u/FullTankWarrior

We’ve had a wealth management company look after our investments since 2014. Realising they’re going to get expensive the further along we go.

The decision has been made. We’re moving. Besides, they’re not really providing much value as we only have annual reviews and really, we’re making all the decisions.

But where do we move our money to? Thinking about II or Vanguard. Two SIPPs, two ISAs (stocks and shares). Thanks for any advice!

Hi everyone. We're new to this forum and this concept after finally deciding to pull our socks up and get serious about our retirement. Hopefully it's not too late.

We're both 47. Run our own limited companies and have a decent combined income. Roughly £65K each in dividends every year. And we have a salary of £10k each.

Firstly, I'll say we've been a bit daft with our cash over the years. As in, had a bloody brilliant life. Travelled the world. Invested in a camper van. Had nice clothes. Shopped at decent supermarkets. Had Mindful Chef a lot. Eaten out. Wasted money by spending whatever we liked. I don't need lectures on all that. But yikes, 47 came up fast. And with AI and recent health issues (nothing life-threatening), we reckon it's time we put our foot down.

We only began saving in 2014, and we know we've not yet got enough, but we have the following:

• House worth around £600k, £260k left on the mortgage at 3.89%
• £100k in ISAs between us
• £190k in pensions so far

The plan we've pulled together:

• £3k/month overpaying the mortgage (unlimited overpayments, checked). Dead in under five years, when we're 52
• £3k/month into pensions as employer contributions through the companies
• £600/month into ISAs (bridge is already covered)
• Once the mortgage dies, the whole £5k-ish redirects into ISAs

We're happy to retire on £30k a year between us and be mortgage-free. But that's if we stop at 55. And so we'll probably semi-retire and crack on for a bit. We enjoy what we do. It would just be nice to reduce the days we work.

We've got options – we could downsize on the house later. Inheritance is potential, but we're not relying on it.

And that's it. All written by my fair hand from a small dining table in southern France on one of our month-long camper van / Airbnb adventure/hybird work trips. A non-negotiable, given the recent health scare that made me housebound for an entire year. A year when my husband was an absolute legend, helping me get dressed in those first few months. Dear God, it was awful. But I never stopped working.

Anyway, any advice is welcome. Thanks so much!

Long-time lurker, first post. Be gentle. I’ve seen the 34-year-olds on here with seven figures and I’ve made my peace with it. Mostly.

Us: both 47, child-free by choice, both self-employed through our own limited companies, decent combined income. Took us 20 years of graft to get there, so no shortcuts, just sheer determination and stubbornness.

Context: we’ve been saving properly since 2014, but never at the expense of living – travelled a lot of the world, no lentil years, no regrets. What’s changed is the urgency. Between AI circling both our industries and a health wobble (nothing serious, but the kind that makes you look at a calendar differently), we’ve gone from “one day” to “right, let’s actually do this”.

Where we are:

- House worth ~£600k, £260k left on the mortgage at 3.89%

- £100k in ISAs

- £190k in pensions

- One campervan we love more than is reasonable

At the moment, we have two salaries of £10k. Dividends of around £65k each. Per annum. Roughly £150k total take home.

The plan, freshly hatched:

- £3k/month overpaying the mortgage (unlimited overpayments, checked). Dead in under five years, when we’re 52

- £3k/month into pensions as employer contributions through the companies

- £600/month into ISAs (bridge is already covered)

- Once the mortgage dies, the whole ~£5k redirects into ISAs for a final sprint

Target is £36k a year, and honestly we’ll probably semi-retire rather than stop dead – we both like what we do, just not five days a week of it. The dream is dropping to two or three days around 53 and letting the pot compound while we disappear off in the van for months at a time. We’ve just come back from a long trip and it’s done irreversible damage to our work ethic.

We’re going to get the full State Pension. Another four and five years to contribute respectively.

So – sense-check us. What are we missing? And does anyone else find mortgage overpayment weirdly addictive, or is that just me?