1688 days.

NannaH

With the luxury of £8k a month,  I would put 80% into a Global diversified fund,  perhaps a Vanguard Lifestrategy variant or HSBC Global Strategy dynamic or a Blackrock mymap, which is a managed fund with low fees - it’s a pay and forget investment,  no tweaking/rebalancing required as the asset allocation is done for you. 

I would use the other 20% for a more specialised fund, like tech or healthcare or an Ethical fund. 

I’m just a novice but I would not be buying individual shares as part of a core portfolio.
I did buy a small amount of shares in the Seraphim space fund but again, that’s a fund, not an individual company and it’s just a bit of fun. 

andys15

Ok thanks. I will look into it. I would need to be able to take money out when I want once I retire and also pay no income tax on any of it. 

NannaH

Well you are limited to £20k each into ISAs so that doesn’t even cover half of your monthly £8k.
Put in a SIPP and you get the uplift but it will be taxable once over your personal allowance.
Even ordinary savings interest becomes taxable at a certain point.
Your wife should be paying her entire salary into a SIPP, given your high earnings and she should make sure she is getting NI credits towards her State pension. 

To be honest I don’t see how you can avoid all income tax when you are retired. 

We are trying to be as tax efficient as possible in our planning for the next 10 years but my husband will still pay some basic rate income tax once he hits 67. 

andys15

I already have 1.25 million in my SIPP which I cannot touch until i am 57. I need 7 years savings if I retire at 50. 

If I just saved the money in my current account for the next 4.5 years then I wouldn’t pay any income tax on any of that. 

I maybe also wrongly assumed that if I put £170 k in a 5 year fixed savings account (85k each), then I wouldn’t pay tax on that as I would not earn £12k a year so that should be tax free. 

[Deleted User]

andys15 said:

So what would you do with £8k a month?  

If I were you, I would put it into VLS80 using a platform which is cheap for amounts under 100K. Simple and sound. Maximum diversification. 

justcheckin

andys15 said:

My posts throughout the years probably demonstrate that I don’t really know what I am doing. 

I suppose I have just always winged it. I think i have been winging it my whole adult life. 

My only research for buying shares was going through my SIPP portfolio and looking at the best dividend stock and buying them. 

My next play on payday will be looking at the ones which are down the most and buying more of them. 

My £5k gross a month is based purely on those who have retired and asking what they spend. 

I would love to research but the truth is I don’t know what I am doing and when I try to research I unfortunately get bored and stop. 

My saving plans are based on 0 growth, not thinking about inflation but not including the potential rent I could get on my house when we go to Spain, my wife’s healthy pension or state pension. I see them as a bonus. 

I appreciate this is an awful way to do things. I am not maximising my potential but I also think that I am doing something positive and even though not maximising what I could get, I am still saving money. 

Don't be hard on yourself! It sounds like you are doing great. You and your partner are successful in your chosen careers which is evidenced in pay packet.

One method I use to check our retirement needs is to keep a spends audit per year (I begin my financial year in July, to 'frontload' the year with a summer holiday and pay myself back for it all year afterwards.)

A lot of the major banks and credit cards have a similar feature built in to help analyse your spending. If you knew that after pension savings and work-related costs you were easily living off say 4k over a longer-term period, you might then have the confidence to know that this is your 'NUMBER'?

justcheckin

I also invest in VLS (the 100% equity version as I have safer DB pensions to fall back on and a longer horizon). In 2017 I was clueless but asked on here what to do with my first ever SIPP and the same for my OH, and the general consensus seemed to be that this was a fairly good entry-level 'set it and forget it' type of product which would self-adjust and not allow me to lose any gains by getting excited and fiddling with my own allocations.

enthusiasticsaver

£8k per month is quite a  target and forgive me but  it does not sound as if you know a lot about investments.  Putting it in ISAs makes sense given you need to access before 57 and your SIPP already is over the LTA.  I would focus on a global multi asset fund unless you intend using an IFA.  Selecting individual stocks when you have no investment strategy or experience sounds like it could end in disaster. Given your early retirement depends on how these investments perform over the next 4 years you do not want any mistakes. Personally if I were investing £96k a year I would use an IFA but many on here do not like them and think that a well diversified cheap index tracker will do just as well and possibly it may.  Who knows.  I have done both diy and use an IFA now and the value of our portfolio has increased in both.  Of course there are no guarantees though and we do seem to live in exceptionally buoyant times at the moment with regards to the SE. 

I would also question whether £5k a month is actually necessary.  Asking others is no good as no doubt you have different lifestyles.  What is your current income?  If you are able to save £8k a month unless you are earning £13k a month at the moment I would say you don't need £5k in retirement. 

NannaH

I imagine I could easily spend £5k a month if eating out 2/3 times a week, lots of days out,  multiple holidays and having Spa weekends every month,  buying designer clothes etc.  and continually replacing household items.  
I have retired neighbours who have their house decorated yearly and change sofas/carpets etc. at the drop of a hat,  they have so much spare cash they don’t know what to do with it,  brand new Merc every 2 years.
We have a very nice life on £3500  net monthly which includes holidays, paying a mortgage, contributing £240 to my Sipp and saving £500.

On retirement £2500 will be more than enough as long as we have a decent savings buffer for replacing a car/ house maintainance. 

andys15

Combined take home is about £12200 per month. I take a grand a month to spend on me. My wife gives me £2500 a month and the rest she sorts out food and is a total spendaholoc with rest. 

Our current standard of living allows us to buy things when we want and I want that into retirement.