Martin Wilcocks - Bulletproof Retirement

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

15/03/2025

15/03/2025

Important Market Update

I wanted to share an update regarding equity market dips.

Please note that price movements, both up and down, are completely normal. History shows that market falls are temporary, and the overall upward advance is, and has always been, permanent.

As of this morning, the S&P 500 (representing the 500 largest U.S. companies) is down 9.70% on its one month chart, while the FTSE 100 here in the UK is down just under 2%, over the same period.

You will likely see this depreciation if checking your portfolio valuation. But this is nothing new, it’s all par for the course.

Over the past decade, the S&P 500 has experienced roughly five corrections of 10% or more, and the FTSE 100 has seen about four.

These dips reflect normal shifts in investor sentiment, economic uncertainties, or geopolitical events, and historically, each has been followed by a strong recovery.

Remember, the price we all must pay for income security and the growth that supports us through our later years is temporary volatility.

Without these occasional corrections, the robust returns we enjoy simply wouldn’t be possible.

If you'd like a copy of my Dimensional Matrix Book * which charts these trends from World War II right through to December 2023, reply 'BOOK' and I’ll send it over.

I truly believe this book gives you everything you'll ever need. It details every dip and advance, with return data from 1984 to December 2023 shown on page 85.

Our model benefits from allocations to both small-cap and value-cap companies, which have historically delivered compounded, annualised returns of approximately 14% over any decade in the last eight.

On request, I can also send over my personalised appendix that delves deeper into the numbers and explains the methodology and science behind our approach.

Over the years, we’ve distilled extensive market analysis into one clear message:

Stay calm, don’t toss your portfolio overboard, all will be well.

Nothing’s changed. It never will, regardless of what’s happening out there.

Yours,

Martin

* used with permission

05/03/2025

I started out on my own this exact first week of March in 2003.

If you'd been with me a couple of weeks earlier, at 8am on Monday, 17th February 2003, you’d have been in the top-floor director’s suite at Barclays in Liverpool, watching the rain crash against the large, slanted glass windows.

I was sat in a plush mahogany chair with green Chesterfield leather that still smelled like new, holding an envelope. Inside was my resignation letter that I was about to hand over to my Area Director and, at the same time, toss away my salary, bonus, and pension. I’d joined Barclays 14 years earlier, back when, in the ’80s and early ’90s, the bank truly prioritised its customers’ needs.

From my early days as a Junior Clerk at Little Sutton Branch in 1989, through to my roles as a Personal Banker at Liverpool Victoria Street, and a Business Banker in Chester during the early and mid-'90s, we really knew our customers - what mattered to them, their families, and their day-to-day needs. Over time, I believe that personal touch disappeared under relentless pressure to sell financial products.

I was there in the thick of various mis-selling controversies... PPI, Maximum Cover, and Endowment Plans, and, as an investment adviser from the late '90s until I left, I invested over £20 million on behalf of bank customers into high-cost, underperforming investment funds. I was repeatedly dealing with disgruntled customers who had been charged an initial 5.25% fee on entry, followed by 1.5% per annum on those funds that had failed to show any material uplift.

By 2003, I’d reached my limit and left that very day to establish my own firm - one dedicated to delivering financial and investment planning that truly makes a difference in people’s lives.

Back then, starting your own firm seemed like a pipe dream with too many barriers and regulatory challenges. So, I joined a financial network. I spent the first year getting to grips with their operations, and my own layered income mechanics, while simultaneously building my client base organically. It soon became clear that the network’s non-transparent charges were extremely high, and I knew it would be difficult for my business to grow within their framework, in the way I envisioned.

In the end, I left and became completely independent. Although it was a challenging period, I knew it was the right thing to do. I started my own private office and that is exactly what we now have. It's through this story that my "why" - the reason I do things the way I do was born.

Click the link in the comments below to explore the full timeline and picture board of my journey. The image in this post is a screenshot from the full board, capturing my first week at the network in 2003 alongside my first physical office in 2006.

18/02/2025

My original 2023 webinar presentation features more of my authentic self talking through my full service on video.

It’s been viewed 7,800 times and you can watch it without having to register. I know I'm not everyone's cup of tea, but feel free to take a look... the link is in the comments below...

For those interested, I’m offering a complimentary financial plan as featured in the presentation. Just reply 'PLAN' and we will register your interest.