Welcome to another great year!

So another great year is just beginning and I hope you feel relaxed and confident about your financial position and are enjoying either life in retirement or the prospect of retirement.

It is easy to get distracted by all the noise that passes as news in the media, and I hope that in writing this newsletter that I can help simplify and clarify some of the issues you might be thinking about.

I think most people are concerned about what is happening in the local economy and whether the recent interest rate hikes will push the economy into another recession - a terrifying thought for those that remember the last recession we had in the nineties.

As you will read in my summary of The Year Ahead, I still think that's unlikely but much will depend on the level of unemployment and just how high this might climb during the next twelve months.

Having said that, the Australian share market historically does well during periods of economic slowdowns, with investors already pricing in the downturn and pushing share prices higher on the expectation of a recovery.

It is important to keep a wary eye for change on the horizon and as I write in Tax Free Cap Changes, there is  a chance that the tax free cap will be increased this year to $1.9 million.

There is though also a chance the Federal Government, already mindful of the significant tax benefits being offered to Australians in retirement, will try to fix the amount to a lower level. Its very much a case of watch this space.

It is also important for those in retirement to constantly review their estate planning and ensure their intentions are kept up to date. As I write in Update Your Instructions, its easy for the years to slip by and suddenly for your intentions to no longer be relevant or appropriate.

While its a tough question, I have tried to give the best answer I can to the question "How much money do I need to in retirement?" although the actual answer will vary from one person to another.

I have also briefly written on Sun Cable, an exciting green initiative back by two of Australia's richest men, to generate solar power in northern Australia and incredibly send it by sub sea cables to energy starved Singapore.

I hope you find my summary of this incredible technology of interest and agree with me that even if it fails to reach its full potential, the enormous effort that is going into it, will only bring benefits to the wider solar energy industry.

Finally, I would like to announce that I have built on my Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Melbourne and have now completed my Masters of Financial Planning.

I was surprised at just how much work was involved in achieving this additional qualification and I would like to thank my long suffering family as well as my clients for supporting me in this effort.

Having said that, learning is an endless task and while I will not be undertaking any formal studies any time soon, my continuous professional development obligations continue unabated, helping to keep me up to date with all things to do with retirement.