Investment options

Brricktop69

Hi all,
I am 52 years old and so have 15 years to go before the state pension kicks in.
I should add that I have an emergency fund of £8k in place and also have £900 a month that I am just putting into a savings account which is a seperate issue.
My immediate concern is that I pay my mortgage off at the end of the month and as such I will have £600 a month spare income that I want to use the best way I can for retirement.
I have a Company pension where I pay in 9% as do the Company. Current pot of £116k and if I carry on doing what i am it is projected to be worth around £215k when i retire.
I have recently started a Vanguard account where i have been dropping around £150 a month into, now has £1000 in it.
I am unsure if I should be putting the £600 a month into an ISA, £7,200K over 15 years would give me £108k when I retire regardless of any interest.
I could put the £600 each month into the Vanguard account.
I could put an additional £600 a month into my company pension although the company won't increase their contribution until I get to 60 years old.
I am tempted to split the risk by putting £200 a month into each of the 3 options.
As I am new to investments I am a little unsure of the best options.
Any thoughts?

Linton

Are you thinking of retiring before you get your State Pension?

If not, 15 years seems a long time to be using a cash ISA if that is what you were thinking of , expecially with the current close to zero interest.  So that seems the least desirable option unless you were taking early retirement and needed more cash in your emergency fund.

Is your Vanguard account an S&S ISA?   I cannot see any good reason for not using one.  Option (1) is an S&S ISA.
Option (2) is your company pension
Option (3) is a private pension - eg a SIPP.

If you are a higher rate tax payer Option (1) would definitely be the worst since you would be missing out on an up to 40% tax refund.

The choice between options (2) and (3) could depend on the choice of funds. The range of funds in an employers pension can be a little uninspiring.  On the other hand it is possible that your employer ihas negotiated a good deal with  the pension company with low charges.  Do you make employer pension contributions by Salary Sacrifice which can give useful savings? So it depends on the details.  There may well not be an over-riding reason either way.

Thrugelmir

Using a SIPP wrapper would provide a boost and possibly provide options to retire slightly earlier if you so wished. 

Alexland

Contributing more into your company pension can be especially beneficial if they operate salary sacrifice to save the national insurance on the contribution.

Albermarle

As I am new to investments I am a little unsure of the best options

It is good to have clear in your head that you do not invest in a pension or S&S ISA, but your money goes into investments within the pension or S & S ISA. The difference between investing in a pension , or S&S ISA , or outside of both of these, is just the tax treatment of the investments .

So for example I have a Company pension where I pay in 9% as do the Company. Current pot of £116k and if I carry on doing what i am it is projected to be worth around £215k when i retire.

How much will be in the pension in the end depends on how much you put in of course , but also how well the investments in the pension perform. Have you ever investigated how the pension is invested and what alternative investments are available ?

I have recently started a Vanguard account where i have been dropping around £150 a month into, now has £1000 in it.

Again within a Vanguard account , there are many different choices of investment. Depending on what you choose could make a significant difference in the long run.