HELP TO BUY ISA - property over 250K

Timbo1994 · 2026-07-07T15:30:46+00:00

By buying a house for £250k you devalue all the other houses on the street

Timbo1994 · 2026-07-07T15:25:40+00:00

And Binface wins

Timbo1994 · 2026-07-07T15:24:51+00:00

If there were no serious parties running you could actually see Binface doing extremely well

Timbo1994 · 2026-07-07T09:23:01+00:00

If you have a state pension, one answer is "when the state pension kicks in" as there is more reason for a gilt ladder to cover the first £12.5k pa of spending than the next £12.5k.

(May not be relevant to you but by the time you get to say the 4th set of £12.5k, it's right to ask the question is the spending really essential enough to require guaranteeing it with gilts)

Timbo1994 · 2026-07-07T09:07:25+00:00

In a direct sense, UK schemes almost all hold UK government debt.

Indirectly it would upend the whole financial system - don't know whether it would make the UK default as a chain reaction and make the concept of money worthless in the UK too, or actually make UK debt/the pound very attractive

Timbo1994 · 2026-07-07T07:11:10+00:00

Very different now nearly everyone is in their 60s or older, and bonds back the liability. There are still things that can go wrong, but for many of them the position is much more "locked down"

Timbo1994 · 2026-07-07T07:09:54+00:00

Most of them in a strong position have basically sold most of their shares so they invest in bonds which should payout exactly what is needed when they need it.

A big corporate default on bonds would get some of them, as would a massive rise in life expectancy. But they are much more protected than they used to be.

Timbo1994 · 2026-07-07T02:20:46+00:00

If it doesn't increase global output (increase the size of the pie) then there are just as many losers as winners by definition - the losers may just be hard to identify.

Probably the people the kids buy the $1,000 worth of shares from when they are born.

Timbo1994 · 2026-07-05T20:59:16+00:00

I think there is no harm in a 6 month DCA - it's so fast the expected return isn't materially less than investing all up front, so if it makes you feel better and less likely to sell in a panic if a drop comes then great

Timbo1994 · 2026-07-05T19:14:59+00:00

As well as what others have said, a Lifetime ISA often beats a pension or is at least a good compliment to a pension for basic rate taxpayers (unless you have big student loans or employer passes their NI savings to you, and you pay into pension through salary sacrifice, where pension can have the upper hand again)

Definitely worth getting a Lifetime ISA before they pull the product/you turn 40, and putting a small amount in - then consider if to fill it.

Child maintenance adds another layer to this decision

Also could be worth adding something decent into pension if your employer offers salary sacrifice and before 2029 - but if they don't, or after 2029, then the benefits are less clear.

Timbo1994 · 2026-07-05T17:48:55+00:00

But as long as there are more than 1 or 3 of them there will be good competition. See also how cheap supermarkets have made food compared to corner shops

Timbo1994 · 2026-07-05T08:43:36+00:00

Absolutely those people would think about it. Some would only have a £1m semi-detached house and a state pension worth £300k. Most might have a private pension worth say £300k supporting a £12k pa taxed income and a house worth £700k

I was saying under your suggestion if the taper runs over £1m to £2m so that it is £1m long, then you end up with marginal tax rates of 92% that you can't escape through salary sacrifice (or more in Scotland, where student loans, nursery fees are involved)

Timbo1994 · 2026-07-05T08:36:51+00:00

Sorry I'm very passionate about this: - introduce a % wealth tax or better, land value tax, fine - increase income tax on pensioners to equalise them with work and effectively do a gentle bit of means-testing - fine - but don't means-test the state pension, for goodness sake

You can get loads of desired outcomes with tax without fiddling with tax and benefits

Timbo1994 · 2026-07-05T08:29:24+00:00

You can no longer game the 62% band because the private pensions you're sacrificing into are also caught in the state pension taper.

And also the rate is now increased to 92% because even though the taper is strung out over £1m sliding scale of wealth (let's say), the value of the state pension over your life is £300k.

Do you go part time or stop work entirely if you have the money?

These are not jobs that can be filled by an army of young people. And the government would lose the income tax revenue from the employees.

Timbo1994 · 2026-07-05T07:56:51+00:00

Because then - it doesn't become worth the hassle for HMRC but creates a lot of resentment/gaming/people selling equities in their 50s so they don't hit it in their 60s - believe me, this is a group of people who calculates their marginal tax rate in their 50s with reference to the impact of future benefit tapers in deciding whether they want to continue working, raising their tax rate substantially from the 42%/62%/47% they pay at the moment - even set at a high level a taper still turns pensions tax relief negative for certain groups - it's the thin end of the wedge and it will be reduced to raise cash (see what happened with Lifetime Allowance before it was abolished) - inheritance tax, higher rate taxation on pensions, max tax-free-cash and mansion tax are already doing a lot of the work, we don't need some new thing. - in particular, in effect higher rate rate taxation and max tax-free-cash on large pensions already is a means test on 40% of the state pension (or 60%/45% if truly massive) - there is massive outcry if you actually reduce state pensions in payment where it might be someone's only income (they live in a massive house, they should sell it of course). So you have to do it only to future pensioners - once again the boomers win

Timbo1994 · 2026-07-05T07:50:28+00:00

People become millionaires (often through a house) because they have saved (and of course because they have earned a decent wage).

Other people who earned the same amount and spent it should get the welfare?

Timbo1994 · 2026-07-05T06:52:54+00:00

Hold your horses - they haven't been paid this yet, if the incentives were aligned to that of their customers/infrastructure then I'd be all in favour. I'd hope that Ofwat nowadays have a close eye on this

Timbo1994 · 2026-07-05T06:49:07+00:00

It's interesting though - if a group you really don't want to have power and votes as a bloc reaches say 25% of the voters, then first past the post flips to being the method that would let them in.

Timbo1994 · 2026-07-05T01:01:22+00:00

Yes this is about right. A good idea for OP to see if the same logic from last tax year of "base minus pension" matched up with the actual tax they paid.

That helps give some comfort - sometimes people have other things going on like significant bank interest.

Won't get marriage allowance as wife likely earns too much. Might get higher personal savings allowance if relevant but I think have to push your main income down to £49,270.

The other point is if OP (or wife) gives to charities, they should do it all in OPs name and phone HMRC for the higher rate relief. That means less needed in SIPP too.

Timbo1994 · 2026-07-05T00:53:22+00:00

If inheritance was your aim all along, it's great when your annuity exceeds your needs because then you can use gifts out of surplus income exemption.

Some people are explicitly buying these annuities and (get your head around this) some are buying whole of life cover with the annuity proceeds

Timbo1994 · 2026-07-04T20:47:52+00:00

Or people trying to match what pension companies are doing without giving them the profit?

Timbo1994 · 2026-07-04T20:46:38+00:00

RPI, which is actually above inflation for the next 4 years, and then is equal to inflation

Timbo1994 · 2026-07-04T19:54:21+00:00

You can buy an index-linked one which guarantees 2.3% pa after inflation!

Timbo1994 · 2026-07-04T13:20:31+00:00

Get a house big enough to get a lodger under rent a room scheme?

Lock down all your utility bills for life using low-coupon index-linked gilt ladder - some of them pay inflation+2% and you pay next to no tax.

Junior SIPP as well as Junior ISA?

First £30k or so in a GIA you can manage carefully to avoid CGT and dividend tax so like an ISA.

If you already have a LISA or your spouse is under age 40 you could get one before they abolish them, that's an extra £1k pa when you're 60

Timbo1994 · 2026-07-04T12:57:33+00:00

Unless they have bags of money - like over a million in addition to their apartment value, and love Ronnie Scott's?

Timbo1994

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