u/Capital-Squirrel3522

Separated for a long time (several years) now but not divorced. Everything all ok on the co-parenting front and these days I don't stress about the divorce or the marriage failure. It just is. I haven't spoken, seen or heard from my in-laws (siblings - no parents). I don't think my family have been in touch at all with my ex husband either. It's all awkward. I feel the effects of separation or divorce after a long marriage has deeper impacts for all.

Anyone still in contact with in laws, even if only for the children?

I am a late to the investing party in my mid 40s after decades of saving in cash and ploughing money into my mortgage (I know stupid).

Now have £20k in cash ISA where the interest bonus has expired so I am taking the leap to transfer this to S&S ISA.

I have started with VWRP, VDPG, small amount loose change in social pies (Gold, AI etc).

Should I just transfer the whole lump sum or drip feed this? I'd be putting it into VWRP to play safe. Should I wait for a dip or just put it in?

Anything else I should consider or stick with VWRP?
Thanks

Me and my ex husband have been separated nearly 4 years, we have one child. We co-parent well, are friendly, message most days and sometimes still do family-type things for our kid. There’s no real conflict anymore, we're friendly with each other and it's ok by me.

The thing is we never actually addressed the end of the marriage and it does still hurt me. We tried counselling before separating, communication was always a problem, and since splitting up we’ve basically never talked about “us”, divorce, closure, or what happened. It’s like the marriage just quietly disappeared and neither of us has formally moved things on.

I think I’m struggling because part of me misses the family unit, I have some regrets about being a single parent and making my child grow up between two homes. None of us set out to live like this.

Has anyone else experienced this? Especially where one person just stays emotionally silent and avoids the conversation completely? Did you eventually talk about it or did you just slowly move on without closure?

I am new to investing so please be kind!

Between October and January, I drip fed £600 into this pie ETF Gold Retire. I know it's peanuts but I am a little shocked at the -5.6% loss. I know I have to be patient and stop checking but am I doing something wrong?
Does anyone else invest in this pie and how is it going?

I had something so weird happen and I never had this before...

Last night I couldn't relax so I put on some classical music radio to help me to sleep. It did its job.

In my dream, there was classical music playing and it turned into a frenzy of going around my "dream home" turning off all devices, shaking and banging them to make the music stop but the music just carried on playing and it was like the music was in the air with no source. Roped my son (real life son) into helping me find the source of the music but we gave up and all I remember is opening the curtains and the sky was full of dancing colours like pink, green and purple - somehow signifying the music was bringing the end times.

Then I woke up and my phone was still playing the classical music radio. It's left me feeling pretty weird and wondering what exactly is the dream world ? Can our dreams also be influenced in real time as with my radio playing?

Anyone had anything similar happen to them?

I don't know if this belongs here but something so weird happened and I never had this before...

Last night I couldn't relax so I put on some classical music radio to help me to sleep. It did its job.

In my dream, there was classical music playing and it turned into a frenzy of going around my "dream home" turning off all devices, shaking and banging them to make the music stop but the music just carried on playing and it was like the music was in the air with no source. Roped my son (real life son) into helping me find the source of the music but we gave up and all I remember is opening the curtains and the sky was full of dancing colours like pink, green and purple - somehow signifying the music was bringing the end times.

Then I woke up and my phone was still playing the classical music radio. It's left me feeling pretty weird and wondering what exactly is the dream world ? Can our dreams also be influenced in real time as with my radio playing?

Anyone had anything similar happen to them?

Mid 40s and I have no private pension and recently joined the NHS pension scheme. Family issues earlier in life led me to this. That said, I have a good lumpsum of savings (£100k in ISAs), I still have a mortgage but it's small (£80k). I have 2 kids who are still at primary school.

Currently my NHS pension is only around £5k year. I make enough to put more into it through purchasing an additional NHS pension. Is this a wise thing to do? Or do I go with a SIPP to bridge? What else am I missing?