Where to start?

[RegularNameSwitcher]

Hi savvy mumsnetters,
I’m mid-40s and have very little in the way of savings. I feel like I need to get cracking with investments…
Please help - where do I get started? Did you get advice from somewhere? Do a course/ webinar? (I’ve been looking as some chap online called Money Coach Joe - any good? Is this legit?)
How do you decide whether you should be investing versus paying off your mortgage?
Thank you for any pointers you can offer!

I've not come across 'Money Coach Joe' so can't comment on either if he is legit or even any good.

Martin Lewis is very much respected across the board for any money advice.

Mortgage aside, a good rule of thumb is to try to pay of any debt you have, before you do anything else.
If you have debt, then pay off the highest interest debt first.
Then,
If you don't have savings, then the next thing to do is to try to build some easily accessible savings in an interest baring account.

Set yourself goals - enough to replace the fridge if it suddenly broke, leading up to enough to keep you ticking over for 3, then 6 months if you were suddenly unable to work.

Rebel Finance School! It’s a totally free course run by an English couple who retired in their early 40s.

They go through everything you need to know over 10 weeks and even if your ultimate goal is not the same as theirs (early retirement) the principles are still the same.

If you miss the course “live” (they do it once a year to update any tax changes, etc) they leave all the videos up on YouTube until the next course comes around, so you can do it at any time.

There’s also a Facebook page so you can ask for advice from the community at any time.

https://rebeldonegans.com/finance/rfs/

Meaningful Money podcast Season 25
https://meaningfulmoney.tv/2023/05/17/finance-os-intro/

Learn about having a good foundation. Emergency fund, consumer debt free. Then investing using Stocks & Shares ISA and Pension.

Thank you @CaveMum @nannynick these look excellent, I’ll definitely check them out

and thank you @RecordBreakers i think I’m doing these foundational things (as best we can) but I’m just conscious that I should be doing more. And I have very little understanding of how to manage my finances so I need to educate myself