Best financial decision

Seems most people appreciate being able to pay off their mortgages, despite being advised not to for tax reasons. I had forgotten about endowment mortgages, my ex hubby and I were not tempted to get one in the 1980s which was another fantastic decision made!

I have also had excellent support for a financial adviser, yes, I have to pay for his services, but he moved a small pension I had from my divorce to a different company which then increased in value significantly.

Paying off the mortgage at 40 has meant I was able to finish work when my health wasn’t great.Was advised by everyone not to pay it off but definitely the best decision I ever made.

My ex and I bought a house in 1979 and an endowment mortgage was the only mortgage on offer to us. When we parted company in 1988, I sold that house and bought a smaller one I was able to get an ordinary mortgage although the interest rate was nearly 8% and rose to 15%. I paid off the mortgage with my retirement lump sum.

Good for you Saggi. I am good with money and control it all as good at it.He is t bad either.

When I sold my house years ago the new build one wasn't finished, so I put the money from the sale into a 1 month bond paying high interest ….. (building society probably put it on overnight trading and made a lot more than me !) but the interest rate was really good back then and paid enough for me to build another garage on the new house and then buy it mortgage free

Switching from an endowment to a repayment mortgage many years ago. Then using my husbands redundancy money to pay off the remaining mortgage 5 years ago.
Paying into an occupational pension scheme for 40 years!

Only the future will tell if it was a good investment but I paid 20% of my Small income into a voluntary pension fund for ove 15 years so that I could subsidise my pension when I retire. However, I was warned and advised at the time to enjoy life and spend it as by the time I get to pension age, the government will subtract my voluntary pension from my state pension because there won’t be enough to go round.

Yes you can have a company pension as well as buy into a private one

I have made 3 best decisions. No.1 was, after 2nd husband left me with £85K of debt, that I would always have my own bank account and never a joint one. No.2 was that I knew I would would never work for a large enough company to have a good pension so I kept trading up properties then when I could afford was overpaying the mortgage by the maximum amount allowed each month. No.3. Deciding to retire abroad and buying a house for 25% of the amount I sold my English property for giving me a nice lump sum in savings so I can live comfortably.

Best financial decision we ever made was when my mother died and left me a nice little nest egg, our mortgage was already paid so we split it between our four boys with instructions to enjoy it. Each one paid it off their respective mortgage which gave us a self satisfied feeling that we'd brought them up with good money management skills!

If the truth be known, by learning from our mistakes.

When I got my pension at 60 I carried on working and could live modestly off my pay so I spent my pension on replacing everything which was wearing out, knowing that when I retired I’d never again be able to buy a new mattress, cooker, dish washer etc. I’ve never regretted doing that.

Went to university in my 40s resulting in changing 'job' for 'career'. This resulted in a small private pension and modest lump sum on retirement which I wouldn't otherwise have had.

I opted out of pension scheme...would have only been £150 a month. I was living in rented accommodation. I added some of it to my savings and bought my boat and I was left with very good savings for a cushion. Not everyone's idea of heaven but it meant I own the roof over my head...I live it. I have refitted it to suit me and found peace on the river where I live. I still work and add to my savings.

Owning our home outright, always spending less than we earned and saving for saving’s sake has meant that I slept easy financially. Mr Micawber had it right!

It's not about the money money money ...

Well the title of the thread is "Best Financial Decision" so most posts are about money!

We did all the above.
Repayment mortgage, my H paid into a superannuation scheme for 40 years, we made wise investments. Mortgage paid off and then my H developed dementia.
Now half his occupational pension, all his retirement pension and some savings go towards his care.
I have a tiny pension plus half his pension to keep the house going plus keeping myself.
I do have savings fortunately and use those for my extras.
The pension my H paid for our comfortable retirement is keeping him in care not both of us in comfort.
I expect I will be told I am lucky.
It doesn't always seem that way.

annesixty ?

annsixty That is so very sad. I'm truly sorry that you and your husband have not had the chance to spend your retirement years together, doing all the things you'd dreamt of while you were working and saving. Hope you have enough to spoil yourself occasionally ...
My best decision was to sell up and move back to the UK from Athens in the early nineties, thus avoiding the later Greek financial carnage.

Lumarei, if you live in the UK and qualify for a Uk state pension, your occupational pension is not deducted from your state pension. I that was the case no-one would save for a private pension so the government would have to pay even more to pensioners.

Lumarei Occupational pensions can be reduced because of something called GMP (Guaranteed Minimum Pension) - if anyone understands how that works it would be interesting to know.

Not having a joint bank account with my late, unlamented husband was my best decision. Nuff said!

Investing in property rather than pension schemes .

My best decision (though not financial) was marrying my lovely husband who was more savvy than me. He arranged for us to pay off the mortgage early which was good.
But the bad - he cancelled his critical illness/life insurance policy as he expected to outlive his mum and inherit half the house. He was diagnosed with a rare terminal illness which no-one could have foreseen, his mother outlived him by seven years.
However, arrangements were made, MILs' will left some to me so I get by.
Am awaiting a lotto win.

Oh we small business owners are treat so very well by the local authority.....NOT.

We really can’t take much more kittylester it’s not fair we only want to get by and pay our lads a fair wage. I don’t want a fancy car, big house or exotic holiday . Seems the fat cats in the town hall don’t see it like that. It’s a case of squeeze them dry .

The banks treat small businesses terribly LilyLaundry . We don’t ever deal in cash..... some would say, mores the pity (all of our work is business to business) but we do rely heavily on an overdraft for which the fees and interest are astronomical. They are all heart .

I have sent an email of appeal Jalima and am meeting with our accountant during the week, who is going to put some figures together which might help me. If I’m honest I don’t think it’ll make a fig of difference but I have to try. They are so bleedin’ shortsighted they would rather see empty factory units and shops than offer fair rents and rates. As I said before our LA see small businesses as cash cows .

We rent a small LA unit on an industrial estate PamelaJ . No farming around here and we need to be near the main road networks as we travel to sites. Also the practicality of moving machinery and all the other costs of moving a business will probably outweigh the benefits . Thank you for your suggestion though.