Getting financial advice - not sure what I need

[nogognocchi]

Inspired by another thread, and clearly aware that my pension pot is nowhere near what it should be, wondering what kind of financial advice i need, and where I'd find it.

Situation is DH is high-ish (for real world, not mumnset!) earner, I'm a low earner. No other income.

We have about £150k left on mortgage (property approx £550k.) About £20k in various savings accounts, ISA's etc. Pension pots are dire. From memory, we've each got a 'pot' of about £20k so far (so about £1k each a year?) plus state pensions.

Mid 40s, 2 teens. No significant outgoings.

DH has zero interest in money/savings/future planning. I've tried to educate myself but also find it so boring and confusing and also terrible at making decisions and with life admin in general.

Some time ago, I contacted an IFA who ran me through their prices. Estimated about £1k to review our situation and make recommendations. At the time, got impression that their service was people with more significant funds and never followed up.

Is an IFA what I need? Or are there other services for people with more ordinary sums?

Currently feel very fortunate to feel financially comfortable but equally aware that this is based wholly on my DH current earnings and so actually pretty precarious.

Yes you need an IFA who is regulated to give the advice

TBH though it doesn't sound like you have enough to warrant the fees

What are you trying to achieve?

I personally wouldn't be paying (and certainly not 1K - I suspect that is for people who have substantial sums to invest) an IFA in your situation. To enable the IFA to make recommendations you are going to have to do a lot of grunt work anyway, so IMO you might as well cut them out altogether and do it all yourself.

You need to think (IFA will ask you this) what you want to achieve. It sounds like paying off the mortgage and building up a decent pension pot are priorities. Do you want to build up any other savings for particular things e.g. to support your DC through university/house deposits etc?

You need to have a good understanding of your current incomings and outcomings and understand how much (genuine) free money you have each month. The decision is then how to spend that money - do you use it to overpay your mortgage? Pay more into your pension? Build up some shorter term savings? Or most likely a combination of these. Paying off mortage faster is probably a priority with interest rates as they are and you could then focus on pension/savings. If you and DH are employed, I'd suggest as a minimum joining the workplace pension scheme if you're not already.

Yes this is my thoughts too re. not having enough to warrant fees.

Ideally, I'd like someone to say, you need to be putting x into this pension, x into savings, do/dont prioritise paying off mortgage etc.

Current situation is salary come in, bills are paid, and then remainder is mix of savings (me), spaffing up wall (DH). I want a proper plan from someone with a much better idea of these things than me.

So the first thing to do is check your state pension forecast.

www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

If you don't already have a government gateway account it's a bit of a faff to set up but once set up is actually quite useful.

You have a lot of savings wrapped up in your house.

What expenditure are you expecting over the next few years? Will the teens be going to uni?

If you're going to have to pay out money eg for uni, then save into an isa or savings account with a high rate.

Money saving expert have a list of good savings accounts which is updated regularly.

www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/

If not, then your mortgage is the place to go.

Realistically most people in your position downsize to release money for retirement and/or move somewhere cheaper as you don't need to be in a good catchment area/commute to the office.

If you're prepared to do a bit of reading and listening, you can sort this out for free.

Look at the financial flow chart for your to do list

https://ukpersonal.finance/flowchart/

Also listen to the last series of the Meaningful Money podcast where they discussed each step in detail.

You probably want some sort of low cost pension based on a global index tracker, Vanguard is popular for ease and low fees.

But also need to make sure you're on top of your mortgage, any debt and general budget including an emergency fund and paying for any planned large purchases without borrowing if possible.

Thank all, this is so helpful. I think it's the order of things that I've been most stuck with but the flow chart really helps that.

The other thing you will need to consider is how you will support the children through university if that is the route they choose. At certain income levels you will be expected to contribute in addition to the loan.

Work out your entire outgoings from last year, see if you can trim anything.

Consider overpaying your mortgage but look at any financial penalty to do so.

See if you can afford to make additional voluntary contributions to your pensions.

Do you receive child benefit?

Move your money in to a tax free ISA you cannot have a joint ISA so split it and both put half in the highest rate you can get. Once removed it cannot be out back in though.

Get your state pension forecast at Gov.UK

The amount of money you have does not warrant paying a Financial advisor at all, go and look at Money Saving Expert.

The main thing is pay off debt, overpay mortgage, add to tax free savings and pension.

If either of you (DH?) is a 40% taxpayer then paying into pension well worth considering (and lump sum and/or income can be accessed from 57). £40 of every £100 paid in to a pension is effectively paid by the tax man. And you can have a quarter out tax free.

there are a lot of community groups on Facebook for FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) so might be worth joining to have a lurk