Martin Wilcocks - Bulletproof Retirement

09/10/2026

This week the average five-year fixed mortgage rate reached 6% and it is a useful illustration of what has been happening across investment markets over the last couple of weeks.

Bond markets have again been volatile, interest rate expectations have moved around and that has pushed up the cost of borrowing.

Fixed mortgage rates are influenced by the bond markets, which is why what happens there eventually finds its way through to the retail mortgage rates we all see quoted.

Stock markets have had a typical dose of turbulence too over recent weeks but, despite everything going on, my message is exactly the same as it always is.

Markets go up and down and back up again on a rolling repeat basis. Sometimes they do both in the space of just a few days.

We don’t know what markets will do next week, next month or even for the remainder of this year but, importantly, we don’t really need to know.

The portfolios we build are designed with these periods in mind, not on the assumption that markets will always behave as we want and just keep going up.

There is no getting away from the permanent advance and, as I’ve probably said 101 times, the temporary falls are part of the same deal. You can’t have one without the other.

The price we must all pay for an income we cannot outlive and for real long-term growth on our investment capital is the temporary declines along the way.

It simply isn’t possible to achieve the growth without them.

It’s a marriage, although perhaps not one made in heaven because it certainly doesn’t feel like it when markets are falling.

Importantly, we remain globally diversified. We remain disciplined. We don’t chase yesterday’s winners and we don’t abandon what we know works just because markets look temporarily uncomfortable.

The image at the top of this note is one of my favourite illustrations of why. It's a bit small I know and you can request a copy of the book - just reply to this post.

Each colour represents a different country and shows where its stock market finished each year, from the best performer at the top to the worst at the bottom.

Take a look across it. There is no pattern. The developed world countries are on the left and emerging world to the right.

Countries move from the top to the bottom and back again, often remarkably quickly. The winners change and, importantly, we don’t know in advance where the next winner is going to come from.

Dimensional’s latest market review gives us another example. Emerging markets have risen strongly this year, led by markets including Taiwan and South Korea.

That is precisely why we diversify globally rather than trying to predict which country, market or company will win next.

We don’t need to find the needle if we own the haystack.

And although higher bond yields can suddenly make fixed income look more attractive, the long-term evidence doesn’t suggest that higher interest rates are a reason to abandon equities or start changing a carefully constructed investment mix.

If drawing an income, and we find ourselves in the middle of a longer-term dip which doesn’t recover as rapidly as the typical month-by-month or intramonth falls, we have defensive assets and cash precisely so that we aren’t forced to sell equities at the wrong time.

If still accumulating, periods like this are simply part of the journey.

There will always be something for markets to worry about. Always something for the news to make sound terrible.

My job is not to predict the next piece of news, the next interest rate move or where markets will be at Christmas.

It is to make sure your financial plan and investment strategy are robust enough that we don’t have to.

So, as ever, we keep calm, remain invested and let the plan do its job.

* image taken from 2026 Dimensional Matrix Book and used with permission

27/09/2026

If you’ve built up several pensions or investments over the years, there’s one question I’d want answered before retiring:

Is all of this actually going to come together and work properly, to give me the retirement I want?

Because what I see surprisingly often is somebody who’s done all the right things.

They’ve saved. They’ve invested. They’ve accumulated, in many cases, a substantial amount of money.

But it’s ended up spread across different pensions, different investment funds, different providers — sometimes over 20 or 30 years — and nobody has ever really stood back and looked at the whole picture properly.

And that’s when some very simple questions become surprisingly difficult to answer.

How much have I actually got?

What returns am I getting?

What am I paying for it all?

And, most importantly, when can I retire and what income can all of this realistically give me?

I’m Martin Wilcocks. I’ve been advising people approaching and moving through retirement for more than 20 years.

My starting point is simply to review what you have, make sense of it all, and work out whether what you’ve built is going to do the job you need it to do.

Now, I don’t know if you’re the kind of person who wants to do something about this, or whether you’re perfectly happy carrying on as you are.

But if you’d find a second opinion on everything you have useful, then fill in the short form below.

No cost. No pressure. No obligation. It’s just a start — and an opportunity to explore what might just be a better way.

31/07/2026

Most people heading into retirement are making one of these three mistakes without realising it.

In this updated 2026 presentation I break down:

💡 Fixed Income Overload — too much of your pension sitting in bonds and gilts that quietly fail to keep pace with inflation *

💡 Network Fee Excess — paying for a financial network's layered management and flagship offices through your own returns *

💡 Active Investment Management — funds that charge more and mostly underperform simpler, evidence-based alternatives *

If you're overweight in fixed income, using a fund picker or stockbroker, or with an adviser inside an expensive network — this is for you.



Expanded points:

* Excessive exposure to low-return “defensive” assets such as corporate bonds or gilts, often presented as safe, but failing to keep pace with inflation

* Advice delivered within expensive financial networks, where layered management fees and bundled charges quietly erode capital year after year

* Reliance on stockbrokers or fund pickers who trade on instinct rather than evidence, leading to higher costs and consistently poor outcomes

If any of the three mistakes sounded familiar the next step is a no-cost 20-minute conversation, no pressure, no obligation: https://meetings.hubspot.com/martin132

16/02/2026

The paperwork, processing delays, and regulatory friction from some providers can be extraordinary.

Some require lengthy application forms simply to access an annual 5% withdrawal processes that appear designed to discourage clients from accessing their own money. Service isn’t a minor detail.

It’s the difference that makes the difference. It’s the difference between enjoying your later years and fighting a brick wall. It’s the difference between clarity and chaos.

I use Transact and in my experience they are the best out there.

By a mile.

Interest in offshore bonds is growing as a tax-planning solution, but advisers say service levels at major providers are poor and frustrating.

06/12/2025

In 2012, a hero of the investment advice profession, a man whose teachings, in my view, carry the same weight and enduring wisdom as men like Buffett or Munger, wrote a book with his wife.

It was called: Talking It Over - Just the Two of Us.

It’s a book for every investment adviser’s life partner. A message to the people who stand beside us while we do this noble work. It was dedicated to their children, and as the pages unfold, it becomes clear why.

The book may have slipped slightly under the radar in the UK. And the hard copy I bought in 2014, two years after publication, cost $169.94 when it was available. I still have the receipt.

It also had to be shipped via a specialist US to UK post office address in America - just to get it forwarded to the UK.

I later saw a copy listed at $2,797, and I immediately understood why. I don’t believe you can even buy a physical copy today. It is, in every sense, a hidden gem.

Nick Murray has shaped my thinking more than anyone else in the field of investing. His methodology is woven into the way I work every single day. And I’ve seen firsthand how it changes lives. Not in theory, but within the real families we support.

The book is 185 pages long and brilliant throughout. The eight pages between 154 and 161 are dynamite.

In those pages, Nick describes a behavioural mistake so widespread… so emotionally seductive… and so financially devastating… that millions of people continue to walk straight into it.

He was talking about Baby Boomers planning for .

And the single biggest, most catastrophic money mistake they make with their retirement pots and life savings.

As we enter the final weeks of this year, I’m going to break down why this mistake is still being made today, why it destroys wealth, and why I believe it now threatens £2.73 trillion of our UK pension and investment capital.

It is a mistake that silently undermines retirements.

And unless you understand what it is, and why it is so dangerous, you risk making the same irreversible error.

Over the coming weeks, I’ll share:

> why the trap exists
> how it seduces even intelligent investors
> long run evidence that expose its failures

This is about clarity, protection and truth.

In time, we’ll get to what disciplined, evidence based investors do instead...

But first, we’re going to dismantle the Enemy piece by piece.

30/10/2025

The uncomfortable truth about “active” investment management.

Most active managers don’t beat the market — yet charge you as if they do. Layer on platform fees, trading expenses, and financial network costs and investors can end up paying more for less.

Decades of data show that cost, not complexity, is a big driver behind returns. The industry doesn’t want you to know that because transparency threatens its margins.

This video I recorded from a few years back, has been edited to expose how high-fee managers, advisers and networks drain wealth in slow motion and why genuine, evidence-based investing is the antidote.

09/10/2025

Are you confident about how your investments are performing?

Many investors aren’t sure where their money is allocated, what fees they’re paying, or even the returns they’ve made over the years.

If you want a clear picture of your investment portfolio and guidance on how to improve your outcomes, take the Investment Performance Assessment today...

https://the-investment-performance-assessment.scoreapp.com

07/10/2025

After 30 years and counting in banking and wealth management, I’ve seen many smart people make the same costly mistakes — not because they were careless, but because the system is stacked against them.

If you've various pensions and investments spread across different providers, it’s easy to overlook these three common pitfalls — but they can quietly chip away at your retirement plan.

● Overexposure to fixed-income investments like corporate bonds or gilts — often pitched as “safe” but typically delivering low returns that fail to beat inflation.

● Being advised by someone tied to a financial network — where layered management fees and bundled advice charges eat away at capital year after year.

● Relying on a stockbroker or fund picker who trades on instinct over evidence — leading to high costs and poor performance (with research showing they’re wrong around 90% of the time).

In this short video, I explain how to avoid these traps — and how to take control with an evidence based strategy based on data, transparency, and independence.

Retirement planning doesn’t usually offer a second chance — so the strategy needs to be right from the start.

Watch the video now and then book a call to explore retiring securely, on your terms.

29/05/2025

Access Updated Webinar:

Essential if approaching, or transitioning into retirement, particularly for those who find themselves in one or more of the following situations:

* Disjointed pensions that are heavily invested in corporate bonds, gilts, or both

* Have a portfolio managed by a stockbroker who selects funds or single stocks

* Supported by a financial adviser operating within a large financial network

17/05/2025

Calculate the future value and net returns with a difference of 2% each year from either a drop in costs or uplifted output performance (5% versus 7% annual growth);

Example using a starting balance of £300,000:

Net Return 5% growth rate: £996,582 (approximate)

Net Return 7% growth rate: £1,983,673 (approximate)

Percentage Difference in Net Returns: Approximately 99.04%

The percentage difference in net returns remains consistent because it is calculated based on the relative increase from the lower growth rate scenario to the higher growth rate scenario, independent of the initial investment amount.

Therefore, a theory about doubling returns over 30 years by adding 2% annually through strategic adjustments holds true across different starting balances.

The image shows the calculation assuming a starting balance of £100,000.

Standard Investment Disclaimers apply.

Past performance is not indicative of future results, and the value of any investment may go down as well as up. Please note that the information shared is for educational and illustrative purposes only and should not be taken as personal investment advice. For tailored advice, please respond or book a non-cost consultation.

https://meetings.hubspot.com/martin132