Where do I start in working out priorities and how to structure?

[Checkandbalenance]

Aged 53. Can safely assume same salary until retirement at 67. This is £40k ish

Pension is combo of FS and MP, had big audit when got divorced, FS = £22k/year MP pot is about £300k

house is worth £650k, I owe £180 on it over 14 years.

Kids are all teen, I have residency and receive &1k per month maintenance which will run till they leave full time education. (At least another 5 years min)

One is quite disabled and he gets (but it goes into the pot) £998/mth benefit

I let a room out to a local week-day contractor and that brings in about £200 a month give or take.

Mortgage is fixed until summer, and that’s the point at which I need to think about stuff I suppose.

Got about £8k in savings. I had more but I pay out for some therapy for son which is hitting £200/mth ish

I own my car outright. Only outings are the usual ones - mortgage is £1300, rest are usual bills, nothing remarkable.

Questions are…
Do I borrow a bit more and do the house up? It could do with about £10k spent on it.

Should I think about downsizing? The place is quite big but I let a room out now and then. I could probably get somewhere suitable for about £580k.

WWYD? I’m just bumbling along. I put some into isa each month, and an index linked fund. About £250 ish. I don’t know if I’m doing “well” or “not well”! No other luxuries, I shop at Aldi and we have a holiday a year which is about £2k plus spending, for all of us.

All advice gratefully received.

Anyone?

I would not borrow. I would cashflow anything that needs doing and I would prioritise what needs doing. You have not given details of what needs doing but £10k sounds like it mostly cosmetic things, not anything major.

"Can safely assume same salary until retirement at 67. This is £40k ish"

How can you assume the same salary until retirement? I just got made redundant from a job. How do you know you would never be made redundant?

£8k emergency fund sounds a but low... how many months of expenses is that if you were to lose your income? I would aim for 6 months of expenses.

What are your outgoings versus income? Can you add to your pension and build your emergency fund?

Thanks for your replies!

The work on the house is tidying and a new shower system, and new fascias.

I can’t go into the work situation but for the purposes of this discussion assume that it’s as solid and as constant as it is likely to be, family firm etc.

@silentpool my pension arrangements will ensure parity in retirement so I question whether adding to them would help. I could do with boosting my emergency fund, agreed.

I think what I’m asking for is a direction. The received thinking always seems to be to build up emergency fund, pay off mortgage and boost pension. I suppose I’m wondering if there are different ways of looking at things.

ukpersonal.finance/flowchart/

Go through that and see if you get a different path. Generally though it will be emergency fund, invest in Stocks & Shares ISA and Pension, chip away at mortgage so you don't have one when you retire.

Plan for Happy: A step-by-step guide to growing your money: Amazon.co.uk: Walkom, Adam: 9781915229397: Books

I would read this, it's a great book and very readable.
It's all about looking at what outcome you want and acting appropriately. I would recommend everyone reads it!

Brilliant! This sounds ideal. I liked Morgan Housel’s “The Psychology of money” but I need to read that again too. Adding it to kindle as I type!

I think that’s where I’m at but there’s nothing very compelling somehow about it. So then I end up down Rightmove rabbit holes thinking “yeah but what if we massively downsized, what difference would that make? Would it make enough of a difference? What is “enough”?””🤔

Sounds like you’ve got great pension pots, especially as your salary isn’t in the high earner category, plus you’ve got lots of equity in your home. If it was me I would consider taking some out tax free at 57, can you use this to pay off your mortgage / boost your savings / have as backup on house repairs which can then be earning interest on what you don’t spend

Do you want to keep working until 67 - full time?