Sorry to burst your bubble but life insurance won't pay out for suicide, homicide or drinking yourself to death. Mudshark's proposal is more likely to be successful!
Kill yourself cleverly so it looks like an accident when you retire ... it will give your wife the opportunity to cash in your life insurance
I fixeded it.
you'll probably do just as well as the so called professionals
When I started my pension my advisor recommended making sure I had some money invested in something other than pensions. He was about to retire and his pension hadn't given him the return it should of so he was going to be a lot worse off than expected. If a pensions advisor can't sort his own pension, what hope has he of sorting mine??!
If your working class your be working till you die anyway so just enjoy life now .
The state will have to look after you in one way or another even if your lucky enough to live past 70 . 
A funny thing happened to me regarding my pension provision. The two fields on the family farm which had always (since time immemorial) been earmarked for me, were handed over to my brother, along with the rest of the £7m farm. Oh how I laughed. Still not got to the bottom of it. I now intend to write a best seller about how my life changed after my lottery win......
why are pensions seen as good things by most people whereas in the current climate investment bankers (including pension fund managers) are seen as scumbags?
My grandparents are royally fubared financially due to pension funds performing spectacularly badly. There's no way I'm trusting some coked-up city boy to manage my future. Property and a few other bits for me, at least if it goes wrong it will be my fault...
Hedge your bets. Pay in the minimum to a private pension to make what pays out at 65 livable. Stack up multiple ISAs. Buy long term assets.
Or buy a service revolver, which is effectively what I'm doing.
31, don't worry about it, nor will anyone else by the time you want to retire.
anotherdeadhero at retirement.....
company scheme is only thing i've got at the moment - i'm 39, been paying in for 4 years, I put in 5% and the company match it.
It won't be enough come retirement time, but at least i'd have only paid for half of it!
Sefton, I have an exciting opportunity for you please e mail me andyjamieson30@gmail.com
I will then send you a link to my website, this is a genuine opportunity open to anyone serious.
I help people save money and get paid for it, you too can do the same 
^ spamdo?
spando - just link to your website here. That way we can all enjoy your exciting offer.
Not read all the posts but can't you now buy property and offset the investment into your pension contribution or something daft like that????
an exciting offer eh 
would you like my sort code & password?
company scheme is only thing i've got at the moment - i'm 39, been paying in for 4 years, I put in 5% and the company match it.
You need a goodly amount going into a pension, as a guide - half your age as a percentage, would be a good start...
So really 20% in total for this chap.
As somebody said, educate yourself and diversify.
Pensions may perform badly but its relative, given the contributions from employers (soon to be mandertory) and the tax benefits in spite of the the pension providers creaming money off the top they are still one of the best investments.
Invest in a cash ISA alongside this and this can be used as a draw down or income generator on retirement.
Listen to Money Box on Radio 4 often a good source.
So what would anyone do in my position?...
Have a couple of pensions but not currently paying in due to current circumstances.
£115k mortgage
About to get a £90k windfall.
Do I put it all into my flexible mortgage account and aim to pay it off quickly by overpaying at the rate I currently pay at?
Do I put some in the mortgage and invest the rest in pensions and/or ISAs etc?
I really don't know what to do for the best.
mastiles_fanylion - do you expect to live to 65?
This information is key.
You've paid your mortgage off at 31? Jeez I think I need to be asking you for financial advice!
it will give your wife the opportunity to cash in your life insurance and go on a cruise of the caribbean sucking off big black men before coming home and finding a sensible bloke who planned ahead.... so the sensible bloke doesn't get sucked off then ?
mastiles_fanylion - Member
So what would anyone do in my position?
What's your mortgage rate? If it's silly low, as mine is, then no point offsetting your mortgage as can get a better rate in a savings account. A sensible approach might be to reduce your mortgage to a level that feels comfortable then get more speculative with the rest, higher rate tax payers should definitely be paying into a SIPP IMO - or putting lump sums into you company scheme if cost effective and flexible enough. I have a SIPP as my company scheme has a 0.6% annual fee which the SIPP doesn't, both allow me to choose my own funds. I also have unit trusts in ISAs and cash ISAs.
m_f
Depends on your mortage interest rate, and what you can get elsewhere.
Mortgage is (I think) 3.5% with a One Account
I am probably thinking in too simplistic terms but I can't get past the thought of just focussing on paying it off and then when I have more disposable income (ie, when the mortgage is paid off) I can start to invest. I spoke to a financial adviser about it a few months ago and it made my head hurt trying to work out what he was saying.
I have done a couple of online calculator things and reckon I could finish paying it off in around 3 years if I simply put it all into the flexible mortgage (so I could still get to it with no penalties should I need to) then continue to pay the £800 a month I am paying now.
The only investments I could see (that give a significantly higher rate of interest) seemed to mean tying money up for 5+ years and current situation (business is tough, wife works part time, two pre-school children) means I prefer the idea of reducing monthly outgoings rather than investing.
3.5% is quite high (mine's 0.98%) so I'd pay it off just to keep things on the cautious side - though if you don't already have some other investments maybe put some into unit trusts - maybe £10k?
You know all those rich bankers that we all hate?
One of the reasons that they are rich is because they're in charge of our pension funds.
I have an (almost insignificantly) small pension from back in the day when I used to work for a large industrial company.
My wife is a teacher and so has a (still) reasonable pension provision, though money she "invested" in a private scheme became practically worthless during recent financial troubles.
The only shares I've ever owned (in Bradford and Bingley) went from being worth about £2000 to worthless over a few years.
I can't see myself ever putting any of my money into the hands of fund managers (via a pension or otherwise) because they don't seem to produce results any better than random investment.
My personal strategy is to put any spare money I have into paying down the mortgage.
Once that is clear I'll start worrying about what to do next.
Can I ask a question in here?
When people say you should put in half your ages as a percentage does that mean the total going into the pension or my contribution?
Im 24, I currently put in 4%, company puts in 6% so each month 10% of the value of my wage gets paid into my pension. Does that mean that im nearly at the right level for my age?
Total. I didn't bother until I was well into my late 30s as more interested in building up capital for a house back then - and had no company contribution anyway. Also, if aren't a higher rate tax payer but plan to be(!) wait until then to put more into your pension. I suspect you have to put in 4% to get your company's 6%? If so carry on for sure.
3.5% is quite high (mine's 0.98%)
At 30 with a family you certainly need some plan.
What you do depends entirely on your personal circumstances and your long term goals. Property has historically been the best bet overall, it's most tax efficient to buy the biggest house you can afford (rental property attracts capital gains tax on sale) - you might like to consider how much extra mortgage you could afford vs putting money into your pension. The more tax you pay (higher rate etc) the more attractive a pension is.
It sounds a bit morbid but you may inherit form your parents/relatives - than can provide a chunk of future retirement savings.
crispo - same applies to you, hard to say other than 6% from your employer isn't very generous. If you can afford more now do it but probably better to focus on house/mortgage.
mastiles - are you a taxpayer ? If so then putting some of your windfall into your pension would make sense. I think paying down your mortgage is the most sensible option for some or all of the windfall (you can always re-borrow in the future). Keep a little back in reserve in case your situation gets worse before it gets better.
Yes I am a tax payer and the mortgage is flexible (ie I can overpay into it to pay off interest then take it back out if I need to without limit and instantly).
As some experiences above I am put off by ploughing into pensions - I have three, none of which are very significant but all are worth no more or less than the capital paid into them.
I think I would prefer to put money into ISA accounts that are tax free - just keep banging in the money when each new tax year starts. At least I know the capital will grow year on year).
The half your age percentage is the total; you, employer and tax-rebate
Do you mean a cash ISA? A SIPP is little different to an investment ISA in terms of cost and growth as you can invest in the same funds. - well a decent one anyway. You get your tax back which is a good chunk of cash for a higher rate tax payer. Obviously you can't use before retirement though you can get 25% back in a lump sum - useful for paying off a mortgage.
You must log in to post.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
