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This week’s case study, soon to be an empty-nester, is keen to get out of the property market and look at different ways of growing his funds. Where can he find guidance to help make the right choices as he builds financial security for retirement?

I am the main breadwinner – my wife runs a PR agency but her income from that is up and down. We have three wonderful children: one has graduated and is working and flat-sharing, one is at university and one is about to leave for university – so although we’re beyond paying for childcare, we have university costs, particularly rent.

We lived through a period where the government was encouraging people to buy lots of property and do buy-to-lets, and we have four properties including our main residence. This has been less successful than we’d hoped over the years and it’s a lot of hard work too, so we’ve now decided to sell the properties and invest. We’re wondering whether a stocks and shares ISA might be a good idea, but we haven’t done anything like it before and haven’t looked into how we might go about it.

Occupation IT consultant
Age 54
Lives in St Albans
Salary £61,000
Take-home £3,700 pcm
Housing status Five-bedroom house; £300,000 left to pay on the mortgage
Lives with My wife and daughter, 17. My two older children have left home
Housing costs £1,000 pcm plus £700 which we pay for our daughter’s rent – she’s at university
Savings Cash savings of £3,500; cash ISA with £4,000
Pension Currently stopped paying into my workplace pension – outgoings are so high we can’t afford to. There’s probably £30,000 in there
Utilities £500 pcm
Other monthly outgoings
• Car lease £260
• TV subscriptions £19.97
• Internet £60
• Mobile £62
• Eating out £60
• Groceries £500

Waitrose or Aldi?
The answer used to be Waitrose but now it’s Aldi for sure.

Mr Porter or M&S?
M&S. I work from home – luxury fashion is not in my vocabulary. If we buy anything from an expensive brand, it’s usually for our daughters.

McDonald’s or Nobu?
We only eat out once in a blue moon.

Margate or Mauritius?
Margate – I’m terrible in the heat. I’d rather be in a blustery British resort playing shove ha’penny than hiding in a hut in the Maldives.

Tesla or train?
Teslas do look lovely. But I actually love trains and I don’t really need a Tesla.

How much do you think you can afford to invest?
So much of our capital is tied up in property right now, but if we can sell then once we’ve bought another place, we’ll have around £50,000 to invest.

In a recent nationwide YouGov survey for Lloyds Bank and The Times,* 43 per cent said they were investing to be financially secure – for a rainy day. What are your savings goals?
We would both like to retire at some point and live a more relaxed life. We’ve spent 25 years bringing up children and juggling family life, which is exhausting. Some of the sale of our houses will hopefully fund retirement – it would be good to know what to do with that lump sum until the time comes.

Nearly two in five (39 per cent) said investing was boring, scary, too complicated or simply not for them. Only 7 per cent said it was exciting. What about you?
It’s both scary and exciting. I’m not a massive risk taker but there is so much more written about investment these days. I’d like to get clued up and start with it again. Our big bet on property has not quite worked out but even our son who is 23 has £10,000 invested in some bonds. We need to find our new path.

Only a quarter of respondents said they would consider risking their money. Would you take a risk for a bigger return?
I would hedge my bets. Take a risk with some of the money but also invest sensibly with the rest. Having lived with the anxiety of interest rates and our properties for a while now, I am keen not to be worrying that we’ll lose it all.

Confidence is a big issue – 64 per cent of our respondents say they’re not confident they have enough knowledge to start. Do you agree?
Personally I’m not completely confident but I am more than happy to seek guidance from someone who is.

How could this week’s diarist get started?

We ask Jo Harris, director at Lloyds Bank

As we go through different life stages – becoming empty-nesters or planning retirement – it is important to review our finances regularly, as our risk appetite and goals may have changed.

Before thinking about investing, consider paying off any short-term debt and building a rainy day fund you can access at short notice: as a rough guide, at least three times your typical monthly spend in cash.

You mention that you’ve stopped paying into your workplace pension – you may want to resume investing into this to make the most of potential employer contributions and benefits from tax relief.

If you are considering investing, a stocks and shares ISA is a great way to hold a range of investments, with potential income or gains free from UK income tax and capital gains tax. The proceeds from the sale of your properties will realise more than the individual £20k annual ISA allowance, so consider separate ISAs for you and your wife, so that you can both make full use of your individual allowances.

Also, we’re not far from the next tax year, so you could make use of this year’s allowance by investing before April 5 and again in the new tax year from April 6.

There are plenty of investments to choose from, including simple Ready-Made Investments and specific individual shares and funds. As you are planning for retirement, consider your risk appetite carefully when selecting a type of investment. Think about investing for a period of five years or more, to help reduce the impact of market changes over time. It’s always worth remembering that your investments can go down as well as up, so you should be mindful of this when investing.

If you need more help, Lloyds Bank has some great online tools and educational guides designed to help you understand the various options, along with the associated risks – and assist you in deciding which are right for you.

The value of investments, and income from them, can fall as well as rise, and you may get back less than you invest. That’s why investing for five-plus years helps to reduce the impact of market changes over time.

* Statistics source: YouGov, sample size 2,090 UK adults, survey dates December 15 to 18, 2023

Explore more ways to invest with Lloyds Bank

Photo: Getty