£5k to invest a month

TheAble

The answer is: nothing. You don't pull equity out of your house to invest in something else.
40k each in retirement? Do you really need that much??

VickyMSE

TheAble said:

The answer is: nothing. You don't pull equity out of your house to invest in something else.
40k each in retirement? Do you really need that much??

In all honesty not at all. I feel as though we live fairly frugally, if you remove the mortgage from the equation we get by on about £600 per month. Retirement is still 35 years away so, remortgaging to free up capital at a below inflation rate to put into some kind of investment that should yield significantly more seems logical as opposed to letting the capital be tied up. I completely get if we were pulling equity out of the house to buy better car that would be foolish. 

On that thought presumably one can use the equity in our home to get a buy to let. Would it tie the two mortgages together? Or are they completely separately? 

Alexland

I don't see why you need to go down the BTL route when you have a good enough income that with some careful pension and ISA planning you should be able to retire early. I was a landlord when we used to have a property each and it's hassle, tax inefficient and a lot of mortgage debt to be carrying if interest rates go up.

wannabe_a_saver

I know that isn’t exactly an investment suggestion, but if you have money you don’t need and don’t know what to do with, why not use some of it to help others who are in less fortunate positions?  Are there any causes or communities or issues you and your partner care about and would gain satisfaction from supporting?

Eco_Miser

You're shovelling money into your S&S ISAs, and presumably will be shovelling more into your pensions, following suggestions on here.

After that you can keep investing in stocks and shares within an unwrapped General Investment Account - you may even find your ISA provider has opened one for you already. This is likely to produce better returns, and definitely less hassle than being a landlord. 

colsten

You don't need to buy bricks & mortar to be invested in property. Property funds and/or shares in property companies are available if you believe that's where the money is.

I believe you could benefit from engaging an IFA. They could help you not only with investment suggestions tailored to your needs and your risk appetite but also with tax- and estate planning. Questions such as what you would do if either or both of you were unable to work need to be addressed, too.

Thrugelmir

VickyMSE said:

TheAble said:

The answer is: nothing. You don't pull equity out of your house to invest in something else.
40k each in retirement? Do you really need that much??

 remortgaging to free up capital at a below inflation rate to put into some kind of investment that should yield significantly more seems logical as opposed to letting the capital be tied up.

Should doesn't guarantee a positive outcome. Speculation is very different to the art of investing. If we were all born with hindsight then it would be a different scenario. 

Albermarle

As you are ( correctly) thinking of upping your pension contributions , you should also have a look at the investment choices the Peoples pension offers .
You mentioned Barclays investment ISA ? Again like with the pension , it is how the money is invested within the ISA is what is more important .

pat1976

This is really quite an interesting situation. 

You earn a lot more than you spend, so are looking for investment advice, and have heeded the standard ISA and pension line. And then you may consider investing in property, which will (should) increase your earnings further and compound the 'issue' of having excess to invest. 

May I ask what your financial aims are? The way you're going you'll be very rich in mid to later life, which is nice. What do you want to do with it? Early retirement? World travel? Helping others? Starting a business? 

I'm in a similar position, our income outstrips our expenses by at least £5k a month, sometimes £10k. We're aiming for early retirement, to build a decent sized trust for our child and to be able to support our aging parents when they need it. But we've also sacrificed some earnings to make the current time better, mainly reducing hours at work and trying to spend a bit more to make life easier and free up time. 

Appologies for turning the questioning away from the purely financial but without knowing your aims it's hard to comment on your plans. BTL can be a nightmare and the returns v stress are often only worth it because you NEED the income. But if you love the idea of building a property empire and becoming a landlord then why not?