50 yo looking for investment advice

KJD73

Hi, I’m soon to be turning 50 and have around £20,000 I’d like to invest for my retirement. Not really looked into it much yet so happy to accept all advice. Cheers in advance. 

InvesterJones

Providing advice for where you should invest is a regulated activity which means only qualified people are legally able to do so.

KJD73

I’m not looking for actual specifics just areas to look into. 

artyboy

KJD73 said:

I’m not looking for actual specifics just areas to look into. 

Firstly welcome. Secondly... noone on here is really going to have the first clue of where to start in terms of 'areas' because you have provided almost no information. 

As a starting point, how long are you thinking until you retire? What is your appetite for risk (ie loss) with the £20k? Are you employed and in a pension scheme where putting more in could get you some decent tax relief or additional employer contributions. Do you have dependents or anyone else that your finances are commingled with? What is your state pension situation/forecast?

And so on... if you want suggestions, we need a lot more information.

Otherwise I'd suggest either putting into an NS&I savings account, or putting it all on No. 18 on the roulette wheel. Or something in between those two...  

Linton

What other provision to you have for your retirement?  The most efficient way of saving for retirement is usually via an employer's pension especially if they will match it.

bostonerimus

Look at your pension first. You will hopefully get investment returns, but you are sure to get immediate tax benefits.

Albermarle

KJD73 said:

Hi, I’m soon to be turning 50 and have around £20,000 I’d like to invest for my retirement. Not really looked into it much yet so happy to accept all advice. Cheers in advance. 

There are numerous options, but as you have supplied almost no info about yourself or your circumstances, then any suggestions would be a guess at best.

KJD73

Ok here goes. My mortgage is paid when I reach the ripe old age of 67. So let’s say another 17 years. I’m self employed and have been for a long time. I have no other pension other than the state pension which I’m fully paid into. Forecast for that in 17 years is £185 the last time I looked. Obviously the lower the risk the better but I understand to gain the most then the risk would be higher. I have two kids they are accounted for. My wife has worked for the nhs since leaving university so her pension should be pretty decent. I am in the building trade and my plan has always been to flip properties but I thought I’d see if there are better alternatives out there. 

LHW99

Do you have any emergency cash apart from your £20k? If so, you could open a SIPP and put in an amount up to your after tax income (each year) and the government will add an amount equivalent to 20% tax rate (if you are in a higher bracket the additional tax is accounted for by increasing you personal allowance when you do a tax return (I think).

If you don't have an emergency fund, then splitting at least part of it between various duration savings accounts (instant access, 1 year fixed, 2 year fixed etc) would be sensible.

retiringtoosoon

The correct answer is pension. Yur velcome 

El_Torro

From the information provided so far it does sound like a pension is the best place for most of this money, after you have made sure you have an adequate emergency fund. 

Since your wife has an NHS pension and you will hopefully both get full state pension this is a good start. Probably not enough to support you both in retirement though, depending on how much you will spend. 

Assuming that a pension is the right choice you need to decide what you will invest in and on what platform. Some platforms provide limited choices (not necessarily a bad thing), some provide thousands of choices. If you are going with a platform with a lot of choices I suggest sticking to a multi asset fund. Or even a global tracker, if you can stomach the volatility.