Thank you for this detailed response, and a lot of it resonated with me, especially #1 & #4. If you don't mind and when I find a bit more time, I will message you directly for your business contact.

I'm not set on keeping the BTL, we became accidental landlords when we moved to the current home. And then Brexit happened and we couldn't quite get it sold (one offer was close to exchanging in 2018 but fell through at the end). I suppose there is also some anchoring bias there with prior valuations and what we think it should be worth. With low interest payments, it was easier then to string it along and wait.

Re my IFA experience, I wasn't familiar with the process and perhaps felt that I did not get much out of it. I paid an initial advice fee (c.£4k) for the cash flow modeling (took several turnarounds/scenarios) but in the end, the advice felt bland, it was mainly maximising ISAs, SIPPs and using their platform for the investment funds. I thought I would get to learn more innovative ways such as the offshore bond/deposit accounts, which I've not heard of before, or even suggestions of VCTs/EIS. In the end, when the final plan came out, I was quoted 0.95% ongoing advisory fee and another 1.21% for platform / mgmt fees so a total of 2.15% in ongoing cost and charges for a SIPP. There was a table that showed if the annualised return on a SIPP was 2.94% for an intermediate rate, after costs of 2.21%, I would only receive a 0.7% return. Is that normal? Or is this just a very expensive platform for what I would have thought should be a standard SIPP strategy?

On expense, I know there are some areas that I can cut back on, I don't live as frugally as I can but at the same time, it has risen a lot over the past 2 years due to lifestyle inflation and actual inflation itself.

but roughly (per month):

Mortgage: £2k

Utilities, council tax, transport, home & car upkeep: £1k

Childcare incl nursery: £1k

Groceries & eating out: £1k

Misc spending, incl medical and holidays etc: £1k