My Age: 47
Spouse’s/Partner's age: 37
Annual gross income from employment or profession: approx. 130,000 PA (80K base and rest made up with on-call and overtime allowance)
Annual gross income of spouse: 0
Monthly take-home pay: Varies, 5,500 to 7,500 depends on on-call allowance and overtime worked.
Additional monthly Income: None
Type of employment: Private Sector
In general are you: Saving. Save about 1,750 a month
Rough estimate of value of home: 370,000
Amount outstanding on your mortgage: 103,000
What interest rate are you paying? 2.75% variable Borrowed over 20years paying 840 a month
Other borrowings: None
Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month? Yes.
Savings and investments: 105K savings. No investments.
Do you have a pension scheme? Yes. Currently about 170,000 in the pot. Performing badly, no gain to speak of since I started it in 2009, just what I've contributed. Currently employer contributes 8% I contribute 6% and then another 8% as an AVC (1470PM)
Do you own any investment or other property? No
Ages of children: 8yrs, 4yrs and 6 months. (When last one starts school I expect my wife will return to the work)
Life insurance: Benefits at work: 4 X base salary (80K) death in service. Windows pension of 33%. Wife has no cover. No illness cover or income protection for either of us.
What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you?
Financially we are doing OK year to year and not big spenders.
My concerns, or should I say aspirations, I expect are relatively normal. I want to provide for my children’s 3rd level education and get them started in life as best I can and that I also need to provide for our old age/retirement. Retiring somewhere around 65 to 70 is what I have in mind. 65 would be nice.
House extended and cars fairly OK so no big expenses on the horizon in short to medium term.
I have never really invested money, only saved it but now I suppose quite late, thinking I should invest some or most of my savings.
I'm considering looking for paid independent financial advice but thought I give this forum a go first.
How much should I invest long term (thinking 10 to 20 yrs) and how much should I keep on deposit?
Wondering should I invest my savings something like an investment fund or maybe pay off my mortgage? If investing in a typical well diversified fund what would be a good equity-bond-other split for someone in my situation? Would an index linked fund be a better idea? What’s a good index these days?
Should I be considering some other type of investment e.g. property? Any other options I should be considering?
Am I contributing too much towards my badly performing pension or not enough? My pension does give me some options/choices in terms of investment management/fund selection but always left them to it. Going by lunch time conversations some colleagues have done much better by managing it themselves.
Is getting income protection and maybe illness cover advisable? Possibly a no brainer?
At my age and in my situation how adverse should I be to risk in terms of investment? Appreciate that question could have a lot of dependencies but based on info given any opinion welcome. Personally I feel I have a "medium" appetite heading towards "low" as I get into my sixties.
As you will probably guess from the above I'm not financially minded so apologies if any questions or statements a tad dumb.
Spouse’s/Partner's age: 37
Annual gross income from employment or profession: approx. 130,000 PA (80K base and rest made up with on-call and overtime allowance)
Annual gross income of spouse: 0
Monthly take-home pay: Varies, 5,500 to 7,500 depends on on-call allowance and overtime worked.
Additional monthly Income: None
Type of employment: Private Sector
In general are you: Saving. Save about 1,750 a month
Rough estimate of value of home: 370,000
Amount outstanding on your mortgage: 103,000
What interest rate are you paying? 2.75% variable Borrowed over 20years paying 840 a month
Other borrowings: None
Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month? Yes.
Savings and investments: 105K savings. No investments.
Do you have a pension scheme? Yes. Currently about 170,000 in the pot. Performing badly, no gain to speak of since I started it in 2009, just what I've contributed. Currently employer contributes 8% I contribute 6% and then another 8% as an AVC (1470PM)
Do you own any investment or other property? No
Ages of children: 8yrs, 4yrs and 6 months. (When last one starts school I expect my wife will return to the work)
Life insurance: Benefits at work: 4 X base salary (80K) death in service. Windows pension of 33%. Wife has no cover. No illness cover or income protection for either of us.
What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you?
Financially we are doing OK year to year and not big spenders.
My concerns, or should I say aspirations, I expect are relatively normal. I want to provide for my children’s 3rd level education and get them started in life as best I can and that I also need to provide for our old age/retirement. Retiring somewhere around 65 to 70 is what I have in mind. 65 would be nice.
House extended and cars fairly OK so no big expenses on the horizon in short to medium term.
I have never really invested money, only saved it but now I suppose quite late, thinking I should invest some or most of my savings.
I'm considering looking for paid independent financial advice but thought I give this forum a go first.
How much should I invest long term (thinking 10 to 20 yrs) and how much should I keep on deposit?
Wondering should I invest my savings something like an investment fund or maybe pay off my mortgage? If investing in a typical well diversified fund what would be a good equity-bond-other split for someone in my situation? Would an index linked fund be a better idea? What’s a good index these days?
Should I be considering some other type of investment e.g. property? Any other options I should be considering?
Am I contributing too much towards my badly performing pension or not enough? My pension does give me some options/choices in terms of investment management/fund selection but always left them to it. Going by lunch time conversations some colleagues have done much better by managing it themselves.
Is getting income protection and maybe illness cover advisable? Possibly a no brainer?
At my age and in my situation how adverse should I be to risk in terms of investment? Appreciate that question could have a lot of dependencies but based on info given any opinion welcome. Personally I feel I have a "medium" appetite heading towards "low" as I get into my sixties.
As you will probably guess from the above I'm not financially minded so apologies if any questions or statements a tad dumb.