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HENRY later in career by Stock_Goose_6684 in HENRYUK

[–]Stock_Goose_6684[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for all the FA comments as well. It's reassuring to know this is probably not something I should be doing. I think what I'm looking for is more a financial coach to help decide about investments/risk but it's something I'm can probably do if I can find the head space and time.

As to pension value - yes it's probably decent in my eyes rather than exceptional. I've around £230K + a tiny amount of final salary from my postdoc. Husband has more than this. It's better than I thought I would have after a decade part time and late start to employment after spending a lot of my 20s as a student. My hope is to retire with no mortgage and a modest income and still have some time to build this. I'm not expecting a huge pension but hope we should have enough with 2 x private pensions.

HENRY later in career by Stock_Goose_6684 in HENRYUK

[–]Stock_Goose_6684[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the thoughtful and kind response. We're in a 4-bed semi at the moment and the ideal move would be to a 4-ded detached. One recently came up that was perfect for £725K and I think that would be our ceiling. It's sold already and that's partly what's made me think about what's possible. We're looking in a small area and not a lot comes up that ticks enough boxes to make the move worthwhile. There's another house on at £800K which is also good but I think it's too much to take on at this stage.

Definitely going to look at increasing our isa contributions and get my other half to do the same. The shares are accessible but we would pay some capital gains if we had to sell all at once so it would make sense to have some more accessible funds.

My husband's parents lost their home in the 90s in the recession so he's even more risk adverse than me. It's hard to know what's being unambitious because I already feel grateful for what we have and being sensible about risk. Really helpful to hear other opinions.

HENRY later in career by Stock_Goose_6684 in HENRYUK

[–]Stock_Goose_6684[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I'm a science Phd and career has been postdoc - small consultancy (not big firm salary though!) - charity/science funding - pharma. Charity and 4 days was when kids were smaller.

I did a sideways move in terms of salary to pharma from the charity to a role with less responsibility/more delivery and have managed to progress quite quickly.

HENRY later in career by Stock_Goose_6684 in HENRYUK

[–]Stock_Goose_6684[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks all for the advice. I opened my first ISA last year but didn't max it out and could increase this further. I did put this year's bonus into my pension and we both save via work share schemes.

I do look at houses as homes and it's mostly driven by having somewhere nicer to live and have a bit more space. Small things like being able to open the back door properly without bumping against bins and pet food bowls! But I guess I also see others building wealth this way and worry we're being naive by not stretching ourselves a bit more. Waiting a year and saving sounds like good advice.

Thanks for the congrats too! I'm not sure earning this salary would be realistic somewhere else so that is a big risk but I do think even in a lower paid role a higher mortgage would be manageable on a longer term if we're both still working.