Personally I would try to keep it simple.

Keep the mortgage. Keep the savings. Don't try to get 'clever' with investments or credit cards.

As for the 'cost of bringing up a baby', in my view and my experience, the fear of what it will cost is overblown. There doesn't need to be any massive outlay (unless you want there to be) and the 'running costs' of a nipper somehow tend to get rolled into your own living costs. I think one subconsciously adjusts one's outgoings to accommodate the little 'un.

Edited by YT (11 Jul 2019 7.25pm)

Palace since 19 August 1972. Palace 1 (Tony Taylor) Liverpool 1 (Emlyn Hughes)

Thanks eagleman. Nice of you to say so.

Palace since 19 August 1972. Palace 1 (Tony Taylor) Liverpool 1 (Emlyn Hughes)

My point is upheld about credit though.
Maybe whacking it all into bitcoin would be a better bet.
Fixed interest rates are manageable.
Crypto not so.

Hi Ambrose,

Hopefully you've seen my pm with some suggestions and my contact details. I am a Croydon based Independent Financial Adviser by profession and can hopefully offer some guidance to those on the thread who might be interested.

Everyone's circumstances are different, so there are many things to weigh up and consider, but based on the information you've provided, I'll keep it as specific to this as I can and provide some information on sensible investing and how this relates to your situation.

A big issue in the UK at present is cash savings, especially if held for a long term period. The reason for this is inflation and the current low interest rate environment. For example; If you put £10,000 in your bank account today, got 0.5% interest from the bank and inflation was at 2.5% per year, you are in effect losing 2% per year in real terms. So after 10 years, your £10,000 is now effectively worth £8,000.

People are naturally nervous around stock market investing because they don't understand the concept of volatility, time and risk. There are also thousands of funds available so it can be difficult to select the right one, particularly of you are not educated in the area. In addition, the media will always highlight the negative story's rather than the positives - who knows that the markets have been rocketing since the 2008 global crisis (except for the last quarter of 2018 )? Those sat in cash during the last 10 years would have lost out considerable amounts.

Furthermore, we have a herd mentality, such as bitcoin, where it's all over the news, everyone jumps on it and then it unsurprisingly crashes. Bitcoin by the way is extremely high risk - I certainly wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. Congratulations to those who gambled and got out ahead.

So with regards to the mortgage situation, it depends on how comfortable you are with investing. If you are; it's pretty easy to get returns in excess of your 2.99% interest rate via a 'cautious to moderate' multi asset fund, in which case you're better off investing that excess money. *its important to note that stock market investing is not guaranteed* however, you can very confident of making gains over the long term, but short term will be volatile.

If you're not comfortable investing and would rather sit in cash, you're best off paying chunks off your mortgage because your cash savings aren't benefiting you by sitting there doing nothing.

If anyone would like some assistance with their finances, feel free to send me a pm and I'll provide my contact details. My area of expertise are investments, retirement planning and pension income options (including Final Salary pension transfers).

Edited by Goal Machine (08 Aug 2019 9.48am)

Edited by Goal Machine (08 Aug 2019 9.50am)