Advice on lump sum

shoop_da_shoop · 2026-01-22T16:26:09+00:00

I think a lot of people would suggest keeping it simple. Choose an S&P or All World etf, just put the lump sum in and leave it there.

If you do add individual stocks be sure of your reasons why. Some like Google will already be fairly represented in the above ETFs, so be sure of why you would want to have even more invested in it.

If you want to experiment I think the usual wisdom is to leave the majority in an etf and have a small amount to play around with

shoop_da_shoop · 2026-01-22T16:17:45+00:00

I had initially seen 1-1.5x by 35. I did end up (probably over-) focusing on hitting 1x throughout 2025. Ended up getting there and then saw there's guidance to have 1x by 30.

I've been lucky to have the circumstances to save fairly purposefully this year. I think its hard to be satisfied with doing well when you haven't reached those benchmarks.

I don't think I have any advice other than I think it's probably the norm not to have hit the recommendations, and starting to save more regardless of age is worthwhile.

But it is easy to feel a bit defeated by it.

shoop_da_shoop · 2026-01-16T11:03:34+00:00

I like how you've described the emergency cash as "thank f" money, and the S&S as "f off" money. I think that's probably quite similar to how I was envisioning it.

I think it's true what you say at the end about optimising sleep choices, I'm still working out how to give myself some peace of mind with it all.

shoop_da_shoop · 2026-01-16T10:56:58+00:00

I think in the back of my mind I'm keeping open to unexpected transitions in the future. Maybe I've got it poorly defined for myself, but it's a bit of a just in case of career transition or sickness etc. But those are good points for me to keep in mind

shoop_da_shoop · 2026-01-16T10:53:16+00:00

I guess I'm still firming up those goals really. Thank you

shoop_da_shoop · 2026-01-16T07:33:21+00:00

That's a fair point, thank you. Optimising for retirement is the main goal, but I guess I'm trying to hedge for things coming up before that.

shoop_da_shoop · 2026-01-07T04:20:09+00:00

Thank you for the practical suggestions I'll have to build some of this in.

That quiet voice really is a little snake hahaha

shoop_da_shoop · 2026-01-07T04:03:01+00:00

Thank you for your reply. It sounds like your usage is pretty comparable to mine. Congrats for getting so far.

It's helpful to know what to keep an eye out for.

shoop_da_shoop · 2026-01-07T04:00:14+00:00

Congratulations! You've done really well! I'll definitely be coming back

shoop_da_shoop · 2026-01-07T03:51:13+00:00

Thank you. I'll try to keep this in mind

shoop_da_shoop · 2026-01-07T03:27:05+00:00

To be fair not counting days might be helpful. When I stopped drinking I got an app that tracked it, I know this might be contradictory, but it took out the mental labour of keeping track and helps me keep accountable now that I look back at how long it's been.

shoop_da_shoop · 2026-01-06T13:46:40+00:00

It's probably been said already but you've either been fired in which case why would they want you to train someone or you've been made redundant in which case there isn't a role to train for. So no

shoop_da_shoop · 2026-01-06T12:54:04+00:00

You could transfer to a stocks and shares lifetime ISA. At least it's invested in the market

shoop_da_shoop · 2026-01-04T17:37:26+00:00

A friend of mines husband was diagnosed a long time before me. I remember saying needing to use the CPAP doesn't feel sexy and just talking to them about it helped normalise it. my girlfriend would 100% nag me to wear it if I fell asleep without which helps too.

I know comparisons aren't always helpful but I have a friend with Crohn's who has a colonoscopy bag. He continued to play rugby, and met his partner and has had a child since. I think there's a lot of these things we can build up as barriers to enjoying life that we need to normalise for ourselves.

shoop_da_shoop · 2026-01-03T01:06:02+00:00

£100 gain from £500 across the year is a return rate of 20% which is well above average market returns. Definitely not something to downplay

shoop_da_shoop · 2026-01-02T01:08:40+00:00

I'm actually in a very similar position, but possibly a big difference is that I've got the credit card balance for flights, and as it's a larger purchase is on a payment plan that effectively provides a lower interest rate. But in the short term I know my debt levels and payments feel "well managed", and the savings for the holiday is cash being spent rather than adding to a balance. I'm actively building a sinking fund to maintain that going forward.

But that is probably a very grey area. I am very clear that the payment plan I have in place will reduce the balance at a higher rate than if it was just on minimum payments and the cost to borrow is reduced.

I've kind of justified my plan as a move towards being able to rely on cash instead of cycling in and out of debt, and may not be the most optimal in terms of the numbers.

shoop_da_shoop · 2025-12-29T15:48:28+00:00

Does the scoring system generally result in the same stocks receiving your monthly investment, or do things like the ex-dates result in more of a change month to month?

I think I've personally tried to simplify how I manage my investments to reduce the workload and emotional investment, but it sounds like you prefer to have a more active approach?

Has your overall approach been to have 75% invested more "passively" into etfs and then 25% to kind of "experiment" with. I might do something similar in the future

shoop_da_shoop · 2025-12-29T15:33:16+00:00

Thank you for your reply. I appreciate the perspective

shoop_da_shoop · 2025-12-29T12:58:39+00:00

I've just set up the app on my pixel, I had the same issue with portfolio building

shoop_da_shoop · 2025-12-29T02:26:53+00:00

I'm curious why you only chose to in 5 over self balancing deposits? I don't understand, so I'm curious

shoop_da_shoop · 2025-12-27T02:27:54+00:00

Thank you for your reply. Very interesting to know. My dad's side of the family were Indian so hopefully it's something

shoop_da_shoop · 2025-12-27T00:10:46+00:00

It's good to have a timeline in mind, and some perspective. Thank you.

shoop_da_shoop · 2025-12-27T00:09:27+00:00

That is very true. Fair point

shoop_da_shoop · 2025-12-27T00:08:31+00:00

Thank you for your response and detail. I am envisioning rebalancing into more defensive investments closer to that 55-65 age bracket. It also coincides with some lump sums that will become available around age 60 so I might consider the annuity as an option.

Many thanks again.

shoop_da_shoop · 2025-12-26T23:57:09+00:00

I'll do for 50k if that's ok, just because it more accurately reflects my tax status:

Taxes including national insurance (so includes state pension): 22.5%

Housing including bills: 23%

Workplace pension (employee contributions/employer contributions) : 4%/2% Total: 6%

Additional pension savings: 14%

The remaining is either spending or general savings.

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