rest of the thread, I don't really see what the problem is.
You say you are doing a financial health check ----and, as most posters say, you can dabble around at the edges but all in all you are pretty healthy, especially when you consider your wife's pension and her related income as mentioned by posters. You have relatively small investment amounts so I don't think the issue of widening to a more global outlook is much of an issue, if at all.
The only single thing that bothered me as I read the thread has already been picked up by Thrugelmir-----you should plan to pay off your mortgage earlier than the present timetable; you should also be thinking of making arrangements to retire within the next 10 years.
Your only real worry oddly seemed to be "how do I pay for one---or two---weddings ?". Well, you have £40,000 savings ( and that is now, not on wedding day ) plus other assets----where is the problem ?
I can't see much reason for a major thread here. You are pretty comfortable so just enjoy your financial good health. All the best.