I am at a loss as to what to do…

Alexland

Cus said:

I would recommend only saving into a sipp for now. 

They've got access to a workplace pension where they can get employer matched contributions. They are still young(ish) and are yet to establish cash savings or anything towards a house deposit. Is a second pension really a priority?

eskbanker

nottsphil said:

Cus said:

Edit to add: if you need the money in more accessible places you can have isas and savings that are locked or difficult to take out quickly 

That really doesn't make much sense, does it!

It makes sense in its context of more accessible than a SIPP - obviously savings accounts can be anywhere along a spectrum of immediately accessible to locked away for n months/years, but this can be readily customised according to preference, whereas a SIPP can only be accessed at 55/57 by regulation....

Cus

eskbanker said:

nottsphil said:

Cus said:

Edit to add: if you need the money in more accessible places you can have isas and savings that are locked or difficult to take out quickly 

That really doesn't make much sense, does it!

It makes sense in its context of more accessible than a SIPP - obviously savings accounts can be anywhere along a spectrum of immediately accessible to locked away for n months/years, but this can be readily customised according to preference, whereas a SIPP can only be accessed at 55/57 by regulation....

Exactly.  The OP might need the money for key purchases before OP is 57 years old. If it takes a few days to liquidate investments to get cash, that is still sufficient to prevent impulsive actions.

Cus

Alexland said:

Cus said:

I would recommend only saving into a sipp for now. 

They've got access to a workplace pension where they can get employer matched contributions. They are still young(ish) and are yet to establish cash savings or anything towards a house deposit. Is a second pension really a priority?

I think you missed my point sorry 

nottsphil

Cus said:

eskbanker said:

nottsphil said:

Cus said:

Edit to add: if you need the money in more accessible places you can have isas and savings that are locked or difficult to take out quickly 

That really doesn't make much sense, does it!

It makes sense in its context of more accessible than a SIPP - obviously savings accounts can be anywhere along a spectrum of immediately accessible to locked away for n months/years, but this can be readily customised according to preference, whereas a SIPP can only be accessed at 55/57 by regulation....

Exactly.  The OP might need the money for key purchases before OP is 57 years old. If it takes a few days to liquidate investments to get cash, that is still sufficient to prevent impulsive actions.

Oh, I see. I didn't know SIPPS were so inaccessible.

EDIT
Apologies for the criticism of you advising SIPPS. This was solely based on Eskbanker implying the OP would be unable to  access it for 20 years.

mattojgb

Bridlington1 said:

First of all well done on overcoming your addiction. 

If you're looking to save regularly from zero savings then regular savers are worth looking at. These have a limit on how much you can deposit each month (usually £50-£500/mth max) but usually pay a higher interest than other account types. There's a list of the top regular savers on moneyfacts (see below but remember to change the amount so that you don't miss any accounts):
https://moneyfactscompare.co.uk/savings-accounts/regular-savings-accounts/?quick-links-first=false

These accounts are also discussed in the main regular savers thread:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6106986/regular-savings-accounts-the-best-currently-available-list/p1

In your position I would open a few regular savers and start paying funds into them regularly in order to build up your savings and maximise your savings interest. Another advantage of using a few regular savers is that your savings naturally become spread out over a few different banks/building societies, which is useful if a bank's internet banking goes down for a day, one of your accounts gets frozen etc as you still have access to some of your savings if necessary.

redistribute said:

A s&s ISA looks and sounds appealing to me atm too.

Does this sound stupid?

A LISA of some sort taking advantage of the 4k plus 25%; s&s ISA and then looking into current and potentially a second pension?

Is this a realistic and sensible option with where I am at - with no savings and 1k per months to invest across the three products?

I would suggest you focus your attention on building some cash savings for now, particularly if you decide to purchase a property. By all means do some research into S&S ISAs in the meantime but I would be inclined to wait until you've a reasonable amount of savings before actually investing in them.

If you decide to buy a property then I would stick with a cash LISA, rather than S&S LISA for now. For the best cash LISAs see:
https://moneyfactscompare.co.uk/isa/lifetime-isas/?quick-links-first=false

I'd agree with Bridlington's advice - regular savers and a cash LISA. Once you have roughly £10-£15k in easily accessible savings you can then think about investing in longer term investments.