Financial plan: What would you do?

MX5huggy

A SIPP is just a better option than an ISA because of tax advantages as long as you accept you can’t access the money until 57/58 by selecting that fund you are really showing that you understand it’s a long term hold (you can actually change what you hold in the SIPP and / or transfer the SIPP to a different provider anytime you like). So yes a SIPP is better than an ISA but I would say that if you had chosen a different fund as well. 

There are cheaper platforms than H&L. 

Joey2013

Just that you know you can get these vanguard funds on other platforms and they would be cheaper to hold than on Hargreaves Lansdowne who charge 0.45% platform fee.

Richard1212

Increase pension contributions. Go for shares and leave whatever you think you'll need for 100% security into savings accounts, easy access or fixed depending on what suits you best. Good luck.

thenewcomer

i know increase pension contribution is tax sensible, but i think that is too much reliance on NHS, which we do not know for sure if they will pay out as much as they are now in 20 years time. 

how much tax benefits do we get for increasing NHS contribution? Majority of my colleagues do not do that. 

LifeAfterForty

thenewcomer said:

i know increase pension contribution is tax sensible, but i think that is too much reliance on NHS, which we do not know for sure if they will pay out as much as they are now in 20 years time. 

how much tax benefits do we get for increasing NHS contribution? Majority of my colleagues do not do that. 

Additional NHS pension is deducted from your pay before the tax is calculated. So if you're a higher rate tax payer, a lower percentage of your earnings (or none of it) will be subject to that 40% tax. 

LifeAfterForty

MX5huggy said:

A SIPP is just a better option than an ISA because of tax advantages as long as you accept you can’t access the money until 57/58 by selecting that fund you are really showing that you understand it’s a long term hold (you can actually change what you hold in the SIPP and / or transfer the SIPP to a different provider anytime you like). So yes a SIPP is better than an ISA but I would say that if you had chosen a different fund as well. 

There are cheaper platforms than H&L. 

Joey2013 said:

Just that you know you can get these vanguard funds on other platforms and they would be cheaper to hold than on Hargreaves Lansdowne who charge 0.45% platform fee.

Thanks for your help guys. I'm on a clearer path now, and I'll do some shopping around