Does a small mortgage beat a big pension?

Two of the biggest financial challenges we face are paying off a mortgage and funding a comfortable retirement. But which should come first?

Two of the biggest financial challenges we face are paying off a mortgage and funding a comfortable retirement. But which should come first?

The natural preference for most people is "to pay off debt as fast as possible", says Tom McPhail at Hargreaves Lansdowne. But assuming you've paid off non-mortgage debts, such as credit cards and personal loans, and you already have a decent level of equity in your home, then there is a strong case for prioritising your pension, says Thisismoney.co.uk's Philip Scott.

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Tim graduated with a history degree from Cambridge University in 1989 and, after a year of travelling, joined the financial services firm Ernst and Young in 1990, qualifying as a chartered accountant in 1994.

He then moved into financial markets training, designing and running a variety of courses at graduate level and beyond for a range of organisations including the Securities and Investment Institute and UBS. He joined MoneyWeek in 2007.