"I would strongly advise them to sell the family home, either immediately or at retirement, " says Ferguson. "It's hard to justify holding on to a property worth 1.2m if they're only going to be living there for six months of the year. " It would be possible to have the best of both worlds . . . buying a bigger pad in Spain and holding on to the family home in Dublin . . .

while John and Marian are still working. This is because their earnings would be strong enough to support another mortgage in Spain. But once they retire, they would have to pay back their debts by trading down to a smaller home in Dublin.

Given John's pessimistic outlook on the property market, Ferguson believes it makes sense to of"oad the buy-to-let houses and invest the money elsewhere.

They are worth almost 900,000 but only generate an income of 30,000 a year, giving a rental yield of 3.4%.

"The yield is poor enough and, if John believes the market has 'maxed out', my advice would be to get rid of both properties, " says Ferguson. "One concern I'd have is that every penny they have seems to be in property."

John and Marian need to explore other ways of investing their money. "What they need is a more balanced portfolio. Yes, it should include some property but they need to be more balanced than they are now by including an equity, bond and cash content."

Even though they have left it until late in the day, John and Marian can still cash in on the lucrative tax breaks available for pension investing. "While they're still earning, they should 'max out' their pensions, " says Ferguson. "At their current ages they can contribute 30% of income to a pension and this will rise to 35% when they hit 55."

Ferguson estimates they could build up a pension pot of 200,000 by age 65 by investing 30,000 a year for the next "ve years. Some 50,000 could be taken from the pension tax-free while the rest would buy a guaranteed income of 7,500 a year. If they play their cards right, they will get full tax relief on any money contributed to a pension while paying little or no tax on the money they get back out.

After selling the buy-toproperties and the family home, and trading up to a villa in Spain, John and Marian would be left with an investment nest egg of 1.2m.

This should provide an index-linked income of 55,000 a year for more than 30 years according to Ferguson's calculations. "When the money starts to run out, they will have to consider selling one of their properties, either in Dublin or Spain, " he says. "This might not be too great a sacri"ce because, at that stage in life, they may no longer wish to split their time between two locations."