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I don't like dealing with money, so I definitely err towards smashing the mortgage because the quicker I can pay that off the less money those arseholes at the bank get and I don't feel I've a thing hanging over me vs. having to think about where to invest or how much to contribute to the pension etc.
Humans are risk averse generally and I'm probably more risk averse in this regard.
hippy-
I'm not the kind of person that can make good investment choices (I just don't care).
Global tracker. It matches the mean performance of every publicly traded company on Earth (by size). It's simultaneously the most low-effort and (one of the) most effective way to invest for most people. You don't need to look at it or change it every year or whatever.
The default pension funds are usually megashit, just like your bank's basic savings account is megashit. You wouldn't stick £100k in an account that earns 0.1% interest for 30 years when there are others that earn 3.8%. Not looking at your pension and leaving it in shitty investments is basically the same thing
frankenbike
Spend enough on beer and you reduce the odds of surviving even further...
All this stuff is weird though - what feels right probably isn't always technically the best answer - I overpay on mortgage too even though it's not as tax efficient (gives more flexibility against property price crash etc, though)