TED Talk I’ve Found Valuable

At the end of our lives, what do we most wish for? For many, it's simply comfort, respect and love. BJ Miller is a hospice and palliative medicine physician who thinks deeply about how to create a dignified, graceful end of life for his patients. Take the time to savour this moving talk, which asks big questions about how we think on death and honour life, watch it here.

App I’ve Found Helpful

‘Trainer Road’. As the rubbish weather rolls in, cycling becomes less fun, safe and effective for training, and that’s where the turbo trainer kicks in. Historically I found cycling in the garage painstakingly dull, but
'Trainer Road' has changed all that. Less gimmicky than Zwift, this app gives you a brilliant range of workouts that keep you motivated, allow you to train to specific goals, and all whilst still being able to watch a TED talk like BJ Miller’s on the iPad. Take your training indoors here.

Most Useful Gadget

Sticking to the theme of keeping fit in the winter, if you don’t already have a turbo trainer, go for a smart direct drive trainer. Smart means it will interact with Zwift or Trainer Road, and direct drive means that you can remove your rear wheel, which saves ruining or change the type. I have a Taxc Flux 2, which means I can keep my cycling fitness through the dark, cold and wet misery that is winter for a cyclist.

Quote of the Week

"I wouldn't say I was the best manager in the business. But I was in the top one." Brian Clough

Finance theme I’ve been considering:

At a conference on Wednesday called ‘Humans Under Management’ we were looking at behavioural finance. One speaker discussed ‘The Behaviour Gap’, which is the difference in returns between what the markets delivered and what the investor actually achieved. There is a difference because ,quite simply, it is our human instinct to make bad decisions when it comes to investment. One of our key roles as Financial Planners is to coach you out of those bad decisions, although it is probably rarely thought of as part of our role.

I hope you are flourishing. Have an outstanding weekend.

App I’ve Found Useful

I am a big believer in doing the things you love or are best at, and delegating the things you aren’t. Mowing the lawn has for a long time fallen into the latter group for me, but in recent years finding a reliable company to do it regularly has become frustrating; so having researched the market, I decided it was now the time for a robot to take over.

Come rain or shine my Husqvarna automower is out making sure my lawn looks lovely; and it has never looked so good. It is all controlled from the app, and occasionally I get amusing messages to tell me that Beebot (our name not theirs) is upside down and needs assistance. Other than the odd run in with the dog, we love it and wish I’d taken the leap earlier. If you want to learn more, RTC were brilliant at installing the whole thing. It is time to employ a robot!

TED Talk I’ve Found Interesting

I can’t remember what drew me to watch tall, pretty underwear model, Cameron Russell’s, TED talk entitled ‘Looks aren’t everything. Believe me, I’m a model’, but whatever it was, in the age of Instagram, this has never been a more important topic.

Russell admits she won "a genetic lottery" but don't judge her by her looks. In this fearless talk, she takes a wry look at the industry that had her looking highly seductive at barely 16 years old. As the father of 2 girls, the subject frightened me, so I encourage you to watch it here.

What I’ve Been Reading

I have enjoyed running more and more in recent years, and it is no small part down to the brilliant book ‘Born to Run’by Christopher McDougall.

As I have run longer and further, the idea of Ultra Running (running longer than a marathon) has intrigued me. Hearing stories of people running 100+ mile races seemed, until recently, so far beyond what was comprehensible, but I wanted to know more. When I saw the excellent author Adharanand Finn had released a book entitled ‘The Rise of the Ultra Runners: A Journey to the Edge of Human Endurance’ I knew I was going to have to read it; and it didn’t disappoint.

Shortlisted for the 2019 William Hill Sports Book of the Year, it is crammed full of brilliant stories, mental techniques and running form advice that made ‘Born to Run’ such a brilliant read. If you have any interest in running, I suggest you read it, or even better, listen to it while running.

Business Coaching You Might Find Helpful

The current global situation has had a range of impacts on business owners, from no work to overwork, and struggling to cope with the effect on businesses, home life and relationships.

A client of mine has been offering some resilience coaching to his clients to help them remain buoyant. He’s offered some short coaching sessions for free, giving them some headspace to think through their plans, to develop tactics to cope with pressure and reflect on their people leadership during a period of high stress. He has limited it to a couple of brief (30 min) sessions as a free offer. If you think you would benefit from this help, you can email him by clicking here.

Quote of the Week

“There’s a way to do it better – find it.”

• Thomas Edison

Finance Theme I’ve Been Considering

The detailed private diary that Samuel Pepys kept from 1660 until 1669 was first published in the 19th century and is one of the most important primary sources for the English Restoration period. Pepys’ personal revelations and eyewitness accounts of great events, such as the Great Plague of London, allow us insight into the habits of people post-pandemic.

If we dig into the detail of his diary, we can see that, even though the Great Plague was at one of its peaks in September, he was back in the office and the pub with his friends by Christmas.

I have heard many times through COVID-19 that life will never revert back to what it was, but history shows us that people do forget the past very quickly. They forget about market falls and how they felt then, and they make the same mistakes all over again.

At a conference I was at yesterday they suggested that businesses needed to ‘Reboot, Rebuild, Recover and Realise the new Reality’ because market sentiment says that economic activity is likely to be back up again by the end of the year.

On the basis life will return, albeit back to a slightly new normal, what changes do you need to make to your business or your finances to allow you to Reboot, Rebuild, Recover or Realise the new Reality? How can you Built, Manage and Protect your way to a better financial future?

TED Talk I’ve Found Valuable

Have you ever thought about the work behind the scenes that goes into creating a headline that captivates the world, for example climate change, (only for Donald Trump to call it ‘fake news’!) This fascinating talk by Rachel Pike highlights that work, and to cut a long story short, it is a phenomenal amount! Watch it here.

App I’ve Found Helpful

Hishhash; If you are trying to build your Instagram following, it is important you add hashtags to your posts. Apparently 30 is the optimum amount, although I appreciate that sounds like a lot. These should be added to the comment not the main point, so I have recently been told. An easy way to do this is to save lists of hashtags for specific areas, and this is where 'Hishhash' comes in. Not only will it make saving your
hashtags really easy, it will also suggest other relevant ones for you to use. You can download it here for Apple. For Android download here.

What I’ve Been Watching

'The Last Breath' on Netflix: An incredible documentary on the story of a commercial diver who becomes trapped on the ocean floor with dwindling oxygen and little hope of a timely rescue, so he tries to save himself. I don’t want to ruin this for you, so I’ll tell no more. Incredibly moving and gripping viewing.

Quote of the Week

"It’s in our moments of decision, our destiny is shaped"- Tony Robbins.

Finance theme I’ve been considering:

Inheritance Tax seems to be the tax that annoys most people. You pay tax on what you earn, again on what you buy, and again when you make a profit; so it seems pretty unfair that you pay again on everything above a relatively low level when you die. And not an insignificant amount: 40%. That means if you have 2 or more children, you may find that HMRC is your single largest benefactor. The takings from Inheritance Tax are also on the rise, more than doubling in the last 10 years. There are lots of things you can do to mitigate or minimise this tax, so why do so few people ever get around to protecting their estate?

I hope you are flourishing. Have an outstanding weekend.

What I’ve Been Watching

The Met: Policing London- specifically episode 2, series 3. I don’t normally watch much telly, and particularly programmes of this type; however, I did because this specific episode features stepping into the life of my cousin, Detective Superintendent Luke Marks, and his role in investigating murders in London. 2018 saw the highest number of under-25s killed in London in over a decade. This film follows the investigations into two of these killings in the borough of Haringey, North London. It really is an eyeopening programme, and quite incredible what these officers are dealing with on a day to day basis.

App I’ve Found Helpful

ExpressVPN. Whilst on holiday in Thailand, there was the small issue of the Rugby World Cup happening, and it turns out that Thai TV didn’t cover it! You cannot use App’s like iPlayer and ITV hub abroad, which never seems to make any sense to me given that we are UK residents, but that is another story.. This App uses a VPN connection to take you to the region you desire, so that you can continue to watch the sport
you are paying for back home! It has saved me at the slopes for the six nations, and now for England’s world cup rollercoaster from Koh Phi Phi.

What I’ve Been Reading

Returning to Koh Phi Phi in Thailand after 18 years, and the fact that this is the island adjacent to where they filmed ‘The Beach’, I decided it was time to reread Alex Garland’s book that it was based on. When I
read it last I was a backpacker travelling through South East Asia, and like Richard, the lead character played by Leonardo Di Caprio, I was looking for my own little adventure and to find my own hidden slice of Heaven. It was no less enthralling than when I read it last, but I suspect I took different things from it. Well worth revisiting, but definitely if you plan to visit this amazing country.

Finance theme I’ve been considering:

This week I seem to have been talking a lot about the importance of being truly independent. If you have your money invested by the same company that gives you the advice, are you getting independent advice? Will they really tell you if your investment performance hasn’t been up to scratch and that the company down the road are doing a better job? Highly unlikely!. That is why we find the best investment managers for our clients work from the entire market. It means we sit on the same side of the table as our customers. In January we will be offering a free portfolio review for people who use other companies, so that they can see how well they are actually getting on compared to the alternatives. If you are interested in being part of this, send me an email to find out more.

TED Talk I've Found Valuable

‘How to Run a Company with (almost) No Rules’ by Ricardo Semler, a Brazilian entrepreneur. What he has done in his business is incredible, but when he takes this approach to create a school, he takes his skill set
to a whole new level. When you have 20 minutes spare, you can watch it here.

App I’ve Found Helpful

‘Otter’: A brilliant desktop and mobile dictation App that not only records your meeting’s audio, it transcribes it, and then links the two. This allows you to search a meeting by a word, and then listen to the
audio at that moment. You can find out more here.

Podcast I’ve Found Useful

'Marathon Talk’s'- an interview with Mitch Phillips. In this interview they talk about how Mitch ran a sub 3 hour marathon using the run/walk/run strategy. This was instrumental in my marathon and Ironman
strategies this year, and you can listen to it here.

Quote of the Week

“If everything is under control, you’re not going fast enough.” Mario Andretti.

Finance theme I’ve been considering:We don’t talk enough about financial protection, but it underpins everything we do. The best example of that is Income Protection, which replaces your income in the event off illness or accident. It essentially insures all of your other financial planning. Why do we worry more about insuring our mobile phone than we do about out income when it’s worth so much more?

I hope you are thriving!