Asking for advice as my husband (M40) and I (F38) are very late to the game on saving for our future. We have been together 19 years, and have one son (M3).
Husband salary £60k, pay rise possible in Jan 2026, maybe £2-3k. My salary £58.8k part time 3.5 days (£84k full time). Currently pregnant with second child, due August 2026. Will take maternity leave for 6-9 months and then likely return 2-3 days/week.
We have no savings. Mortgage of £440k, house worth £675k. £7k credit card debt at 0%. 1 loan due to be repaid in April 2026, £101/month, 0%. Both salary sacrifice at 3%, employer 5%. Both started pension late, both have around £35k in pension (we had a great time in our twenties, lived abroad and travelled).
Our disposable income until I go on maternity is around £1000-£1500. This will only be available from February 2026 as we are paying off some essential building work until then. All our savings have been spent on building renovations (bought a fire damaged wreck of a house).
We want to build up an emergency fund asap.
We have been told it is best for my husband to salary sacrifice his pay rise above £60k so that we are still eligible for child benefit but don't know if this is the best option for us.
I have just opened a LISA. Husband did not do this before age cut off.
We are keen to open cash and/or Stocks and Shares ISAs but unsure of what should be a priority.
We also will need a new car soon. Ours is pushing 100k and worth £3.5k. I travel extensively for work and therefore need something reliable. This is our only car and needs to work as a family car. We are considering second hand cars around £20k, though this would require a loan of around the same, meaning around £300-400/month payment reducing our disposable income.
Our house is expensive (very old, listed, thatched) and we are likely planning to move in the next 2-5 years to reduce our costs. We did try to sell our house between 2024-2025 but weren't able to. We will stay here until at least end of 2027, if the market improves.
What is the best route for us to improve our savings and pensions? Grateful for any advice!
I wouldn't necessarily be panicking about replacing the car just because it's nearing 100k miles. Modern cars will run to 200k+ if properly maintained. I bought a Skoda with 170k on the clock for £3.5k 2 years ago, have done nearly 20k a year since and haven't had any major issues.
Thanks for that, that's reassuring. We'll be a bit tight on space when second child arrives but think it needs to move down the list of priorities!
It sounds like you need to create a financial plan and try to define your goals.
What do you want your future to look like? The more you know what you're working towards the clearer it should be what to do with your money.
The Wiki and flowchart are a good place to start, if you haven't seen them already.
!Thanks for your advice, I had no idea this flow chart existed! Really helpful 🙌🏻
Work your way through that and the Wiki. One of the areas people can overlook is not spending enough time on their goals, which leads to them not knowing whether they're doing the right thing because they don't have a fully formed idea of where they want to be heading, how they're going to get there and whether they're on track.
If you have no savings, debt, and are about to go on mat leave, I don't know if pension can be the priority right now however tax efficient they are. (Also not sure why people are recommending LISAs as they don't seem efficient in your situation).
What do you mean by this? Is this money left after fixed costs, or how much you expect you can save?
What about when you're on mat leave, will you need to use savings/borrowing to make ends meet?
Thanks for your comment. Our disposable income is money left over after our fixed expenses which includes an allowance for food/groceries and fuel. When I am on maternity we won't be able to save but will not need to touch savings unless I am on maternity for longer than 9 months.
Hi /u/Ordinary_Heron_2441, based on your post the following pages from our wiki may be relevant:
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Make a decent budget, work out what you can save.
Save that much until your second is born. This can be any instant access saver. ISAs etc are for the next stage. Depending on your maternity package, I imagine you will save less while off. Again, worth budgeting for that.
Increasing your pension contributions is the most efficient move.
Then build your emergency fund/baseline savings.
After that you can plan for savings goals (sounds like you have plenty of them coming up).
Then you can look at ISA and investing.
!thanks, really helpful. Maternity package is minimal (6 weeks @90% then SMP) as I work in a male dominated industry so likely won't be able to save at all while on mat leave. We have created our budget for that time so comfortable we can manage while I'm off and then start saving as soon as I'm back in work again.
It's honestly not too late. If you get pay rises put a portion of it away into your pension, so pay rise of 2% you can put the whole 2% or 1% into your pension. I do no spend months to catch up on emergency funds. Zero based budgeting works for me and I review it every week rather than monthly.
!thanks for this, I think we'll put any pay rises straight to pension 👍🏻
Build a cash buffer. Old house and second child on the way. Try to get to a point where the mortgage is the only debt. Personally I’d keep the pension ticking away in the back ground but it wouldn’t be a priority for me.
!thanks for this 😊
Easiest? Bump up the pension contributions. Most bang for buck in the 40% tax bracket.
Thanks so much. So it's best to prioritise pension over maxing out an ISA each first?
If your pension was healthy, I would have suggested the ISA route but given it's not, the pension will definitely give more bang for buck. And given it's taken from your PAYE, there's no additional financial discipline needed on your side.
!thanks so much, really helpful advice.
On a salary of £60,000 the first ~£10,000 of pension contribtions are very tax efficient.
You can pay 40% tax on that £10,000, take home £6000 and put all of it in an S&S ISA or LISA, or you can put the whole £10,000 in your pension. You buy the same kinds of investments in all three accounts - they generate the same returns, based on the underlying assets you have chosen to invest in, the only question is what tax treatment you prefer.
Pension is always more tax efficient than S&S ISA, but especially on earnings over £50,271. You shouldn't be putting money into a LISA, except for homebuying, until you've brought your adjusted net income down to that level.
!thanks this is really helpful 😊
Oh, I meant to include in the last paragraph: This is explained on the ISA vs LISA vs Pension page of the wiki.
Absolutely. You get the tax relief on personal contributions, and due to your earnings, you can claim the higher rate tax relief on self-assessment.
As you are under 40, set up a lifetime ISA too, as the government bumps up contributions by 25%. You can only contribute £4k per annum to age 50 and can't access until age 60, but it will be tax-free withdrawals when you need it.
!Thanks so much. So best route is to both up pension contributions as much as possible, then work to max out my LISA, then husband's ISA each year?
That's what I would do. Definitely focus on putting as much into your pensions as possible (and you with a LISA). It will take a few years, but once your pot gets to a certain level, the cumulative interest will really start to make a big difference.
!thanks so much, that's really helpful ☺️
Sounds like you're in a pretty good situation. Congrats!
Having had a look at the comments, I will mention also: state Pension.
Check your contribution record https://www.gov.uk/check-national-insurance-record
If you think either of you will wish to stop working before making 35 years of contributions AND there are gaps in your contribution record THEN you can backfill up to 6 years with voluntary contributions. Sounds like you're both mid career and employed so gaps may not exist, but worth checking.
Otherwise, making Pension contributions up to the maximum matched by employer, plus some salary sacrifice if you've the budget headroom, are good. Default funds are often too conservative and include too many bonds/gilts - you have decades ahead for it to grow, so ensure these are in growth funds.
I would also say, high salaries plus credit card debt plus no savings = people who need a budget. Not judging, as I know nothing of your personal journeys. But worth considering.
! thanks! I have made sure my contributions are full with no gaps from when I was working abroad. Definitely agree with you on the budget - we have spent every spare penny on our renovation works and as soon as we have finished paying that off (Feb 2026) our priority is saving and focusing on building pension. Really helpful advice on the growth funds too, thanks for taking the time to comment.