Personal Reflection

I'm not going to stay quiet on this any longer. Up to now I have said nothing about the expenses scandal that has blighted this government. I have sat by and watched as news story after news story has been escalated to conveniently cover up the fact that a few months ago the 'leaders' of this country were getting away with financial transactions that the rest of us would at best have faced severe fines for and at worst faced a prison sentence.

A bug has been turned into a pandemic; a war has been highlighted and the blame for lack of equipment placed on the shoulders of (apparently) big spending military leaders; anything and everything has been rolled out just to turn the attention away from the parasitic leaches who have hijacked the values and morals of this country in order to line their own pockets. Well enough!

Some years ago when Sara and I were married we decided that we would not trust our financial future to pension funds and the like. Instead we chose to retain complete control over our financial future by investing in property. We also saw this as a way to help our daughter to get a foot on the property ladder by helping her out with purchasing her first house - something the government of the time actively encouraged. We were not alone. Many people saw property as a positive investment for the future - I, for one, still do. I maintain that, although it may often get ill from time to time, the property market will never die. For those who have already invested in property, and those are thinking of doing so, let me fill you in on two things that have come to light for Sara and I in the last couple of years.

First, our wish to help our daughter onto the property ladder was dashed by something called 'perceived CGT (Capital Gains Tax)'. CGT is the tax you pay (after allowances) on the profit you make when you sell a house. We always believed the profit to be the amount of money you receive after the price you paid for the property is deducted from the sum you receive from selling the property. In order to help our daughter onto the property ladder we were happy to sell her one of our houses for the amount we owed on the mortgage which, in this instance, was around £60k less than its value. We would have lost nothing, because of wise investing, and she would have an asset that she could, if she chose to, use towards securing her own financial future. As we would make no profit from the transaction, we believed we would not be subject to CGT. HOW WRONG WERE WE?

App;arently, there now exists something called 'Perceived CGT' which means that we would have to pay CGT on the value of the house at the time of the sale and NOT on the fee we actually received from the sale. In short, we would be required to PAY this corrupt government somewhere in the region of £24,000 because we could have made a huge profit had we shared the same gutter morals that our leaders apparently have.

We could, of course, have 'flipped' the house. One of us could have moved into it...for a few months (actually you don't even have to move in); we could have had a few bills in our name...for a few months; we could have claimed it as our main home...for a few months; then we could have sold it for whatever amount we wanted with no fear of CGT because, of course, it was our main home...for a few convenient months! Once the sale had gone through, we would simply move back into our original main home until we needed to 'flip' another...but that would not be legal, so we didn't do it. As a result, we still have the house in our portfolio and our daughter missed a wonderful chance to receive a helping hand from Mum and Dad simply because we are all honest hard working individuals who have no immunity from the laws of the land.

Had we chosen to take the illegal route of 'flipping' and been caught out, I would bet a pound to a pinch of s**t that we would not have got away with simply saying "Sorry - we made a mistake!" and paying back however much we had stolen form the government by avoiding CGT in the first place. Oh no! We would have been hauled before a judge and sentenced to be hanged by the gonads until every last drop of remorse was drained from us...but then we are not privileged to hold high office in the government of this land, office that apparently affords you total immunity from prosecution for reasons that I am unable to fathom.

Secondly one of our relatives, who is a single mum, currently receives housing benefit. She was living in a one-bed, two-room flat with her growing child and paying £550 a month for the privilege. We had a two bedroom property available so we offered it to her for just £450 a month. Not only would this give her a larger property to live in with her child it was also saving the tax payer £100 per month - everyone was a winner, yes? WRONG! It's not a simple as that. Benefits will not be paid if the property that the recipient is going to occupy is owned, or part owned, by a relative. I will leave you to figure out the irony and hypocrisy of this one.

Because Sara and I have followed the law 'to the letter' with our investments we are only now starting to see some benefit from our portfolio. Had we been afforded the same immunity from the law that some of our 'leaders' apparently have we could be so well off now that neither of us need to work. The positive for us, though, is that we sleep at nights; the shameful thing is...so do they.

In the words of one of my former Fire Brigade colleagues "Government values...I have s**t better!"

^ menu

Something for nothing

As you know I have enjoyed ten years as a professional speaker since I set up on my own on 10th June 1999. Speaking has given me some amazing experiences and has allowed me to live a great life and now I want to give something back.

I am aware that a lot of people would like to become better speakers and some would like to make a living from speaking but just need a leg up. "Where do I start?" "What can I speak about?" "How do I structure a speech?" "How do I find an audience?" "How do I grow my business?"

I have been asked all of these questions and more since starting out and I have always tried to answer them honestly and constructively. Well now I am going to do it all in one day.

I have decided, if I can help someone to make a success of this amazing business then that is what I will do. To that end I am holding a FREE one-day session on how I create a key note speech and how I have grown my business year on year since 1999. When I say free I don't exactly mean 'no cost' to you. The room hire for the day is £100 and refreshments are £4 per person. The £100 will be split between everyone who attends and you will be asked to pay £4 for refreshments. You will also be required to pay for lunch. However that is all you will be asked to pay.

For full details see my blog entry It's not all foot lights and fat fees development day. Places are limited and on a strictly first come first served basis.

^ menu

What do I know now that I didn't know a month ago?

Viking boats had their rudder on the rear right side. When they arrived to collect barrels of port that were stored on the river bank they would approach with the left hand side of the boat next to the barrels so as not to damage the rudder. The left hand side of the boat became known as 'port side'. The word 'rudder' in Viking language was 'Schtere board' which of course became known as 'starboard'.

There is an age old bye law in York that prohibits any building being higher than the central tower of the Minster.

Another bye law requires all residents who live within the bar walls of York to report for archery practice on Sunday mornings. A similar law states that it is 'legally accepted for a resident from within the bar wall to shot a Scotsman with his bow as long as it is before noon on Sunday and the Scotsman is wearing a kilt and sporting a beard'. So watch out Kenny Harris - I have friends in York...tee hee!

^ menu

Challenging your thinking

Forward to basics.

Isn't it strange how whenever something starts to work well we start to think about how we could or should change it? Ok, so I am aware of the sayings "If things don't change they will stay as they are" and "If you do what you have always done, you will have what you've always had" but sometimes, isn't it just a case of changing things for the sake of changing things?

As with just about everyone I have spoken with this year, business is challenging; not impossible or failing...just challenging. I spent many hours thinking of things to do to grow my business - and then it struck me; I was trying to re-invent the wheel when all I really had to do was go back to what used to work when I started out ten years ago. My friend and speaking colleague Peter Thompson used to refer to something he called going "forward to basics". As I understand it, this means moving forward from where you are by doing the same things that got you here in the first place and being more experienced allows you to do the things you used to do more effectively.

For instance, when I started my business 10 years ago, I would call organisations or individuals and ask them if I could speak at their conference or deliver a training session to their teams. When they asked what it was that I did, it would sometimes take me a few moments to find the right words to describe it. When then asked if I had any testimonials I would say "No, not yet." More often than not, that would be the end of the conversation. Things are different now. Of course there are new ways to contact people - twitter and linkedin to name just two - but that doesn't mean we can pick up new business just by being on there; we still have to speak to people, don't we?

Likewise, I have recently lost a bit of weight and I intend to lose a little more. Having explored all of the new stuff on the market that aids weight loss I realised that the only way that I was going to lose it naturally was exactly the same way as I did when I lost 96 pounds during 1986 - exercising more and eating a little less. I did change my eating habits this time, too, but it doesn't change the fact that what I did to achieve success in the past is still relevant to achieving the same success today.

Finally, although I am hardly one to speak about relationships, I am absolutely convinced that one of the things that has contributed to my lack of success in some of my relationships (and probably in some of yours too) is the fact that I / we forgot why we got together in the first place. We spend too many hours looking for new ways to enrich our relationship when all we really have to do is go back to doing whatever it was we did when we were first attracted to each other.

So next time you are beating yourself up trying to think of new ways to grow your business, ask yourself what you did to get where you are now and start doing it again...only more effectively. And next time you are trying to think of ways to enhance your relationship ask yourselves what it was that attracted you to each other in the first place and go back to that...only more effectively. In short...go forward to basics!

^ menu

Achievements Inventory

I broke a 100! Ok it was only 99 but I still broke 100!

I have lost 7lbs with little or no effort. I'm simply exercising more and eating my main meal at lunch time.

Finally, after more than 50 years of looking, I know my purpose. It puts everything into perspective and gives me a whole new enthusiasm to do what I do.

^ menu

Feedback

Strangely enough I haven't received any negative feedback for a while. However I have received some lovely compliments including this one...

"I have been in the Fire Brigade for 35 years and I can honestly say that was the most enjoyable morning I have spent in training."
A chief fire Officer

^ menu

A question for discussion.

If you could 'un-know' something that you know, what would it be and why?

^ menu

Personal Reflection

I'm not going to stay quiet on this any longer. Up to now I have said nothing about the expenses scandal that has blighted this government. I have sat by and watched as news story after news story has been escalated to conveniently cover up the fact that a few months ago the 'leaders' of this country were getting away with financial transactions that the rest of us would at best have faced severe fines for and at worst faced a prison sentence.

A bug has been turned into a pandemic; a war has been highlighted and the blame for lack of equipment placed on the shoulders of (apparently) big spending military leaders; anything and everything has been rolled out just to turn the attention away from the parasitic leaches who have hijacked the values and morals of this country in order to line their own pockets. Well enough!

Some years ago when Sara and I were married we decided that we would not trust our financial future to pension funds and the like. Instead we chose to retain complete control over our financial future by investing in property. We also saw this as a way to help our daughter to get a foot on the property ladder by helping her out with purchasing her first house - something the government of the time actively encouraged. We were not alone. Many people saw property as a positive investment for the future - I, for one, still do. I maintain that, although it may often get ill from time to time, the property market will never die. For those who have already invested in property, and those are thinking of doing so, let me fill you in on two things that have come to light for Sara and I in the last couple of years.

First, our wish to help our daughter onto the property ladder was dashed by something called 'perceived CGT (Capital Gains Tax)'. CGT is the tax you pay (after allowances) on the profit you make when you sell a house. We always believed the profit to be the amount of money you receive after the price you paid for the property is deducted from the sum you receive from selling the property. In order to help our daughter onto the property ladder we were happy to sell her one of our houses for the amount we owed on the mortgage which, in this instance, was around £60k less than its value. We would have lost nothing, because of wise investing, and she would have an asset that she could, if she chose to, use towards securing her own financial future. As we would make no profit from the transaction, we believed we would not be subject to CGT. HOW WRONG WERE WE?

App;arently, there now exists something called 'Perceived CGT' which means that we would have to pay CGT on the value of the house at the time of the sale and NOT on the fee we actually received from the sale. In short, we would be required to PAY this corrupt government somewhere in the region of £24,000 because we could have made a huge profit had we shared the same gutter morals that our leaders apparently have.

We could, of course, have 'flipped' the house. One of us could have moved into it...for a few months (actually you don't even have to move in); we could have had a few bills in our name...for a few months; we could have claimed it as our main home...for a few months; then we could have sold it for whatever amount we wanted with no fear of CGT because, of course, it was our main home...for a few convenient months! Once the sale had gone through, we would simply move back into our original main home until we needed to 'flip' another...but that would not be legal, so we didn't do it. As a result, we still have the house in our portfolio and our daughter missed a wonderful chance to receive a helping hand from Mum and Dad simply because we are all honest hard working individuals who have no immunity from the laws of the land.

Had we chosen to take the illegal route of 'flipping' and been caught out, I would bet a pound to a pinch of s**t that we would not have got away with simply saying "Sorry - we made a mistake!" and paying back however much we had stolen form the government by avoiding CGT in the first place. Oh no! We would have been hauled before a judge and sentenced to be hanged by the gonads until every last drop of remorse was drained from us...but then we are not privileged to hold high office in the government of this land, office that apparently affords you total immunity from prosecution for reasons that I am unable to fathom.

Secondly one of our relatives, who is a single mum, currently receives housing benefit. She was living in a one-bed, two-room flat with her growing child and paying £550 a month for the privilege. We had a two bedroom property available so we offered it to her for just £450 a month. Not only would this give her a larger property to live in with her child it was also saving the tax payer £100 per month - everyone was a winner, yes? WRONG! It's not a simple as that. Benefits will not be paid if the property that the recipient is going to occupy is owned, or part owned, by a relative. I will leave you to figure out the irony and hypocrisy of this one.

Because Sara and I have followed the law 'to the letter' with our investments we are only now starting to see some benefit from our portfolio. Had we been afforded the same immunity from the law that some of our 'leaders' apparently have we could be so well off now that neither of us need to work. The positive for us, though, is that we sleep at nights; the shameful thing is...so do they.

In the words of one of my former Fire Brigade colleagues "Government values...I have s**t better!"

^ menu

Something for nothing

As you know I have enjoyed ten years as a professional speaker since I set up on my own on 10th June 1999. Speaking has given me some amazing experiences and has allowed me to live a great life and now I want to give something back.

I am aware that a lot of people would like to become better speakers and some would like to make a living from speaking but just need a leg up. "Where do I start?" "What can I speak about?" "How do I structure a speech?" "How do I find an audience?" "How do I grow my business?"

I have been asked all of these questions and more since starting out and I have always tried to answer them honestly and constructively. Well now I am going to do it all in one day.

I have decided, if I can help someone to make a success of this amazing business then that is what I will do. To that end I am holding a FREE one-day session on how I create a key note speech and how I have grown my business year on year since 1999. When I say free I don't exactly mean 'no cost' to you. The room hire for the day is £100 and refreshments are £4 per person. The £100 will be split between everyone who attends and you will be asked to pay £4 for refreshments. You will also be required to pay for lunch. However that is all you will be asked to pay.

For full details see my blog entry It's not all foot lights and fat fees development day. Places are limited and on a strictly first come first served basis.

^ menu

What do I know now that I didn't know a month ago?

Viking boats had their rudder on the rear right side. When they arrived to collect barrels of port that were stored on the river bank they would approach with the left hand side of the boat next to the barrels so as not to damage the rudder. The left hand side of the boat became known as 'port side'. The word 'rudder' in Viking language was 'Schtere board' which of course became known as 'starboard'.

There is an age old bye law in York that prohibits any building being higher than the central tower of the Minster.

Another bye law requires all residents who live within the bar walls of York to report for archery practice on Sunday mornings. A similar law states that it is 'legally accepted for a resident from within the bar wall to shot a Scotsman with his bow as long as it is before noon on Sunday and the Scotsman is wearing a kilt and sporting a beard'. So watch out Kenny Harris - I have friends in York...tee hee!

^ menu

Challenging your thinking

Forward to basics.

Isn't it strange how whenever something starts to work well we start to think about how we could or should change it? Ok, so I am aware of the sayings "If things don't change they will stay as they are" and "If you do what you have always done, you will have what you've always had" but sometimes, isn't it just a case of changing things for the sake of changing things?

As with just about everyone I have spoken with this year, business is challenging; not impossible or failing...just challenging. I spent many hours thinking of things to do to grow my business - and then it struck me; I was trying to re-invent the wheel when all I really had to do was go back to what used to work when I started out ten years ago. My friend and speaking colleague Peter Thompson used to refer to something he called going "forward to basics". As I understand it, this means moving forward from where you are by doing the same things that got you here in the first place and being more experienced allows you to do the things you used to do more effectively.

For instance, when I started my business 10 years ago, I would call organisations or individuals and ask them if I could speak at their conference or deliver a training session to their teams. When they asked what it was that I did, it would sometimes take me a few moments to find the right words to describe it. When then asked if I had any testimonials I would say "No, not yet." More often than not, that would be the end of the conversation. Things are different now. Of course there are new ways to contact people - twitter and linkedin to name just two - but that doesn't mean we can pick up new business just by being on there; we still have to speak to people, don't we?

Likewise, I have recently lost a bit of weight and I intend to lose a little more. Having explored all of the new stuff on the market that aids weight loss I realised that the only way that I was going to lose it naturally was exactly the same way as I did when I lost 96 pounds during 1986 - exercising more and eating a little less. I did change my eating habits this time, too, but it doesn't change the fact that what I did to achieve success in the past is still relevant to achieving the same success today.

Finally, although I am hardly one to speak about relationships, I am absolutely convinced that one of the things that has contributed to my lack of success in some of my relationships (and probably in some of yours too) is the fact that I / we forgot why we got together in the first place. We spend too many hours looking for new ways to enrich our relationship when all we really have to do is go back to doing whatever it was we did when we were first attracted to each other.

So next time you are beating yourself up trying to think of new ways to grow your business, ask yourself what you did to get where you are now and start doing it again...only more effectively. And next time you are trying to think of ways to enhance your relationship ask yourselves what it was that attracted you to each other in the first place and go back to that...only more effectively. In short...go forward to basics!

^ menu

Achievements Inventory

I broke a 100! Ok it was only 99 but I still broke 100!

I have lost 7lbs with little or no effort. I'm simply exercising more and eating my main meal at lunch time.

Finally, after more than 50 years of looking, I know my purpose. It puts everything into perspective and gives me a whole new enthusiasm to do what I do.

^ menu

Feedback

Strangely enough I haven't received any negative feedback for a while. However I have received some lovely compliments including this one...

"I have been in the Fire Brigade for 35 years and I can honestly say that was the most enjoyable morning I have spent in training."
A chief fire Officer

^ menu

A question for discussion.

If you could 'un-know' something that you know, what would it be and why?

^ menu