The Retirement Newsletter: Quarterly review
Issue Number: -55 — Well…. That’s not good
Welcome
Happy New Year! I hope 2023 is a good one.
Welcome to issue -55 — time for another quarterly review of how my plans to retire are going. And after this review, there should only be four more reviews until I retire.
So, how are my plans going?
Well, I would say — mixed.
End of quarter review
These reviews seem to come around faster and faster.
Looking back to the end of quarter 3 of 2022
My last review was in Issue -68: Quarterly review at the end of quarter 3 of 2022. With my previous reviews in:
End of quarter 2 in 2022: Issue -81: Quarterly review
End of quarter 1 in 2022: Issue -94: Time for another review
End of quarter 4 in 2021: Issue -106: How is my retirement plan going?
End of quarter 3 in 2021: Issue -120: Time for a quarterly review
In each review, I have four sections:
Money
Job
Health
Life
And at the end of the last review, we had a mini-budget in the UK, which trashed the markets and caused considerable damage to the UK economy. And in the review, I concluded:
“A summary of the situation would be:
Job — I will ride out the next 68 weeks until I retire — if I can afford to retire. If I don’t retire in 68 weeks, the job situation may become a significant problem. Things cannot continue as they are — it is not doing my health any favours.
Health — keep working on the diet, get more exercise, and reduce my job-induced stress levels.
Life — keep working on it, but no doubt Christmas will have an impact.
Money — I feel that things are beyond my control, and this is adding to my stress levels. Not good. I will have to ride things out and see what the future brings.
So, there you have it. Things are not looking good. Let’s see what this next quarter brings.”
So, that was three months ago. What about now?
The end of quarter four — 2022
Where do my retirement plans stand at the end of 2022? As with the end of quarter 3, my big worry is money, but first, my job, health, and life.
Job
At the end of the last quarter, I was still facing some job-related issues. But, at the time, I was staring down the barrel at the start of a new academic year. Now that the first term is over, and I am moving from the ‘penultimate’ time of doing things to the ‘final’, I feel I can ride out the next 55 weeks to my planned retirement date.
I hope these don’t turn out to be famous last words!
Health
The ‘long-COVID’ type health problems (tiredness, fatigue, muscle pain) I was experiencing at the end of the last quarter have gone. I have even made some progress in losing weight. But, the festive period will have reversed my weight loss. Plus, I have been getting more exercise, and I feel fitter.
Health-wise, things are improving.
Life
As with last quarter, no fundamental changes, and things still need working on.
Money
OK, first off, I want to say that I am not a financial advisor. I am writing about what I have read over the years about money and preparing to retire. This is not financial advice.
Money is the big worry.
At the time of writing (January 2023), inflation is still running at over 10% in the UK, and the stock market (which impacts my pension pots) has had a terrible year.
At the start of 2022, I was around 10% up on my investments, but since then, the accounts have taken a hammering, and I am some 8% down on the initial money I invested. This is not good.
In mid-2022, I tried repositioning my Stocks and Shares ISA (Individual Savings Accounts) to minimise losses. I didn’t do enough, and I wasn’t fast enough.
I am unsure what to do at this stage besides repositioning my holdings to lessen the losses.
My private pension appears to be doing OK, and the scheme reports a surplus. Let’s hope that continues and some of the surplus finds its way back into re-instated pension benefits.
If you read last week’s issue — Issue Number: -56 - Happy New Year — am I starting my last full calendar year in employment? — you will know that two of my New Year Resolutions for 2023 are:
7. Meet with Pension Wise and have a chat about my pension.
8. Meet with an independent financial advisor to talk about my pension.
So, hopefully, they will be able to give me some advice.
Money is a concern, and it does have the potential to derail my retirement plans.
Please note I am not a financial advisor. I am writing about what I have read over the years about money and preparing to retire. This is not financial advice.
Summary
Things are looking pretty grim.
A summary of the situation would be as follows:
Job — I am moving into my ‘final’ phase of doing things, and I am confident I can last the next 55 weeks.
Health — my post-COVID health issues have improved, and I have lost a little weight.
Life — I must keep working on this aspect of my plan.
Money — my private pension is doing better than OK, but my savings and investments are a bit of a car crash.
So, there you have it. Things are not looking good. Let’s see what this next quarter brings.
Nostalgia corner
Over the holiday period, I have continued to practice being a couch potato (see Issue Number: -58 — Would it be possible to turn being a couch potato into a side-hustle?) and managed to get some serious TV time in with all the Christmas specials.
My TV viewing highlights have been: Ghosts, Death in Paradise, Detectorists, and Gone Fishing. All on the BBC.
Ghosts
An excellent Christmas special. I particularly enjoyed the Ghosts putting on a Pantomime. (A Pantomime is a peculiarly British (mainly) play performed at Christmas. There are set stories for pantomimes and some strange rules about characters. For more information, see Wikipedia.)
Death in Paradise
Death in Paradise is a very popular cop show in the UK. What makes it popular is not the storylines but that it’s based on a tropical island and in the middle of a UK winter; we all need a dose of tropical sunshine. The Christmas special wasn’t great.
Gone Fishing
If you have read issue -64 (Have we got retirement wrong?) or -121 (What am I going to do once I retire?), you will know that I am a bit of a fan of Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing.
Over the festive period, it was good to see Bob Mortimer and Paul Whitehouse back out fishing. It was a shame they weren’t in the UK and that there wasn’t much fishing in the show.
Overall, I enjoyed the special; it was a great way to spend part of the evening.
Detectorists
The Detectorists was the one I was looking forward to most.
The Detectorists was a three-series comedy programme about two friends who shared the hobby of metal detecting. It was a slow, brilliantly written programme that finished five years ago. The Christmas special was a one-off feature-length episode that updated everything. I thoroughly enjoyed it. My only complaint was that the idea of the one-off could have made an entire series.
Useful links
UK Government Website:
Next week
Next week, in issue -54, I will reflect on being another year older. And the big question is, am I any wiser?
Thanks
Thanks for taking the time to read this newsletter, and please don't hesitate to share it with your friends or on social media using the buttons below.
If you would like to say 'thanks' for the newsletter, why not buy me a cup of tea?
Until next time,
Nick
PS, If you have something you would like to contribute to the newsletter — a story, advice, anything — please get in touch.
Please note: I am not a financial advisor. I am writing about money and financial matters based on things I have read over the years about money and preparing to retire. THE ABOVE IS NOT FINANCIAL ADVICE.
Happy New Year. I hope things will improve.