Dear friends,
You will have surely noticed that the news headlines rarely feature Covid-19 anymore. Especially after China has opened up to the world, the last major country to do so, there are practically no mentions of the coronavirus pandemic on the front pages. However the effects of the virus, and the lockdowns that followed, are slowly starting to be researched and reported. One of these reports caught our eye in the press last week. According to the Guardian, while job vacancies in the UK are 50% higher than before Covid-19, yet the number of working-age people who are not in work or looking for it has grown by 400,000.
These are big numbers and somewhat puzzling. If we take into account that wages are up, and so is the cost of living due to inflation, we would think that people would rush back to work. Wrong! It turns out that the lockdowns gave people the time and space to re-assess their priorities and think about whether they really wanted to continue with full-time employment once normal life resumed. Other quality of life factors gained emphasis since the pandemic too, like spending more time with family, health and wellbeing.
Interestingly the highest number of non-returners sits in the over-50 years old age group, in part because they have chosen early retirement. The data is so puzzling that the UK government decided to start an inquiry. After all the question is, how can so many people afford to stay away from the workplace while inflation is at 20-year highs and living costs are out of control. The result of the inquiry was very simple. Property.
We quote the Guardian: “…the boom in early retirement could suggest a growing number of over-50s feel financially secure enough to quit work. After years of rapid house price growth, for those lucky enough to have paid down a mortgage, quitting the rat race makes perfect sense. Surveys from the ONS (our note: Office for National Statistics) show most 50- to 65-year-olds who have left work since the pandemic own their homes outright and are more likely to be debt free”. Do we need to say more?
At Artemis Assets we work had to liberate your savings and help you achieve financial independence. The excerpt above from the Guardian is exactly the result we want to achieve for you. To put you in a position where work is optional and, if you want to do it, you can do it your way. If you want to be able to say “Adios work” in the near future, reach out to us. We have some early retirement plans for you.
Until the next one!
