Even if you haven't actually caught Covid-19 or lost someone close to you, the pandemic has probably thrown your retirement plans into disarray. So here are a few simple steps to help you regain control in what will hopefully be a much better year ahead.
Think when to retire The decision may have been taken out of your hands if you have lost your job - or expect to lose it as soon as furlough ends - and can't get a new one. In that case, go straight to 'Check your pension'. But it's worth thinking about your timing anyway. Obviously, it will be driven partly by finances but you may well feel differently about retiring after the past year. Are you in the "Why waste my life working when we could all be dead tomorrow" camp? Or the "Why sit at home in lockdown, when I might as well be at work" camp?
Check your pension Not everyone's favourite job but there's no point thinking about retirement unless you know how much money you're going to have. Start by checking your State pension. Then dig out the latest statements from all your other pensions or request them from the administrators. There may be better news than you expect - some final salary pensions have automatic increases as high as 5% a year before you take them, and financial markets have mostly recovered or overtaken the hit suffered at the start of the pandemic. Most or all of your pension should even be safe if your employer has gone bust because of the Pension Protection Fund. I might do a blog about that in the new year.
Look after yourself There's no foolproof recipe for a long and healthy life, but it's easy to reduce your chances - smoking and drinking too much, not taking any exercise, getting seriously fat. Failing to respect social distancing and catching Covid is a new one. So be kind to yourself, but in a sensible way, so you can enjoy the years to come. The worst possible outcome would be to work until you drop.
Count your blessings Don't forget the nice things about the past year... families spending more time together... gardening and going for walks... communities pulling together... no more commuting... local shops... Zoom calls... elaborate home cooking. Doesn't all that sound like a foretaste of retirement?
Remember lockdown won't last forever So much of what people look forward to in retirement has been cut out by Covid - travelling, seeing friends and family, music and theatre, online dating, volunteering to name but a few. My hunch is that people will take very different times to readjust when the pandemic does eventually subside... some will get straight back out there, while others may never totally escape the new and narrower horizons. Which are you, and what will you want to do once the shackles are off? It's good to have something to look forward to!
Be flexible If 2020 has taught us anything, it's to expect the unexpected. I passionately believe that the key to successful retirement is good planning, and the past year has not changed that. But the best plans include scope to adapt when circumstances change. So think about the best that could happen as well as the worst... indulge yourself in daydreams of a lottery win or learn a new lockdown skill... and try to be one step ahead of whatever the new year has to offer.
As I write, the Oxford vaccine has been approved. I'm feeling slightly deflated after going onto an online calculator and discovering I'm somewhere between 10 and 12 millionth in the queue. With a bit of luck I'll get it at the end of March. But at least that's one thing to look forward to.
Happy new year!
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