I have just turned 45 years old, which was a bit of a shock; it rather crept up on me and has caused me to reflect upon my life and my decision to “retire” from a well-paid job to try to live by managing my own investment portfolio, almost four years ago. I also set up my own consulting company, to allow me to provide occasional consulting services, published a few articles on Squidoo and Helium and photos on Zazzle, but have been mostly living off my investments. I’m still solvent and even making a profit, so it can’t have gone that badly, but I didn’t pick my timing very well, coinciding with “the credit crunch” etc. So how has it all gone?

The task of generating an income from an investment portfolio seemed quite easy at first: Interest rates were high and National Savings and Investment (NS and I) Savings Certificates were available, paying inflation plus more than 1%, but dividends from banks and oil companies etc. were an easy source of slightly riskier income. Since then BP and many of the banks cut their dividends, interest rates dropped to the lowest in several hundred years, inflation increased dramatically and NS and I removed index-linked savings certificates from sale, leaving no way of definitely beating inflation.

Walking down Richmond-upon-Thames High Street a few days ago, I noticed evidence of the slow-down of the U.K. economy. Richmond is one of the more affluent towns and boroughs in London and yet there are several boarded-up shops, including HMV and Habitat a music shop and furniture store. Both big High-Street names. HMV is a particular reminder of the state of the economy, for me, because I foolishly bought shares in the company. Perhaps my biggest investment mistake for a very long time.

Apart from the HMV mistake (although they are still in business elsewhere in the country and even making a small profit, with possible turn-around prospects) I have actually managed to beat most professional fund managers. This may not be so must a demonstration of my skill as an indictment of the ridiculously high charges that many managed funds charge for doing little more than replicating a stock index, the fact I bought gold in anticipation of trouble in the banks and I got out of the property market close to the peak.

I wish I knew what will happen next in the world economy, as Europe struggles with it’s huge debt as do the UK and US and many other countries in the world. The volatility of the markets make my life more stressful than I had hoped, but I don’t miss the office politics, nor the many hours in the car or at airports that I endured while I was still part of the Rat Race.

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