Where should I be putting money?

[LadyTrampSpoon]

After years of only half an eye on long-term finances, I'm trying to take things in hand. I want to find a balance between short-term and long-term investing. What I mean is that I don't want to put everything away for the future leaving little disposable cash now.

Currently, I have/pay into:

• My workplace pension - I pay about 9%, employer pays 21%.
• A medium-risk ISA which is in a target retirement fund, which I'll max out every year up to £85K.
• A regular savings account which is 4-ish% interest and which I pay in the maximum each month.
• Premium bonds.

I'm looking into a private pension. I'm also looking at another regular savings account.

Where else should I be investing? Or what other products should I be looking at? I'm really naive about finances so I feel like I'm feeling my way in the dark and piecing things together. I've had good advice from MN in the past which is why I'm asking here. I've tried the MSE website/forum but I found it a little overwhelming.

Thank you so much!

I would check you work based pension and make sure you are in a fund that will hit your retirement goals.
It's best to determine how much you want in retirement as income and work back from there.
If that base is well covered then perhaps you could take a bit more risk in your ISA, no need to be in a target retirement fund. Just set a static allocation then you rebalance once a year.
Look into index funds, keep your costs low.

Thanks for taking the time to reply, I appreciate your insights.

I'm not too clear on what a static allocation fund is and why its better than a target retirement fund. Don't they both do the same time, which is to get the best returns over a long-term period based on your plans? Sorry if this is incredibly naive.

Thanks for the heads-up about index funds. I was looking at them a while ago but kind of dropped off my radar.

Do you have a rainy day fund of 3 to 6 months living expenses, in case of redundancy, needing a new boiler or new car ?
Some people use premium bonds for this, but others have an instant access account. Ones you only get three withdrawals a year are offering good interest at present.

I'd continue with the ISA with another provider, you don't mean you're going to stop contributions to an ISA when you've reached £85k do you?

Can you say a bit more about your pension?

Yes, I do. I have about two years worth of living expenses which is easily accessible.

Sorry, I wasn't clear about this. This is what I meant - that I'd max out the ISA I currently have every year until I get to £85K then I'll open another IAS with another provider.

It's a public sector pension with a defined benefit and defined contribution aspect. So I don't have flexibility to choose a fund to match my requirements in retirement, and I don't have a 'pot' as such.

USS?

You can pay AVCs and top up the dc bit of the scheme.

Yep, USS

Is it worth topping up DB though, or investing elsewhere?