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As said before, there are products that guarantee a return. Annuities and savings accounts, if you want more return you need to take risk (otherwise you are effectively paying someone to shoulder the risk).
Investments aren’t a straight gamble. On the roulette wheel there is no way for the pot to get bigger, but investments allow companies to do things (like build factories, develop new products) that should make more money in the long run. They won’t always pan out, but they do on average (otherwise we’d still be in mud huts as we couldn’t develop advanced economies). So, there is an element of gambling but over the long term the dice is loaded in your favour.
technicalities aside, as you probably know this already, you need to either grow up and make some decisions against your instincts or try and find someone that you can help you get to the bottom of the issues so you can.
Aside from a rainy day fund, or savings for big ticket purchases,
Prioritise pension contributions via payroll for maximum tax / ni breaks, just so long as you can cope with your money being locked up until 55 (shortly 57)
If you want to retire earlier than 55/57 you need to think about how to bridge the gap with savings outside of pensions.
Pension in a fund(s) or trackers of moderate risk with low costs. Move to less risk as pension draws closer.
<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">Teleport back in time and start doing all that sooner. It's 'time in the market' that counts.</span>
Save half your age as % in a pension.
If this is a good rule of thumb (and I’m not saying it isn’t) – why have I never heard it before?
No, its just some number plucked out of thin air as a soundbite for stupid people to latch onto. Like 5 fruit and veg a day. There's no reasoning behind the number 5, or the age/2×% except that it's bound to be more than the unhealthy/ financially illiterate/ uninterested/ stretched are currently doing. So it gives them a target that is at least in the right direction.
If you lost 400k then you have too much money.
Er no.
If you lost 400k then you had too much money.
FTFY 😉
dont be too upset by the willy waving going on in this thread . You do not need £1m to retire on . Ask Ton , or TJ who both get by on less than £300 a week.
£400 a week would be prefectly adequate ,ok so life not going to be a succession of exotic holidays but hey , your retired . Time to sit back and do some gardening , bit of golf , go fishing , long walks up big hills. And you only need £400 a week to state pension kicks in , then you only need £150 a week. But in fact you may need less , as we age you cannot do as much so dont need so much money. You might have to manage your expectaions and live within your means but its perfectly doable.
You will need a slush fund too. Cash at hand for emergency reasons . £10k roughly .
BUT . You have to do something . Now . This month . Your combined income should allow 4 figure monthly investment . Its all a gamble, Fund managers just guess , for every gain there is a loss somewhere . There are no crystal balls ,or Deloreans or Tardis that actualy work so its all gambling in one form or another .
You are lucky enough to recognise your predicament before its too late to do anything about it , and earn enough to be able to do something about it . Unlike the millions of renters caught in the poverty trap who exist payday to payday and save nothing , who gleefully buy the latest Iphone and put their fingers in their ears when anyone talks pensions / investments.
With interest rates creeping up Buy2Let is becoming less attractive and you really need a sizable deposit and time to manage it yourself for maximum return .
Im lucky , I started saving into pension at a young age. If I can keep working and not drawdown I shall . My targets are 4 companies ( Vanguard , Equitable, Scottish Mutual , Scottish widows ) split between 10 sectors with sizable amounts , then 3 x ' small pot pensions at sub £9k to take in full L&G , Standard Life and Nest . Which are all work pensions which I can trickle into when my other 4 get near to / over target.
You need to decide/plan what you want to do financially and at what age then go and talk to someone who can help you achieve your goals. The more risk you take the greater the potential rewards AND losses. There will be ups and downs. My pension fund is in highish risk and has delivered on average 13% pa over the last 10yrs. BUT last year it lost 15%, lost 8% during first 6month of covid etc. You need to decide if you are comfortable with seeing these losses, and if you are not (as you say you are not) then the returns may be lower. Interestingly I got my pension statement today and I was surprised to see even the low risk funds offered by the pension provider lost just as much last year, so low risk can still lead to losses.
for me, I aim to go part time at 55 when I can access a small, old works pension which will carry me to 60+ when I can access my main pension pot. I will retire once this hits €X. It will give me a lump sum of €Y that will cover any big bills and the rest will be invested in a drawdown pension. I reckon it should last me about 25yrs+ before it runs out. I don’t want to be 90+ and sitting on a wedge of cash (I will have the house if I need more money) as they say ‘no point being the richest corpse in the graveyard’. If there are economic downturns then I can top up my drawdown from the lump sum, if I have a good year, I can take an extra holiday or something (some years will be better than others). That’s the plan anyway. I have also observed (my parents and grand parents) go through 3 stages in retirement. 1st stage (10yrs) is expensive, fancy holidays, doing up house, going out and about lots. The second phase (10yrs) is not as expensive as you slow down more, a few more health issues etc, and the third stage is cheaper again as you do very little of great expense when you are 90. So it’s worth baring in mind that you may not need as much money at 85 as you do at 65 when doing your sums.
You are lucky enough to recognise your predicament before its too late to do anything about it , and earn enough to be able to do something about it . Unlike the millions of renters caught in the poverty trap who exist payday to payday and save nothing , who gleefully buy the latest Iphone and put their fingers in their ears when anyone talks pensions / investments.
Absolutely this.
Huge swathes of the population simply do not have the ability to (1) actually think about what they want out of life, (2) understand the options available to them which <span style="text-decoration: underline;">could </span>attain that, and then (3) to <span style="text-decoration: underline;">decide</span> what to do, including (4) consideration of the potential negative consequences of that decision.
That, op, is what you have to face into.
<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">Many many people just drift along without a plan or a clue, being parted from their money by iPhones on klarna. It isn't any surprise at all that they do not get what they may have wanted (if they had bothered to think about it at all).</span>
Find an IFA – do what he says.
i did that. He recommended investing in property in Prague. Turned out to be a scam and I lost the lot. Now I mainly use Vanguard LS as recommended above. A helpful YouTube channel is James Shack https://youtube.com/@JamesShack
TLDR OP. shorter would have been more helpful.
Save half your age as % in a pension
is a good heuristic. Better is to put as much as you can afford into your pensions up to the annual and lifetime limits. Such payments come out of your gross income. They are tax free!
if you fall into the 60% tax valley then consider going over the annual allowance as the penalty tax rate is lower. The lifetime allowance is a question best discussed with a professional advisor
Check the free information from folks like chase de Vere, hargreaves lansdown, and vanguard. Money saving expert too.
seek professional financial advice.
investment of any kind carries risk. But over the long term those tax savings and general growth are a pretty powerful force that will help your retirement security.
Consider getting a copy of Alvin Hall’s Your money or your life.
he had a bbc TV series back in the day. A lot of it dwelled on avoiding spending and being sensible. My memory of the book is that it addressed many common money concerns/interests. It probably included pensions.
Folks have mentioned Vanguard. Certainly a reasonable low cost pension investment option. But take financial advice before considering any changes to your pension planning.
I think you should do one of two things;
(1) - Seek professional help from an independent advisor. Ideally based on a recommendation. Use them to do a review of your position and a forecast of where you are and where you want to go. Finally, take action, don't let procrastination take hold.
(2) - Educate yourself using something like the Meaningful Money Podcast/TV series. Personally I would start with his Millennial Money series (don't let the title put you off if you are not a Millennial, he explains the Millennial bit at the start). Set yourself goals after each bit that is relevant to you/your life and once again take action, don't let procrastination take hold.
What you shouldn't do is nothing. This can be because you don't want to get started, or because you hear lots of conflicting opinions. This is where sticking to a single source of info can be good and why I recommend the Meaningful Money podcast as he has been doing to podcast for over 10 years and is still publishing fresh stuff today, so the chances are he will have covered all the topics you need.
For the record, I did (1) when I lost my job/career. It cost me 3% of my 'pot', but it settled my head. I then did (2) and realised I could have done the first bit myself.
Not read every reply but came on here to recommend a decent IFA though also noticed that you don’t trust any of them.
On paper I’m in a reasonably similar position, 48, no kids, no debt except a mortgage and save what I can. I too am useless at trying to figure out how best to invest so have now got an IFA doing it for me, using what I’m happy with relative to my risk appetite. But he also ensures me and my other half maximise our tax free savings allowances and takes the pain away of doing the thinking. Granted the last 12 months haven’t been great but he’s given very healthy returns in prior years (17% IIRC in one year) so in the long run it will/should be fine.
I think you’re local to Sheffield OP so happy to share details if you change your mind on IFA’s.
From personal experience I’d say ‘IFA’s’ are rarely ever really independent. Better these days since direct commission has been mage illegal but in the past the system was totally geared towards them recommending you whatever earned them the most money. I have had terrible products advised me from IFA’s in the past, including a pension from Lincoln National with such high fund charges that when I stopped paying into it and made the mistake of not immediately transferring it somewhere else, in a matter of about 3 years converted itself to zero value by growing less than the charges.
A decent one May well give you good tax advice that you could easily work out yourself, and is then going to make no more than an educated guess about investments, which you could also work out yourself.
I’d really recommend Interactive Investor - you can create an account with them without investing anything and then look at some different funds and easily see performance over short medium and long term as compared to the overall market that they are in. Doesn’t take a huge amount of research to see which investments perform consistently well, plus there are other resources like Morningstar and This is Money that can give more insight.
"In terms of saving half one’s age as pension,. Does that amount include what your employer contributes too? If it does and you’re able to pay over the half age amount – is it a no brainer? Thanks"
It does include employer contributions, but paying more in early is not a bad thing. There is a reason why I drive a 12 year old car. I put as much as possible into AVCs on top of a final salary pension. My plan was to take the 25% tax free lump sum as a means of paying down the mortgage. This is a popular strategy until the government remove the tax free lump sum (it's been mooted recently).
On the subject of necessary income, don't forget that if you retire early and have made the appropriate NI contributions (I have one year to go), then you'll get a rise with the £9k state pension when you qualify. More if you have a spouse wit their contributions.
Vanguard LS 60. Is the answer for you
Down 8% since Sept. 21. Hopefully it will come back.
If you’re going LifeStrategy the 80% Equity has consistently performed much better. In fact if you look at performance, the 100% equity version looks like the best one.
As suggested by one of my ex IFA friends, I looked at this YouTube channel - it's more on the investment side than savings as such, but I found it very very useful. Pensioncraft.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9OIwUcx-Uss7xj7s1P5XGw
Other than some of the above, I'm not sure what else to suggest -- no silver bullet that's for sure.
Start saving early - with some cash in the bank then risks can be managed.
I have seen various IFAs but not felt particularly comfortable with any - their confidence in the spiel is disconcerting. 3 years ago we saw one, and it was all "market tumbles are a very rare event". Um, er no ..
just had a tax update from HL, hadn't realised cap gains and dividend allowances were dropping so much,
Article | Hargreaves Lansdown (hl.co.uk)
Dividend => allowance being cut from £2k to £1k from April 2023, then £500 from April 2024
Capital Gains Tax (CGT) => annual exemption dropping from £12,300 to £6,000 from April 2023, and then to £3,000 from April 2024
Time for me to sell stock and shift into my tax efficient Stock & Shares ISA before April.
LifeStrategy the 80% Equity has consistently performed much better. In fact if you look at performance, the 100% equity version looks like the best one.
Lifestrategy 80% Equity down 2.5% Nov '21 to now.
Lifestrategy 100% Equity down 1.4% Dec '21 to now. (Has been much lower).
The money would have been better off under the bed (per OP's point!)
Lifestrategy 80% Equity down 2.5% Nov ’21 to now.
Too short a timescale for drawing any meaningful comparison re pensions where the money will be invested (or stuck under the bed) for decades.
Eg my first pension contribution started in my 20s and there is a 3% change I'll live to 100....
The money would have been better off under the bed (per OP’s point!
Well done. 🙄 Now go look at returns from 5 years, or start.
Edit: furthermore if it drops a bit while I'm still contributing it's fine because it means I get more for my money.
Lifestrategy 100% Equity down 1.4% Dec ’21 to now. (Has been much lower).
The money would have been better off under the bed (per OP’s point!)
So you chose December '21 as this was the highest the fund had ever been to make your point? Let's choose another date in 2021, say January '21. Up 19% since then. March '20? Up 64%.
We all know what the 60/80/100 stands for in the Lifestrategy funds, right? Proportion of equities versus bonds.
The higher the proportion of bonds, tradfi wisdom will tell you, the less volatile the fund will be - so less downside, but less upside too.
However, for a good few years, bonds have been - and continue to be - a tremendously unfashionable investment. Layer on the rising interest rates since 2021 and bond prices have fallen further. Plus Lifestrategy funds are overweight the UK, and we're still paying the extra moron premium on UK govt bonds.
These last few posts precisely underline my problem.
"Vanguard is safe". "Vanguard is down"
"LifeStrategy the 80% Equity has consistently performed much better. In fact if you look at performance, the 100% equity version looks like the best one." "Lifestrategy 80% Equity down 2.5% Nov ’21 to now. Lifestrategy 100% Equity down 1.4% Dec ’21 to now. (Has been much lower)."
"Dividend => allowance being cut from £2k to £1k from April 2023, then £500 from April 2024.Capital Gains Tax (CGT) => annual exemption dropping from £12,300 to £6,000 from April 2023, and then to £3,000 from April 2024Time for me to sell stock and shift into my tax efficient Stock & Shares ISA before April."
What the hell does that ^^mean. I can read the words, but it might as well be greek for all my ability to comprehend it..
No one has a *ing clue. Yet everyone seems to be happy just to guess. How the actual bleeding * do you actually manage to do that??? Every single penny I own, I have WORKED for. Countless hours, days, weeks, months of stress, sometimes actual life-threatening levels of hazard, which I choose to deal with to get the money. I cannot cope with having done all that just to lose it by the roll of a dice. Yet if I don't risk it, apparently I'm still ****ed. How and why did anybody ever let it all get like this??
I happened to start a Vanguard Lifestrategy 60/80 combo (now all in 80) in December 2019, so it didn’t have very long growing before the turbulent last 2 years or so. It is currently up just over 10% overall - yes it was a lot higher than this at one point but overall given the high level of turbulence in both equities and bonds over this period, I don’t think this is at all bad really.
Yet everyone seems to be happy just to guess.
Its not a guess, its volatility caused by current events yet an ever increasing upward slope over the long term, Case in hand, my average unit price for me buying Lifestrategy 100 is £2.81. The current unit price is £3,01. Ive made money, 20p a unit of which I hold thousands.
Roll back 12 months I made a loss, because the unit price fell, the sensible thing was to buy some more on the cheap, then wait until they go back uo as above. However, predicting this is very hard which is why people talk about "time in the market" rather than "timing the market" as a generic strategy. Put money in, wait, it grows.
Being a passive Investor as above is significantly less like gambling than you seem to think op. Being an active investor might be considered more like gambling because you're trying to pick the winners while they win and get out before they start losing.
Short answer to your situation, smash as much money on to pensions as you can afford to do without until you retire because you'll get an immediate 20% boost at least through tax saving then put the rest in to a life strategy isa from vanguard.
@kryton57 and @Del just entirely summed up my investment strategy and thoughts on all this.
Yes some people do try to beat the market, but they are fools. On average, nobody beats the market.
<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">Play the long game and aim to track the market. make full use of tax breaks. Hope the market continues to go up as per long term historic trends.</span>
Keep a sensible amount of cash just incase it does all go tits up or you need to spend it shortish term on something big
That's about it.
that's a strategy to get as much money in my pension as soon as possible with a reasonable amount of risk. if you want something different then you might need to do something else
As mentioned, put what you can into a pension to get the 20% tax boost (or more if you are higher rate tax payer). And if you are risk adverse then look at it this way, you would need to loose more than 20% ito be in an actual loss. A bit simplistic but may help with the mindset of losing money when investing.
Economics 101 .
Pension companies buy shares in other companies . Lots of shares across lots of companies, worldwide.
The value of those shares is dictated by many things . Company zxc sells a share in its business to me , for £1 . I buy it because I guess in the future it will generate profits which will filter down to me , and other people will want to buy a tiny percentage of zxc as they would like some of those profits as well. This generates demand , which drives up the price of zxc on the stock exchange . Now zxc has invented a battery , which lasts twice as long as any other battery , so the entire world wants that battery . The company stand to make millions of proft , and as I own a tiny percentage of zxc , I will get some of that profit. If you want in, you can buy my share , but as its now as a very profitable company that share is going to cost you £10.
Pension companie look to buy shares in the stock market that they think will generate income from profits ( this is known as a dividend ) and a rising share price as a result ( this is growth ). As a new small company zxc has alot of growth potential.
Pension companies spend millions of ££ on shares , can get a seat on the board as they own a hefty % so get a say in the running of the co.
Other things that will effect share price ,weather , who is in control , if another company want to buy zxc so continualy buy shares , government position and legislation . It is complex. Ok hope that is understandable,
So by buying shares in say 100 companies you hope you have picked wisely and the majority of them will perform well , and make a go up in value and generate a dividend.
The top share loading in each fund is available online . EG Japan might be Toyota, Fujitsu heavy, Nikon , Nissan , NTT ,Sony. .
The fund manager / team at say Vanguard will look at the market constantly and adjust their position ( holding shares ) accordingly . This also can be done by computer .
Then there are tracker funds . They simply mimic a share index . Lets pick the Footsie, the London stock exchange top 100 ( most valuable ) companies . That fund will buy shares pro rata in those companies and will never outperform the market but will track its progress. So if all the companies shares drop after an event ( BRexshit - Lettuce Truss ) then your tracker fud will fall also . If the market rallies then your tracker fund will go up in value . The trick in trading shares in big volume is buying and selling at the right time .
The governemt encourage you to buy a PPP ( Personal Pension Plan ) with a tax incentive . They give the tax you have paid by earning the money back to the pension company who will invest it wisely for you as well. This is how the rich get richer, but lets not go there . Instant 20% gain , for every £100 you give eg. scottish widows the government will give Scotttish widows £20 as well to buy shares in zxc.
To add to what @singletrackmind said:
Pensions don't just have to be invested in stocks and shares, but most are, because this is what has proven over time to generate the best returns.
Active funds are generally more expensive than trackers because they require active management (trades, people working). These costs will eat into your growth and can make a massive difference over the long term (due to compounding)
Furthermore, how do you know which active fund will do well or not? You don't. It's a guess. Past performance is not any in indicator of future performance.
Also, overall, as per my point above ON AVERAGE nobody beats the market. Sure, some active funds will do better and some will do worse. But how do you pick which is which?
In my view, I would rather be Mr average in passive trackers, than gamble on some active funds which could do better, or could do worse, and also have to pay higher fees in the process, which is bound to push your overall chances of success into 'below average'
You can invest in active, or passive funds via your tax efficient pension. Also individual stocks, cash, whatever.
So you chose December ’21 as this was the highest the fund had ever been to make your point?
No, that was when I bought into it which is why I know the figures. Currently 1.4% down on this one, but worse on other funds. It's a fact that I would be thousands richer today if I'd stuffed the money under the bed (however, I didn't know that at the time!).
Now go look at returns from 5 years, or start.
Yes, the long term trend was upwards, and I (very much) hope that the trend recovers and that I can move into profit. (But you know that thing about past performance being no guarantee, etc... e.g. if Putin decides to nuke Ukraine, then I think the trend will be firmly downwards!)
From the opening post, I took that the OP didn't want to see the numerical value of his money decreasing. If it goes into some sort of equity / bonds / etc. based fund (Vanguard or otherwise), the numbers will, indeed go up and down - more down than up recently, and hence is not the panacea for his concerns that some appear to be presenting it as.
ETA: It only makes sense if one has faith that the upward trends will continue.
These last few posts precisely underline my problem.
“Vanguard is safe”. “Vanguard is down”
“LifeStrategy the 80% Equity has consistently performed much better. In fact if you look at performance, the 100% equity version looks like the best one.” “Lifestrategy 80% Equity down 2.5% Nov ’21 to now. Lifestrategy 100% Equity down 1.4% Dec ’21 to now. (Has been much lower).”
<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;"> It was explained above. Someone chose a particularly unfavourable period to look at the numbers, so they could make a point. If you choose virtually any other time periods it looks different. If you look at the weather details for 26 June last year you will see that Glasgow was far hotter than Madrid and Istanbul had more rain than Bergen. This doesn't in the slightest impact the fact that if you want a sunny summer holiday you're better off in Spain than Glesga, likewise don't go to stanbul for a kayaking holiday. If you're worried about the fact that Bergen isn't always wetter then fine, stay in Leicestershire, but I can guarantee you'll be worse off in the long run.</span>
“Dividend => allowance being cut from £2k to £1k from April 2023, then £500 from April 2024.Capital Gains Tax (CGT) => annual exemption dropping from £12,300 to £6,000 from April 2023, and then to £3,000 from April 2024Time for me to sell stock and shift into my tax efficient Stock & Shares ISA before April.”
What the hell does that ^^mean. I can read the words, but it might as well be greek for all my ability to comprehend it..
Sorry I refuse to believe that you don't know what a dividend is...are you really saying that is the case?
Ok, CGT. Fair enough. You get taxed on the increase in value of certain assets when you sell them. The threshold at which you start to become liable for this tax is dropping lots ( hurray, finally a decent move by the tories( though not really as £11k isn’t going to affect the big hitters, but its a start]) whatsisname is joking that he will need to sell some of his assets now, whilst the threshold is still high.
No one has a ****ing clue.
Er no. Some people do.
WHAt THE **** IS WITH THIS NEW TEXT EDITOR?
WHO DECIDED TO MOVE from ONE THAT MAINLY WORKED TO ONE THAT IS ****ING SHIT. ARE YOU PEOPLE INSANE?
Economics 101 .
Pension companies buy shares in other companies . Lots of shares across lots of companies, worldwide.
looks more like finance 101.
To understand economics 101 in this context, and to help you understand the role of your investments, you need to understand the role of capital and growth.
Capitalist economies (arguably) rely on growth to keep functioning. Growth comes from two places - labour and productivity increases. However neither of those things work without capital.
By investing, you’re supplying capital to projects which may or may not leverage growth factors to increase the value of the capital applied. Some focus on population growth (housing for example) and some productivity (a new factory using automation). Some could benefit from both, such as agriculture.
Your financial decision in this very basic economic context is how and where to apply that capital, whether to self manage or not etc.
Cash under the bed is not economically active. In the bank it is mildly so. Invested in a startup or new house build, very active.
All options carry risk and reward potential (including the bed option), and over different timeframes. Unfortunately we are in a world where is you have capital this is universal and mandatory decision to make, although it’s a privileged problem to face.
this is not aimed at the OP. but i am so ****ing glad i took a very early meagre retirement. posts like this only concrete my decision.
I don't think whatisname was joking...
Op I'm quite a lot like you I think when it comes to risk and thinking all this is smoke and mirrors. I don't even have a pension but I do do the basics of moving my savings about to get the best interest rate so my money isn't reducing in value as much. That's not hard. Go on Money supermarket and pick the savings accounts or ISAs with the best rate. Have you really left your money in the same isa for 15 years? Basically after the 1st year the rates turn to shit don't they? I have some in premium bonds as a no risk but added frisson of excitement of becoming a millionaire. Other than that I'm investing money in my property so that it will not need much doing when I'm retired (if I retire) I'm self employed and enjoy my work though will have to gradually reduce as I age because it's a physical job. I have no intention of going into a care home and will make plans before I'm too old to make sure that doesn't happen. I know this isn't fool proof but that's the plan and the house could pay for it if necessary as no children to leave it to like yourself. I'm also not worried about needing lot's of money in retirement as I know I can live frugally as long as my house is paid for, which it is.
No one has a crystal ball.
Peter Lynch: How To Invest For Beginners | The Ultimate Guide To The Stock Market - YouTube
Peter Lynch: Everything You Need to Know About Investing in One Video - YouTube
"Outperform 99% Of Investors With This Simple Strategy..." - Peter Lynch - YouTube
Warren Buffett: How To Turn $10,000 Into Millions (Simple Investment Strategy) - YouTube
Pensions and investments advice for a young person? - Singletrack World Magazine
Money is really simple:
What you put into account Vs what you get out at the end of however many years. That is the only thing to understand.
But everyone deliberately tries to confuse it but using random words (see 95% of the posts above). They do this to make money off people who don't understand the basics. We call these people banks.
Pretty much anything should be considered as a savings account. You put in some money at the beginning, you get some out at the end. In some cases that will be more than you put in. In some cases it will less. This applies to anything from savings, stocks, shares, ISAs, pensions, property, watches, whiskey you name it.
If you're a total beginner then don't get your financial advice off a mountain bike forum.
The book "The richest man in Babylon" is a very easy read (or listen on Spotify etc.) To get the basics.
Then educate yourself on the basics - UK YouTube videos can be a good place to start.
Another great book is
How To Own The World by Andrew Craig, I send copies to all my nieces and nephews , need to reread it again myself
1. pay off debts - already achieved
2........
I wrote a load of guff about 2. Pension (SIPP) and 3. Stocks and Shares ISAs, but it's all been said before,
so,
Don't keep doing the same thing and expect different results.
Just going to leave this here.
The worry you have now will be massively less than the worry you will have in 10 years time if you do nothing.