Saving/investing income - in a lucky position with no idea where to start

n15h

There's a famous saying - "if you can't invest for 10 years, don't even think about investing for 10 minutes". It's not a literal saying, but along the lines of the guidance shared on this thread i.e., think about what money you can leave invested for the long term without needing to get to it (unless in dire situations e.g., an emergency). For anything less than 10 years, I suggest looking at savings accounts, ISAs, premium bonds.

DRS1

Probably not the best thing to suggest on a Savings board but do consider spending some of this money on something you will remember - Christmas in Australia a cruise of the fjords a trip to Tibet or whatever.  I say this as, if you succeed in starting a family, life will change.

PropertyGuru_Wannabe

This answer can be extremely complex or very simple. I’ll give you the simple version. As others have said, self education is a must. What are both your final goals in life? Hopefully you can answer that question and it shouldn’t be just I want to be financially independent. Given that both of you are just below the 40% bracket, I don’t think putting money into a private pension is a good idea until you have prioritised your LISA and then S&S ISA for both of you. That should take up about half of your earnings.

You will need emergency funds and money to purchase a vehicle perhaps or maintain your home. Any extras you can put into a private pension but Savvy astute people will know what best to do that money but that will go into the complex answer so I won’t go into it. You can get a property to rent out using a company but that may be a lot of work and education for you to take on especially if you don’t wish to expand your portfolio.

Keep it simple, invest your money for long term, watch the funds compound growth and you should be well on your way to be financially independent by 55 if not earlier. Good luck!

Vitor

• Ensure you have wills, until married there's no automatic inheritance for the surviving partner. If your pensions include a death in service payout, may not need additional life assurance. 
• Build a proper emergency fund in cash, 3 to 6 months of essential spending held in a high-interest easy-access account; liquidity buys time, and time prevents panic-selling
• Maximise the employer-matched pension contributions to reduce taxable income
• Open a Stocks and Shares ISA and drip-feed monthly into FTSE and global trackers
• Avoid buy-to-let as a beginner, for now; a simple diversified portfolio will do more work with less risk and far less hassle.

A good independent adviser (IFA), charging a fixed fee, will help you weigh up the options and model different financial scenarios (career break, fertility treatment, relocating). Preparation would involve: earnings details, pension statements, spending estimates, savings balances and rough goals.

badger09

I’m puzzled why posters are recommending LISA in relation to property purchase. 

OP owns their own home mortgage free. No mention of properly owned by partner, but next house purchase likely to be £450-£550k, which rules out LISA anyway. 

PropertyGuru_Wannabe

Just to clarify, the OP has already said she has maxed out work pension and will speak to partner to do the same. 

LISA is not only for property purchase so is well worth it long term. 25% added on top every year and tax free. What’s not to like about LISA? Maybe read up on it more?

eskbanker

PropertyGuru_Wannabe said:

LISA is not only for property purchase so is well worth it long term. 25% added on top every year and tax free. What’s not to like about LISA? Maybe read up on it more?

Just to be clear, the 25% bonus is added once per contribution, not 'every year' as such.

Albermarle

n15h said:

There's a famous saying - "if you can't invest for 10 years, don't even think about investing for 10 minutes". It's not a literal saying, but along the lines of the guidance shared on this thread i.e., think about what money you can leave invested for the long term without needing to get to it (unless in dire situations e.g., an emergency). For anything less than 10 years, I suggest looking at savings accounts, ISAs, premium bonds.

If you are more in the 5 to 10 year time frame, then 100% cash is not normally recommended.
Usual guidance is a mix of cash and medium risk investments.
The chance of investment losses is already quite small by the time you reach 8 years, based on history.

claire111

Have you thought about NHS Additional Pension ? If you are not familiar with it and many/most NHS staff are not then look into it. It works like an index linked annuity and when I researched it for myself some years ago it was incredible value taking into account tax relief but of course may have changed now. When you get your quote come back here with the figures and someone will double check if its good value for you.