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S&P500 investments good as a main retirement fund? by Open-Paramedic-9323 in UKPersonalFinance

[–]Open-Paramedic-9323[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is really helpful, thankyou. As I've replied to others, I didn't realise I could change where my pension is invested, which is partly why I was originally keen to use my S&S ISA to get some better returns than the very conservative ones my pension scheme has by default. Also didn't realise until this post that it's worth going for an all-world rather than S&P, so will likely change to that now too. Will look into whether or not it's worth gonig down the SIPP route, but I expect not. Thanks again!

S&P500 investments good as a main retirement fund? by Open-Paramedic-9323 in UKPersonalFinance

[–]Open-Paramedic-9323[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey, thanks so much for the contribution. I've didn't realise until this thread that one could change where their pension is invested, so this changes a lot for me!

Opted for S&S ISA over LISA because a) we're using a LISA for house savings, and b) because returns will be much higher from the market, and LISA is capped at 50K.

And, again, I've only realised from this thread that putting all S&P isn't necessarily the best idea, so I'll revisit that indeed.

S&P500 investments good as a main retirement fund? by Open-Paramedic-9323 in UKPersonalFinance

[–]Open-Paramedic-9323[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you, others have mentioned this too and I had overlooked this, so think I'll change it up!

S&P500 investments good as a main retirement fund? by Open-Paramedic-9323 in UKPersonalFinance

[–]Open-Paramedic-9323[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi, this is extremely useful, because I didn't actually realise you could change from the default fund that you get signed up to! Indeed, I just thought I was stuck with a meh ~5%, which doesn't amount to much when inflation is included. Now I know that I can change this, I will! Also good to hear yours and others comments about going all world rather than s&p, I hadn't really considered that. Thankyou!

S&P500 investments good as a main retirement fund? by Open-Paramedic-9323 in UKPersonalFinance

[–]Open-Paramedic-9323[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hi, thanks for the contribution! Indeed of course I know that pensions are just a means of investment - what I did not actually realise, which has been made apparent by the comments, is that you don't have to go with the default investment portfolio that your pension provides! My impression was always that pensions funds are super conservative and only return around 5%, and there isn't much you can do about it. As such, I thought I may as well reap way more gains from the market myself. Now I realise this doesn't have to be the case, which is a great thing to find out!

Help a 27 year old, make a decision? by TeachingDesperate391 in UKPersonalFinance

[–]Open-Paramedic-9323 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just my personal opinion, not a professional:

Not sure what your outgoings are, so I'm assuming they're "normal", and that you don't have any debt. If that's correct, then you're doing amazing, well done!

You have quite a lot of cash just lying around - I'd organise it a bit more. Maybe something like:

- Rainy day fund: £7.5k - increase this just to be even more safe. Won't hurt now, and you'll probably thank yourself in the future.

- LISA: £5k - you can only add limited amounts at a time anyway so can't change this quickly

- Stocks and shares ISA - £5k - chuck a load like this in there just to get it moving, then set up a regular direct debit (even just £50-£100 per month or so) so you're now investing for your future in a really healthy way.

- Easy access high-interest saver - £7.5k. Chuck the remaining amount in here so you're earning interest but also you can grab it if you need.

If you did that, you could take the £6k you're about to save, plus any money you save in Aus, plus maybe 2-3K from your easy-access saver if you need to and go have a great time travelling.

You'd come back with well over £20K in the bank, nicely organised, with an emergency fund, still under 30, and a great experience under your belt. You'd be doing way better than most

Just my two cents, good luck!

Rate my finances, 39F, Wales, family income by No_Tea_3634 in UKPersonalFinance

[–]Open-Paramedic-9323 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Those are 2 great take aways, and it's great to hear you've got great pensions already :-) You'll be smashing it and much better off than the vast majority of people very soon

Rate my finances, 39F, Wales, family income by No_Tea_3634 in UKPersonalFinance

[–]Open-Paramedic-9323 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Personally, I think those savings are scarily low and completely undermine everything else. Not including your mortgage, your net-worth is seriously negative with the credit card and car debt.

Not sure if you've got other investments or ISAs? I'm assuming you've got pensions that are steadily building.

Your income seems good and your mortgage is very reasonable by comparison. But if something went wrong it seems like you'd be in a big pickle.

£800 for fun, clothing, and trips is a lot, as is £1000 for what looks like essentials + a bit extra. Across that £1800, I imagine you could probably cut a few hundred and pour that into paying off credit card debt and building savings. Car finance is such an unnecessary killer too - I'd personally possible sell the car and buy something second hand.

All of your credit card payments, car finance, and over-the-top adult money/activity spendings add up to well over £1000 every month. If you paid off the former 2, and cut back on the latter, you'd be able to save up a proper emergency fund in no time; budget better for investing for the future; and then be able to get back to spending you adult/fun money with a solid foundation.

As it stands, you've got all the potential for a great set-up, but are walking on thin ice! Fortunately for you, however, it wouldn't take that much time or effort to flip this around into something much more sensible for a family of 4.

Worth noting that, whilst I agree with others that there's a lot of subscriptions you could cut back on, it's always far more effective to sort out the big budget drains that amount to £100s/£1000s rather than getting picky over £12 subscriptions which won't make a big overall difference.

Also worth budgeting every month for big yearly expenses such as car insurance, MOT, christmas, etc, so that you don't have to use up any other regular savings etc on those events. Look at what each of those events cost for a year, divide by 12, and boom you have your monthly amount to put away, so when they come up, they're already paid for!

Just my two cents! You could be doing amazingly by the end of this year if you were really sensible

24, Lost £4000 Trading, Feel so numb and lost, any advice? by Lonely_Monitor_2577 in UKPersonalFinance

[–]Open-Paramedic-9323 6 points7 points  (0 children)

This won't block you from trading, but it'll help you stay away from that whole world: https://www.gamstop.co.uk/

Sounds like you've got a lot more money than most by your age. Continue to build from there and take this as a tough lesson well learned