Get more from work and from life outside work. Look at three areas in your life:

Focus time is when you’re at work, doing important activities, absorbed, interested and fulfilled. You want more of this.

Free time is spent out of work doing things that enthuse, energise and absorb you. An antidote to work pressures. You also want more of this.

Buffer time. Everything else. Buffer time is often the stuff that may bore you and drains your energy. Could be routine work or chores at home. You want less of this.

Diagnosis:

Now list everything you do under the three headings:

How balanced does it look?

Action steps:

• Focus time. Schedule important tasks at times of the day when your energy is high. Doing ‘urgent’ tasks all the time is just fire-fighting. It may indicate that you’re trying to inject more excitement into your working day. Find the excitement in other (healthy!) ways and get on with the important tasks when you’re at work.
• What in the Buffer column can you get rid of? Stop doing anything that’s unnecessary. Find people for whom your buffer activities are their focus activities. Some people are great at admin, so delegate more to them. Check out concierge service providers: they arrange theatre trips, advise on a restaurant when you’re away on business, record dates and buy birthday and anniversary gifts for you etc.
• When you’re at work, make everything you do a focus activity and get rid of the buffer activities. Then draw a line and enjoy your free time. If work is in danger of spilling over into free time, you might question if it can’t wait until the next working day, or to whom you might be able to delegate.
• Set your priorities for the day, week, month and year. Active goal-setting means you’ll achieve more in your working day. Plan the other areas of your life too. How do you want to spend your free time to best effect?
• Get more efficient and effective. Aim to do the right things at the right time. If you don’t know how to do this, get yourself an executive coach. The time spent with a coach can free up more focus and free time.
• Exercise, sleep well and eat healthily. This is obvious stuff but often not done. The better sleep you have the more you’ll enjoy your focus and free time. Choose to eat food that will sustain energy without artificial highs and lows.
• Some people say they never relax. Living on adrenaline has longer term effects on the body; the body’s energy is directed away from the immune system and bodily organs, blood pressure can be elevated, sleep disturbed. Find ways to relax and incorporate these into your free time.
• Laugh a lot. If you’re laughing it’s probably a sign that actually your work/life balance is pretty good.

Sara Longmuir, Executive Coach, www.coachingtalent.com

It is no secret that the key components to a long and healthy life include a balanced diet, regular exercise and a lifestyle largely free from stress. Supermarket shelves, cafes and markets are groaning under the weight of organic produce, with newspapers and magazines continually promoting the latest ‘superfood.’ The healthy growth rate of these product categories speaks for itself, as does the number of people engaging in some form of daily exercise, from cycling to work to jogging around the park on a Sunday morning.

But although the message about healthy eating and regular exercise is being taken on board by more and more people, the need for regular medical assessment is still largely perceived as the province of the so-called ‘worried well.’ This needs to be seriously addressed. It is a grim fact that many cancers and heart conditions take root within the body before there are any external symptoms, by which time the only course of action is likely to be major surgery or some painful and distressing therapy – something that an earlier detection could almost certainly have helped to prevent.

To add to this, health is of paramount importance professionally as well as personally. A recent study revealed that UK workers collectively take off more than 200 million working days every year due to sickness, costing our economy approximately £12 billion. Certain professions are more susceptible than others. People pursuing careers that involve intensive periods of pressure or where there is a sustained weight of work often pay the price where their health is concerned.

Stress is laying low swathes of the UK’s workforce, and whilst its manifestations are often considered enigmatic, it undeniably gives rise to a wide variety of illnesses, some of which can be life-threatening. The Chest Heart Stroke Association estimates that a heart attack will strike someone in the UK every two minutes, with circulatory diseases (including heart attacks and strokes) remaining the most common cause of death in England and Wales over the last ninety years. Each year, heart disease alone costs the UK economy £29 billion in healthcare expenditure and lost productivity.

It is a grim paradox that one of the most commonly quoted reasons for not taking proper preventive care of one’s health is that there ‘simply isn’t the time.’ Yet priceless time, not least with loved ones and friends, is exactly what the victim loses if he or she falls ill or dies prematurely.

Dr Garry Savin, Medical Director at, Preventicum, joins the chorus of medical experts who reinforce that ‘early diagnosis of key individual risk factors is crucial for improved prevention of serious illness.’

It was one such Check-Up in January 2006 that had life-changing consequences for Karren Brady, Managing Director of Birmingham City FC. Brady had decided to have a full-body Check-Up for her own peace of mind – after a personal recommendation.

Previously symptom-free, the thorough MRI screening detected a brain aneurysm – an often fatal condition whereby an artery in the brain swells and can rupture. It is something that Brady recalls well: “My check up was far more thorough than I had anticipated. This came as a complete shock to say the least. Luckily, it was detected early enough to be successfully treated and I was back at work in less than three months.”

This cautionary tale is a further indication of the desire of people to find out more about the state of their health and to take whatever steps are necessary to head off the prolonged, and often draconian, therapy that severe illness generally requires. And evidence that a growing part of the medical profession is alert to this requirement.

In a society which places such a daily burden on people’s physical and mental health, there is no better opportunity to test the old adage that ‘prevention is better than cure.’

For further information, please visit the website www.preventicum.co.uk, email info@preventicum.co.uk or telephone 020 7605 6900. Please mention Asquith to benefit from preferential rates.

By Richard Bertin

Today’s panel question is: How much will I need to retire on, and oh when can I do this? Such a short question and such a long answer or potential answers……

Well, the answer was always going to be “it depends”. We all have different needs and wants, so these have to be factored in to give a sensible answer. As a fresh faced youth our financial needs are or should be (!) pretty modest. The trouble is that as the passage of life moves on our needs change, as do our aspirations. As such, income and expenditure have a terrible habit of meeting in the middle.

Take for example those of us who are or have been exposed to the cost of private education. Well, the current set of numbers is just mind boggling. Ignoring nursery schools and kicking things off from age five, our little darlings have a good seventeen year fuse attached to them, if you throw in a gap year and University. Assuming day schools through out, then it is a budget in today’s money of at least £250,000 per child; this excludes trying to anticipate the perils of inflation plus increases in fees, plus the extras that need to be paid. It is easy to see why Mrs Moneypenny at the FT refers to her children as “cost centres”.

Before you can really determine your retirement position there are a number of other areas that need to be addressed before hand. Unless you know what you want during your working life it is difficult to determine what your life post work looks like. Obviously life is fluid, but unless there is a plan there is nothing to benchmark. I think the plan is akin to a “Family” business plan. Your current financial position is the opening Balance Sheet. The financial inflows and outflows can be plotted to work out your surpluses or shortfalls on a yearly basis and a balance sheet drawn up at any time. All sounds terribly simple I know, but is actually a pretty specialist area, especially if tax and investment advice overlay the plan to help achieve the long term goals.

In terms of liabilities to cover; we have already mentioned the “cost centres” and the seventeen year fuse. Generally, there is a mortgage that plays a strong role in our overall penury and therefore a desire to get rid of this before we retire or cease “economic activity” as it is now politely called. It is a bit tricky to generalise on this one, but the chances are that the greater the number of “cost centres” than the bigger the property, the mortgage etc. Anyhow, you probably get the idea, we need to pay off the interest on the mortgage and hopefully, the debt as well!

The above liabilities are not the only things to be considered in building our “Family” business plan. In my mind it would all seem a bit sad if our working life was only about making provision for paying the school fees, paying down the mortgage and then retiring. We all want to have a bit of fun whilst we are young and fit, (or relatively!), the holidays, the restaurants, or my personal favourite the supermarket run…All these things need to be paid for and really are unique to each of us, as we all have different budgets, tastes and income levels and indeed personal desires or ambitions.

So, let’s give it a go. Assuming you have three children and are sitting on a half million pound mortgage, aged 35 and want to pay off everything over the next twenty years. Well, the back of the envelope suggests that you need to allocate about £37,500 to your “education fund”, per annum. You probably have to allocate some £45,000 per annum to your “mortgage fund”. With all due respect I suggest you will want to live a little rather than purely subsist, so let’s throw in a perhaps modest budget of another £35,000 per annum to cover all your other outgoings. This little list adds up to £117,500-out of net income, or about £190,000 gross, before tax. Again, the above figures are subjective as our circumstances are all different. Now, you may or may not be thinking that does not look too bad, but we have not allocated anything to your “ceased economic activity fund”. Based upon the fact that my own family is keen on longevity this particular fund needs be worryingly high!

Unfortunately, based upon the facts available there is no correct answer to the panel question, as in reality a structured plan should be put in place to identify your own unique goals and objectives and build a road map to get there.

One final thought from the dark side and perhaps a trigger to plan ahead. Based upon recent annuity rate research, the current cost for a male aged 55 purchasing the equivalent of £100,000 per annum of net pension income, increasing by RPI would be a shade under £5 million pounds*, presuming provision for a spouse. No wonder civil servants don’t want to give up final salary pension schemes!

* Source FSA Website

Did you hear about the city trader who retired to the countryside at 55?  The dramatic change in pace had a similar effect on his heart rate as he it gave out 3 months later leaving him devoid of the chance to spend those massive bonuses he’d received.  The taxman, however, was pleased to take 40% of the sums he left behind in inheritance tax.

Unfortunately, this isn’t actually too difficult to imagine.  We push so hard for today; for the next big deal or bonus, but we are notoriously bad at thinking long-term.

When we do finally accept our mortality or realise that we’ve got more than we need to see us out, it is often far too late to do sufficient structured planning to shift the excess wealth to the next generation.  Add to that concerns that the children ought not to receive too much too young, and the idea of transferring assets early gets pushed back further and further.

But think about it this way.  Unless you start moving around £300,000 of assets out of your ownership every 7 years, you may be left with the relatively stark choices of outright gifts to (in my case) spendthrift children, an immediate 20% inheritance tax for trusts to benefit and safeguard assets for your children or the prospect of 40% being paid from your estate if you decide to do nothing at all.  Of course you can make a basic Will leaving all to your spouse, which will to avoid the tax on your death, but this simply delays the hit until the second death - and has the effect of increasing the ultimate tax liability on your joint estates by over £120,000 (unless you undertake some ‘nil-rate-band’ planning – see below).

Now I appreciate this all sound rather dramatic, but since the government quietly decided on 22 March 2006 that trusts were ‘bad’ and imposed a charge to inheritance tax of 20% on transfers into most forms of them, the concept of utilising your ‘nil-rate-band’ (like a tax free allowance: £300,000 for 2007/2008) every 7 years (after which it is magically replenished) is one that we all need to get to grips with.  Both husband and wife can make gifts of their nil-rate-band.  The gift can be into a discretionary trust, which provides long-term stewardship and protection of assets as well retaining a discretion for you, as trustees, over the investment and distribution (if any) of the fund.

Add to the idea of ‘7 year’ planning the fact that you can gift assets away free of inheritance tax provided they are gifts ‘out of surplus income’ (i.e. not capital) and you begin to see that waiting until retirement and sitting down to make sure that you ‘properly understand it yourself first’ is perhaps not the most sensible route.  An individual earning £250,000 a year and only spending £150,000 could be making inheritance tax free transfers of £100,000 into trust each year.  It is unlikely this can be done in retirement because your income will be that much lower by that stage.  When you think in terms of the 40% saving on death (and the fact that the capital growth takes place outside your estate once its transferred) this thinking starts to make sense – particularly if you are considering making a gift to the children or grandchildren to help with a first house, or such like, in any event.

However, if you rush this sort of planning you’ll get it wrong.  Try and do it yourself and it’ll be worse.  People still fall foul of old favourites like transferring their house into the names of their children a few years before their death.  The government has fiddled with the legislation so many times to stop the various ingenious attempts to pick out the statutory loopholes that you’d be crazy (and probably give yourself that heart-attack) to embark upon any sort of high level planning strategy without appropriate specialist advice - and when you’re not too old to fully understand and appreciate the associated risks.  I fear far too many individuals sign up to complex and often inappropriate tax ‘schemes’ last minute because they are more concerned about their impending demise than having time to talk things though and embark on bespoke structured planning that is focussed upon their particular circumstances and wishes.

Taking the example of the simple house transfer described above (and say you die 3 years after the gift) there would be no inheritance tax saving because the house would not be treated as leaving your estate; there would be a capital gains tax problem because the house would belong to the children and therefore would not benefit from principal private residence relief; there would also be the spectre (although not quite on these facts) that your continued occupation of the house after the gift could result in a liability to income tax based upon the taxable value of a market rent for the entire property.  Finally, in the worst case, if one of your children were to also die around the time of your death then they would be taxable on the value of their share of the house as well (giving a “double-whammy”).

Anyway, that’s far too much to start thinking about now: time is money…

By Hayden Bailey
www.boodlehatfield.co.uk

Sitting on a terrace on the Ile de Ré, a glass of the local rosé in my hand and a plate of oysters on its way, the biblical deluges of the English summer seem far away.  However, this year I will not be falling into the rosé trap – the annual error of slavishly carrying bottles back to our not exactly sun-drenched shores, and then suffering mouth-puckering disappointment on pulling the cork.  

There’s really no need – the quality of rosé now available from UK-based wine merchants is a revelation.  Everything from perky picnic wines to some very serious numbers indeed.  So how to find the best rosé to inspire your rain-weary senses?

The vignerons in Provence seem to have a particular facility for creating out of the ordinary rosé.  A contender for the title of the world’s most fashionable rosé is Domaine Ott’s Rosé Coeur de Grains. In its instantly recognisable, curvaceous amphora-shaped bottle a staggering 80,000 bottles sold into St Tropez each summer.  A pale golden rose, with a nose of confit melon, delicately floral with a firm mineral backbone, the wine is rich and ample in the mouth. This is the Brigitte Bardot of rosés…. Sexy and kittenish yet full-bodied. 

Not far away, against the impressive backdrop of the Mont St Victoire, the elegant towers of Château Simone can be spied from the autoroute by holiday-makers hell-bent for the beaches of the Riviera.  Palette is a tiny, little-known appellation notable for permitting the greatest number of grape varieties in France. Château Simone, currently run by the sixth generation of the Rougier family, is by far the most important producer.  Their Grenache-based rosé is a very serious wine – an intense strawberry pink, initial aromas of red fruit give way to intruiging notes of game and truffles.  On the palate this is quite delicious, full and rich with a hint of tannin, a match to the most complicated of dishes.  A mouthful or two of this and even the most unbelieving will be converted.

Travelling north to the cooler climate of the Loire Valley, Sancerre rosé made from Pinot Noir (the classic grape of red Burgundy) is a summertime favourite.  This is taken to another level entirely by the extraordinarily talented François Cotat. He believes the wine is made in the (organic) vineyard.  His role is simply to watch over a natural process with minimal intervention. This modesty belies his stunning results – intensely flavoured wines with beautifully judged freshness and balance. His 2005 rosé is sumptuous, all wild strawberries and peach.  Hard to resist opening immediately, this is also eminently age-worthy. Do beware – the estate is a miniscule 4 hectares – so getting hold of a case or two is not easily accomplished.

With such delights in store, I am putting my faith in a long balmy autumn.  And if I’m wrong, and the sun doesn’t pull through this year – these are all sufficiently serious to stand up to a slight chill in the air and will keep getting better as the weeks roll by.  So the question of what to stack up in the cellar is easily answered – rosé, rosé and more rosé.

Phillipa Wright
Goedhuis & Company

Deliciously easy, worthy & plentiful……its our very own Dover sole…..together with Autumn recipe

by Sarah Ryley 

Dover sole - arguably the finest fish of all. Its delicate firm white flesh is packed with protein & is a rich source of minerals for optimum health & nutrition.

Low in harmful saturated fats, but a good source of omega 3 which helps to keep arteries free flowing, it lowers the chances of developing heart disease. The potassium & magnesium levels reduce high blood pressure; selenium acts as an antioxidant that slows down aging & memory decline. A portion of Dover sole provides an amazing 70% of the daily recommended amount of vitamin C. 

This quintessentially English fish is alive & swimming in plentifully numbers in our native shallow costal waters. The supply of eastern English Channel sole is sustainable & not to be confused with the over fished lesser varieties of sole found in European waters.

The superlative flavour at its best three days after it has been caught, so it can be kept in the fridge for a couple of days before eating.

Readily available at your local fishmongers, this worthy fish makes for a simple affair to prepare in the kitchen. Ask the fishmonger to remove the skin &, depending on the recipe, lift the fillets off the bone.

Skinned fillets, lightly grilled, drizzled with olive oil & a squeeze of lemon juice is the dish that most of us enjoy at home - deliciously easy & ready to eat in 5 minutes. 

Whereas many other fish only have seasonal availability,  Dover sole is with us all year round. Inspire your home entertaining, or create a cosy meal for two, with this tasty recipe - bursting with  autumnal flavours & bold rustic appeal.

Dover sole with chanterelle mushrooms, saffron & pine nuts

Serves 2

• 4 Dover sole fillets
• 1 shallot, finely sliced 
• 2 handful chanterelle mushrooms, roughly chopped
• 4 tbsp double cream
• A good pinch of saffron Handful of pine nuts, toasted 

In a frying pan, over a medium heat, sauté the shallot until transparent. Add the mushrooms, stirring occasionally, & continue until they both begin to take colour.

Turn down the heat to a low setting, add the cream & saffron and stir thoroughly to combine. Season to taste.

Coat the sole fillets lightly in olive oil and grill under a medium heat until opaque & thoroughly cooked, approximately 5 minutes.

Arrange the fillets on a serving plate, generously spoon over the sauce & scatter with toasted pine nuts. 

Serve with wedges of lemon & a crisp green salad

ser@minou.fslife.co.uk

Everyone needs an excuse to eat and even better the excuse to go on holiday. South Africa is fast becoming an increasingly popular destination due to the lack of jetlag, a superb climate and a breadth of holiday choices.

Even so, there are still undiscovered gems that instantly justify booking a holiday. South Africa is not known as a world within a country for nothing. One holiday may fulfil your lifelong dream. This is a country of energetic and vibrant people whose “can do” attitude will surprise and inspire you.

Often to have a good holiday good food is a prerequisite. This thought inspired a group of enterprising South African hoteliers to get together and form “ The Good Cooks and Country House” guide. This guide identifies small undiscovered lodges throughout the country where food is top of the agenda. From the world famous Western Cape via the Garden Route to the lesser known Eastern Cape and the town of Graaff- Reinet you can enjoy their food and hospitality.

Let’s start with the area close to CapeTown in the winelands of  Paarl and Franschhoek. Bartholomeus Klip is a charming small hotel sleeping only ten guests. It is on a working wheat and sheep farm where you can enjoy the privacy of their beautiful gardens or laze beside the swimming pool with the backdrop of spectacular mountains. The food is renowned, with lavish brunches,high teas and a gourmet three course dinner.

Your next stop down the Garden Route takes you to the well known beach resort of Plettenberg Bay and Lairds Lodge which offer you the perfect base for exploring this area. Superb breakfasts and convivial gourmet dinners, specialising in seafood and game dishes, are served in the colonial dining room. At night courtyards and verandahs with blazing braziers and the intimate cigar and cognac den create a truly memorable experience.

It’s time to move inland and drive north east of Plettenberg Bay to the Karoo and the Camedeboo National Park. This is an area of real natural beauty where Africa has remained in a time warp with its focal point one of nature’s wonders, the Valley of Deception.

Your first stop is the regional capital town of Graaff-Reinet where you will find the delightful and quirky guest house of Andries Stockenstrom. Bedrooms are cosy, the high-ceilinged dining room elegant and the food famous for its Karoo style haute cuisine.  The town with more than 200 National monuments has to be explored. This is the ideal stopover offering a wonderfully healthy climate and for the more energetic hiking trails in the Sneeuberg mountain range.

In a country so large and diverse it is quite extraordinary that less than an hour away is the retreat of Samara Private Game Reserve. Although not part of The Good Cooks this 70,000 acres of breathtaking scenery isn’t just a game reserve it’s an experience. It is here that the Karoo nurtures the soul, leaving you feeling relaxed, renewed and rejuvenated. At Samara you can explore a remarkable landscape that is made up of four of South Africa’s seven biomes.

Luxury Colonial style Karoo cottages and rooms in the restored homestead offer relaxed comfort and style. Spend your days on safari with experienced rangers and trackers. Visit the unspoilt plains of Camdeboo where the majestic cheetah reigns once more and the endangered mountain zebra wander on the endless grassy plains. Free of the restrictions of the Big 5 reserves, your professional guide will introduce you to the highly endangered Cheetah, enabling you to participate in an exclusive interaction with these graceful predators.

And then it’s time to end the dream and make your way to Port Elizabeth and your flight back home and reality.

Is an excuse really needed to take your perfect holiday?

For further information contact Wedge and Wildlife specialists in tailor made holidays in Southern Africa.

By Oliver Prittie
Details: enquiries@wedgeandwildlife.com
Website: www.wedgeandwildlife.com
Tel: 020 7228 5777

Dear Secretary of State,

My friend, who is in farming at the moment, recently received a cheque for £3,000 from the Rural Payments Agency for not rearing pigs. I would now like to join the “not rearing pigs” business.

In your opinion, what is the best kind of farm not to rear pigs on, and which is the best breed of pigs not to rear? I want to be sure I approach this endeavour in keeping with all government policies, as dictated by the EU under the Common Agricultural Policy.

I would prefer not to rear bacon pigs, but if this is not the type you want not rearing, I will just as gladly not rear porkers. Are there any advantages in not rearing rare breeds such as Saddlebacks or Gloucester Old Spots, or are there too many people already not rearing these?

As I see it, the hardest part of this programme will be keeping an accurate record of how many pigs I haven’t reared. Are there any Government or Local Authority courses on this?

My friend is very satisfied with this business. He has been rearing pigs for forty years or so, and the best he ever made on them was £1,422 in 1968.   That is - until this year, when he received a cheque for not rearing any.

If I get £3,000 for not rearing 50 pigs, will I get £6,000 for not rearing 100?

I plan to operate on a small scale at first, holding myself down to about 4,000 pigs not raised, which will mean about £240,000 for the first year. As I become more expert in not rearing pigs, I plan to be more ambitious, perhaps increasing to, say, 40,000 pigs not reared in my second year, for which I should expect about £2.4 million from your department. Incidentally, I wonder if I would be eligible to receive tradable carbon credits for all these pigs not producing harmful and polluting methane gases?

Another point: These pigs that I plan not to rear will not eat 2,000 tonnes of cereals. I understand that you also pay farmers for not growing crops. Will I qualify for payments for not growing cereals to not feed the pigs I don’t rear?

I am also considering the “not milking cows” business, so please send any information you have on that too. Please could you also include the current Defra advice on set aside fields? Can this be done on an e-commerce basis with virtual fields (of which I seem to have several thousand hectares)?

In view of the above you will realise that I will be totally unemployed, and will therefore qualify for unemployment benefits.

I shall of course be voting for your party at the next general election.

Yours faithfully,

Nigel Johnson-Hill