where to invest £500 per month

happymum37

Hello
After paying off the mortgage on our house whooop we have £500 per month to invest.  I would love this to grow enough to enable my hubby to retire at 60 on 14 years. 
We save in our house / holiday / life fund about a further 400 a month so ideally this £500 won't need to be touched

I'm happy to take a medium risk approach. Any more makes me wobble
Thank you

El_Torro

If you're going to retire in 14 years at 60 and you don't need the money before then the most tax efficient thing to do, as well as the way to probably get the best return, is to put all the £500 into a pension. Either yours, or his, or both.

If you don't know what fund to use in your pension then probably the best thing to do is just to add it to a workplace pension. Assuming of course that the workplace pension is invested appropriately for your circumstances.

ColdIron

A pension will turn that £500 into £625 straight away

happymum37

I have a police pension and already over pay by£125 per month.  I'm part time and will only have 26 years of part time service at 60 our retirement age
Can't change that till April next year now anyway as they won't let you increase AVC mid year.  

Hybby gas a terrible avviva one his boss pays 5%into I think and he pays 10%
I thought maybe a long term investment was better? 

Thank you

El_Torro

happymum37 said:

I have a police pension and already over pay by£125 per month.  I'm part time and will only have 26 years of part time service at 60 our retirement age
Can't change that till April next year now anyway as they won't let you increase AVC mid year.  

Hybby gas a terrible avviva one his boss pays 5%into I think and he pays 10%
I thought maybe a long term investment was better? 

Thank you

Why is your husband's Aviva pension terrible? The employer's contribution of 5% isn't overly generous but I wouldn't call it terrible. If you mean that it has performed terribly then over the last couple of years returns have not been great, but that's not the pension provider's fault. 

What do you mean by a long term investment? A pension is considered by most people to be a long term investment. 

xylophone

I thought maybe a long term investment was better? 

What is a pension but a long term investment? And one with tax relief.

jimjames

If you don't want a pension and the tax relief that goes with it then a S&S ISA is always an option. Same investment options as most pensions but tax free once inside so can be a good option for income if pension will take you into paying tax.

Albermarle

Hybby gas a terrible avviva one 

I think before going further you need to explain this comment.
Firstly Aviva are one of the biggest and well known.
Secondly - whoever the pension is with what matters is how the money is invested within the pension. Do you know what the investment funds are ?

dunstonh

Hybby gas a terrible avviva one his boss pays 5%into I think and he pays 10%

Whilst not as good a public sector pension, why are you referring to it as terrible?

I thought maybe a long term investment was better? 

Yes.   And the pension tax wrapper is almost certainly the best wrapper to hold the investment in.
Pension trumps ISA for most people.  And pensions and ISAs can share the same investment options and same charges.  So, the only difference can be the taxation and maturity process.   Your stated objective (albeit with limited info) indicates the pension wrapper is likely to be the most suitable.

happymum37

El_Torro said:

happymum37 said:

I have a police pension and already over pay by£125 per month.  I'm part time and will only have 26 years of part time service at 60 our retirement age
Can't change that till April next year now anyway as they won't let you increase AVC mid year.  

Hybby gas a terrible avviva one his boss pays 5%into I think and he pays 10%
I thought maybe a long term investment was better? 

Thank you

Why is your husband's Aviva pension terrible? The employer's contribution of 5% isn't overly generous but I wouldn't call it terrible. If you mean that it has performed terribly then over the last couple of years returns have not been great, but that's not the pension provider's fault. 

What do you mean by a long term investment? A pension is considered by most people to be a long term investment. 

Sorry should be clearer. 

It has performed terribly . He has 98k in it and is 46 years old. 
But he used to only put 5% in himself (before we were aware of stuff like this) and a year ago went to 10% 
Thank you

happymum37

dunstonh said:

Hybby gas a terrible avviva one his boss pays 5%into I think and he pays 10%

Whilst not as good a public sector pension, why are you referring to it as terrible?

I thought maybe a long term investment was better? 

Yes.   And the pension tax wrapper is almost certainly the best wrapper to hold the investment in.
Pension trumps ISA for most people.  And pensions and ISAs can share the same investment options and same charges.  So, the only difference can be the taxation and maturity process.   Your stated objective (albeit with limited info) indicates the pension wrapper is likely to be the most suitable.

Thank you.  
I'm clearly not very knowledge here but I worry if everything goes into pension and one of us dies we lose a chunk of it. 
I also like the thought of a lump sum we could use if we decided to buy a camper van 😅 or more realistically paying something towards our kids first house. 
I was looking at bonds/  s&s isas. 
Pondering now over raising his pension contributions..