BRITAIN is often referred to as a 'nation of shopkeepers'.

I discovered the other day that while this much-used phrase is traditionally attributed to Napoleon, it was actually French Revolutionary, Bertrand Barère de Vieuzac, who first used it in 1794.

And while Napoleon might have intended the phrase to be an insult, there’s another side to the coin…

Down the years, the phrase has quite rightly come to refer to self-employed, hardworking, local, small-scale enterprises that served the community and provided jobs.

But is that now coming to an end?

According to analysis from Rest Less – which offers advice to older people – two years into the pandemic the UK has nearly 700,000 fewer self-employed people than at the peak in 2019.

Two years ago there were five million self-employed - that figure has now shrunk to 4.3m.

It has to be said that changes to legislation have seen many previously self-employed contractors move to company payrolls, but that is still a significant drop.

So, has the UK lost its entrepreneurial spirit?

Has the pandemic made people in the UK more security conscious – less willing to take the risk of ‘going it alone’?

Based on conversations I regularly have with Future Life Wealth Management’s clients, this patently isn’t the case.

Nonetheless, analysis from Rest Less shows that the number of self-employed workers fell across all age categories in the past two years, apart from those in their 70s and 80s.

Interestingly, the 50-59 age group has more self-employed workers than any other age group.

I think it’s accurate to state that the self-employed workforce has gone through a tumultuous couple of years, but self-employment remains an attractive option for many workers in their 50s, 60s and beyond.

It’s easy to see why younger people – with mortgages to pay and families to raise – will find the security of employment attractive in the current climate.

It is also easy to see why self-employment is attractive later in life, especially if you have been offered an early retirement package.

At that stage of life, perhaps the mortgage is paid off and the children have left home.

Some of our clients have gone down that route, now doing the job they were previously doing as an employee on a self-employed, consultancy basis.

But going self-employed – at any stage in life – requires careful financial planning.

And that’s where the expertise that lies at the heart of Future Life Wealth Management’s team truly comes into its own.

Moving from being employed to setting up your own business is a tremendous – and exciting – challenge.

But it may represent a major change to your long-term financial planning goals.

So, if you’re thinking about taking this ambitious step for your future, please do get in touch with us HERE at the earliest opportunity.

And that’s regardless of the type of ‘shop’ you’re planning to open.

To learn more about Future Life Wealth Management’s range of services click HERE.