investing for beginner

Agusya

MFW2026 said:

Are you aware you can increase your nhs pension? 

https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/member-hub/increasing-your-pension

I do but I dont understand anything on this website. It looks like as its made for someone who works there not who works for NHS heh

Agusya

bostonerimus said:

You have a good pension so I would not complicate things by opening a private pension as well, just use the DB NHS pension to the max, make sure you have a good amount of cash for emergency and you can put anything you have left into an S&S ISA where you can hope for some tax free growth and will have easy access to your money.

1) Save at least 6 months cash spending in the bank.
2) Pay off all high interest debt.
3) Put as much as you can into your NHS DB pension.
4) Open an S&S ISA with one of the big platforms (Vanguard, H&L etc..) and regularly buy a global stock tracker fund like Vanguard Global Equity Fund or the HSBC, iShares equivalents. This has risk, but you are guaranteed a life time pension from the NHS so you can take more risk in your ISA than a lot of people. When it goes up don't get cocky and when it goes down don't panic. 

this NHS pension used to be good but not anymore

MX5huggy

Agusya said:

bostonerimus said:

You have a good pension so I would not complicate things by opening a private pension as well, just use the DB NHS pension to the max, make sure you have a good amount of cash for emergency and you can put anything you have left into an S&S ISA where you can hope for some tax free growth and will have easy access to your money.

1) Save at least 6 months cash spending in the bank.
2) Pay off all high interest debt.
3) Put as much as you can into your NHS DB pension.
4) Open an S&S ISA with one of the big platforms (Vanguard, H&L etc..) and regularly buy a global stock tracker fund like Vanguard Global Equity Fund or the HSBC, iShares equivalents. This has risk, but you are guaranteed a life time pension from the NHS so you can take more risk in your ISA than a lot of people. When it goes up don't get cocky and when it goes down don't panic. 

this NHS pension used to be good but not anymore

The NHS pension is still a good scheme, the changes have benefited some and not others, but that is immaterial, stay in it. 

csgohan4

Agusya said:

eskbanker said:

Agusya said:

sevenhills said:

What are you saving for, how old are you, have you considered saving inside a pension to reclaim the 25% pension allowance?

Shares carry more risk, some people prefer low risk.

Im 40. Im saving up for early retirement. what 25% pension allowance?? Tell me more I do have nhs pension (but only been paying into it for 4 years or so)

It's not an 'allowance' as such - it's basic rate tax relief, so if you pay into a pension with money that's already been taxed, then you effectively get that back, i.e. if you were paid £100 gross, that would typically be £80 after deduction of 20% basic rate tax, but if you pay that £80 into a pension, it's grossed back up to £100 again. 

Having said that, you'd probably pay tax again on 75% of what you ultimately draw down from a pension, so the net gain is likely to be closer to 6.25% overall, although this is dependent on whether you're paying tax at basic or higher rates now and after retirement....

I dont understand anything of it . I looked into the website about NHS pension and literally its like its in a foreign language ,so I asked my smarter friend to check it out. Also no idea what they are talking about

If you do not understand the jargon, consider reading up/researching or getting an IFA who is familiar with the NHS pension to help guide you. 

There's alot of info you have been give and I can understand it can be overwhelming. Take it bitesize and take it from there

csgohan4

Agusya said:

bostonerimus said:

You have a good pension so I would not complicate things by opening a private pension as well, just use the DB NHS pension to the max, make sure you have a good amount of cash for emergency and you can put anything you have left into an S&S ISA where you can hope for some tax free growth and will have easy access to your money.

1) Save at least 6 months cash spending in the bank.
2) Pay off all high interest debt.
3) Put as much as you can into your NHS DB pension.
4) Open an S&S ISA with one of the big platforms (Vanguard, H&L etc..) and regularly buy a global stock tracker fund like Vanguard Global Equity Fund or the HSBC, iShares equivalents. This has risk, but you are guaranteed a life time pension from the NHS so you can take more risk in your ISA than a lot of people. When it goes up don't get cocky and when it goes down don't panic. 

this NHS pension used to be good but not anymore

Bit of sweeping statement, Not good for who? Is it better than current DC pension, almost certainly it is. 

Can you back your statement please

While the benefits have been eroded over the last 20 years, it's still a generous pension if not one of the

tebbins

At the end of the day it's your pension, your responsibility and there is information on the website that is available and accessible. In the forum, there are people with experience and knowledge of personal finance who can help explain things, answer questions and offer general comments, opinions and suggestions.
However, this forum is probably not the best place to moan about what you think you can't do. Having a defeatist attitude, giving up before you've even tried to understand "any" of it, is not going to help you understand it. You have to understand this pension in order to plan your future, make decisions and because one day you will rely on it for a significant part of your income. There is no choice in that regard, you just have to get through this initial pain barrier.

[Deleted User]

If I had 8k, I'd put £500 into crypto (not yet but in the next crash), £500 mixed into two or three companies. The rest of the money I'd use on my mortgage or put it in premium bonds. Perhaps 1k into the pension. Alternatively you could put 2k into gold (but GOLD tends to hover)

I have about 2k invested in shares and crypto. I never see it as a reliable thing. Could be gone when I wake up in the morning. Incidentally my pension is a big chunk of shares as well, but that has 35/40 years left.

csgohan4

[Deleted User] said:

If I had 8k, I'd put £500 into crypto (not yet but in the next crash), £500 mixed into two or three companies. The rest of the money I'd use on my mortgage or put it in premium bonds. Perhaps 1k into the pension. Alternatively you could put 2k into gold (but GOLD tends to hover)

I have about 2k invested in shares and crypto. I never see it as a reliable thing. Could be gone when I wake up in the morning. Incidentally my pension is a big chunk of shares as well, but that has 35/40 years left.

your risk appetite must be quite high. 

Some people would rather not gamble their pension away

Share are volatile and alot more risk is carried in them compared to funds of funds ergo index trackers

[Deleted User]

csgohan4 said:

Deleted_User said:

If I had 8k, I'd put £500 into crypto (not yet but in the next crash), £500 mixed into two or three companies. The rest of the money I'd use on my mortgage or put it in premium bonds. Perhaps 1k into the pension. Alternatively you could put 2k into gold (but GOLD tends to hover)

I have about 2k invested in shares and crypto. I never see it as a reliable thing. Could be gone when I wake up in the morning. Incidentally my pension is a big chunk of shares as well, but that has 35/40 years left.

your risk appetite must be quite high. 

Some people would rather not gamble their pension away

Share are volatile and alot more risk is carried in them compared to funds of funds ergo index trackers

A big chunk of the pension is also in funds. 10 years prior to retirement the pension is adjusted to become far safer. Over 40 years I think it is an acceptable risk. Hardly call it gambling my pension away. If it was 90% in shares perhaps.

I'd always make the point that a pension should be one of many options for old age. Even when I own a property I will still being doing other things to keep some money on the side as well as my pension. 

csgohan4

Deleted_User said:

csgohan4 said:

Deleted_User said:

If I had 8k, I'd put £500 into crypto (not yet but in the next crash), £500 mixed into two or three companies. The rest of the money I'd use on my mortgage or put it in premium bonds. Perhaps 1k into the pension. Alternatively you could put 2k into gold (but GOLD tends to hover)

I have about 2k invested in shares and crypto. I never see it as a reliable thing. Could be gone when I wake up in the morning. Incidentally my pension is a big chunk of shares as well, but that has 35/40 years left.

your risk appetite must be quite high. 

Some people would rather not gamble their pension away

Share are volatile and alot more risk is carried in them compared to funds of funds ergo index trackers

A big chunk of the pension is also in funds. 10 years prior to retirement the pension is adjusted to become far safer. Over 40 years I think it is an acceptable risk. Hardly call it gambling my pension away. If it was 90% in shares perhaps.

I'd always make the point that a pension should be one of many options for old age. Even when I own a property I will still being doing other things to keep some money on the side as well as my pension. 

Incidentally my pension is a big chunk of shares as well

Those are your words. Individual shares I assume?

Of which you neither clarified and made that statement without clarifying for the OP it is in funds in your Post

To simply go for crypto and individual shares YOLO, without looking at the bigger picture, the OP is new to investing and is unable to understand jargon, given from their own reading of the NHS pensions website, is counter productive. 

What are the chances of the OP understanding the length of research going into buying individual shares? DO you think they will understand what a P/E ratio is much less a NAV. 

I think your suggestions are risky and not suitable for a beginner investor imo.