What to do with £115k?

P1Fanatic

SieIso said:

Albermarle said:

I have £115,000 sitting in a Lloyds current account at the moment that I feel is a poor use of this capital

It is.

You could put some in a savings account paying 2.5% to 4.5% interest.

You could pay off some of your mortgage with it ( depending on the mortage Ts and Cs)

You could put more in your S&S ISA

You could add to your pension pot ( it is  not that big considering your age )

What should my pension pot be at?

Impossible to say as depends on when you want to retire (as it stands you could take your pension aged 57), what kind of lifestyle you want, what debts you would have, what level of risk you want to take, how much pension your partner has etc. Pension is always the first recommendation especially if you are a higher rate taxpayer. If you add a lump sum you will get an automatic tax rebate - from memory that's at basic rate tax and you have to claim the extra if a higher rate payer. If you do that know you can do another on April 6th.

Going forward you may want to review you pension contributions i.e. if your company is matching pension contributions you should be maxing that as a bare minimum. Think of it like this - anything you do with money from your net wages has already lost tax and NI before you do anything with it. If your company uses salary sacrifice you get the tax and NI rebates added onto your contributions which makes a big differecen. But you can contribute up to £40k pa (more if you have spare allowance from previous 3 years). And who knows if this tax benefits will last so best to make the most of them.

As above LISA is only useful for retirement if you are close (or soon will be) to max annual pension allowance. But either way I would open one as as once you hit 40 you cant.

P1Fanatic

You might want to read this re: Tax relief on pensions:

https://www.gov.uk/tax-on-your-private-pension/pension-tax-relief

badger09

eskbanker said:

Middle_of_the_Road said:

Have you considered a LISA. Available before age 40.

Lifetime ISA (LISA): how they work & best buys - Money Saving Expert

"If you're pushing 40, make sure you open one before you hit the cut-off age. You can continue to put money into the LISA until the day before your 50th birthday (once you're 50 or over you'll continue to get interest or investment growth/losses but you won't be able to pay in any more)."

Just to be clear, LISAs can only be used (penalty-free) towards a first-time property purchase at least 12 months after opening, whereas OP anticipates buying "in the near future".

LISAs can be used for retirement funding instead though, but will usually be beaten by pension contributions:

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/lifetime-isas/#pension-2

As OP already has a mortgage, LISA can’t be used for house purchase. 

Agree re pension contributions. 

SieIso

When I quote someone I am advised that my post is caught in MSE's filters, not sure how to combat this.

What I wanted to say is that I contribute 8% of my salary towards my pension and my employer contributes 11.5%.

Albermarle

SieIso said:

When I quote someone I am advised that my post is caught in MSE's filters, not sure how to combat this.

What I wanted to say is that I contribute 8% of my salary towards my pension and my employer contributes 11.5%.

Generous employer ! I think you need to have made 10 posts before you can do some things.

retiringtoosoon

SieIso said:

When I quote someone I am advised that my post is caught in MSE's filters, not sure how to combat this.

What I wanted to say is that I contribute 8% of my salary towards my pension and my employer contributes 11.5%.

This is probably why your pension pot is quite low. Chuck another 20% employee contributions in.

cloud_dog

SieIso said:

Albermarle said:

I have £115,000 sitting in a Lloyds current account at the moment that I feel is a poor use of this capital

It is.

You could put some in a savings account paying 2.5% to 4.5% interest.

You could pay off some of your mortgage with it ( depending on the mortage Ts and Cs)

You could put more in your S&S ISA

You could add to your pension pot ( it is  not that big considering your age )

What should my pension pot be at?

Fidelity offer some useful guides that might help you put your pension situation in to some context, with the Power of 7 being one:

https://retirement.fidelity.co.uk/retirement-savings-guidelines/#/savings-factor/article

Albermarle

retiringtoosoon said:

SieIso said:

When I quote someone I am advised that my post is caught in MSE's filters, not sure how to combat this.

What I wanted to say is that I contribute 8% of my salary towards my pension and my employer contributes 11.5%.

This is probably why your pension pot is quite low. Chuck another 20% employee contributions in.

Normally adding 20% overall at age 39, is a lot higher than most people add. 
The pension pot might be on the low side due to a low salary, or the OP has only recently increased their contributions.

retiringtoosoon

Albermarle said:

retiringtoosoon said:

SieIso said:

When I quote someone I am advised that my post is caught in MSE's filters, not sure how to combat this.

What I wanted to say is that I contribute 8% of my salary towards my pension and my employer contributes 11.5%.

This is probably why your pension pot is quite low. Chuck another 20% employee contributions in.

Normally adding 20% overall at age 39, is a lot higher than most people add. 
The pension pot might be on the low side due to a low salary, or the OP has only recently increased their contributions.

Most people don’t have adequate pension provision. Don’t be most people.

eastmidsaver

what a nice problem to have.
although surprised there is not more in the stocks and share isa.
if keeping cash, consider using a cash ISA,   to help save on some tax on interest earnt.