Yesterday you fled for your life from an enraged mammoth. Later you stalked a boar through a forest but then had to fight your main rival for the carcass. Another day at the office, 12008 BCE.

For most of our species’ history the ‘flight-or-fight response’ allowed us to react instantly to events by giving us sudden boosts of energy or aggression so we could flee - or fight.

• Breathing becomes fast and shallow. Oxygen is fuel for your muscles to run faster, hit harder.
• The heart pumps three times faster (to carry the oxygen to those muscles). Tiny blood vessels at the surface of the skin close down so the body can sustain a wound and not bleed to death.
• Digestion stops, sexual function stops, even the immune system is temporarily turned off.
• It’s not about thinking clearly – the body doesn’t need to think, it wants to take action.

These days we don’t face predators or prey or (usually) tribal rivals. Instead we face job pressures, deadlines, public transport, meetings, traffic jams, domestic issues. Yet our bodies can react in the same way.

Your mouth can dry; you may feel trapped and want to escape, or get a sudden burst of aggression (which you try to keep under control); your hands might feel clammy; you may sweat; your heart can pump faster and blood pressure could soar.

Every time stress triggers the fight-or-flight response you are experiencing a false alarm. Short-term it may boost performance. When it becomes prolonged and excessive it can take its toll.

Too many false alarms lead to disorders like heart disease, high blood pressure, immune system disorders, panic attacks, fatigue, migraine headaches, IBS, insomnia, TMJ (temporomandibular joint) syndrome, skin conditions and sexual dysfunction.

What can you do?

With fast shallow breathing your brain constantly searches for an explanation of why your body is in a heightened state of alertness.

1. To interrupt the stress cycle, simply be quiet for a short time and do some gentle abdominal breathing.

• Sit with both feet on the floor. Relax your jaw. Inhale slowly through the nose. Expand your abdomen (let it inflate like a balloon).
• As you exhale, let your belly drop back towards your spine. Contract your abdominal muscles as you finish exhaling to expel all the air.
• Make the breath silent so that it’s gentle and relaxed.
• It can be helpful to place one hand lightly on your abdomen to direct the breath. Breathing like this for just 1 minute will help to relax you.
  With relaxed abdominal breathing you’ll be able to focus on what’s really important.

1. Discharge the energy.

• Exercise is good. Any activity that will help release muscular tension will also tend to lead naturally to abdominal breathing.
• A brisk walk around the block can also help by getting you away from the stressor, even temporarily. When you return, you may benefit from a different perspective on the issue.

When you understand the stress cycle you can do things differently, feel differently and get different – better – results. Whatever mammoth lies ahead.

Sara Longmuir, Business and Executive Coach,
SLongmuir@shirlawscoaching.com 07941 015 866

Recent reports suggest that preventive screening for prostate cancer in the United States might have seen fatalities from the disease decrease at as much as four times the rate of the United Kingdom. Across America some 60% of men over 50 are tested for signs of the cancer each year, as opposed to a mere 10% in Great Britain. As with all cancers, early detection is crucial to an improved survival rate, not to mention minimising the amount of time patients have to spend enduring painful and debilitating treatments. As many as 30,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year in the UK, of these a third will die from the disease: a statistic which Preventicum, West London’s state-of-the-art full body health check clinic, is keen to see dramatically reduced by encouraging men to undergo health screening in good time to detect any early warning signs.

A Preventicum Ultimate Check-Up augments the standard blood and urine tests with in-depth screening for major health conditions and their all-important risk factors: for clients over 50 years old, this includes the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test, which checks for the presence of substances in the blood which can indicate prostate cancer. Results from this blood test, which is currently unavailable to patients on the NHS, are further reinforced by ultrasound scans as well as a digital rectal examination carried out by an experienced doctor. The combination of these three checks ensures that Preventicum’s medical team can fine-tune its diagnosis and ensure that results are as accurate as possible. Results are also available immediately, ensuring that any referrals that may need to be made can be actioned as swiftly as possible.

Dr Garry Savin, Medical Director at Preventicum says “As with so many cancers, the key to beating the disease lies in early detection through efficient screening. All too often there is a reluctance from men to undergo preventive screening for prostate cancer, as if the condition is somehow embarrassing or a sign of impending old age. We have gone to great lengths to ensure that our screening for prostate cancer is as accurate and unobtrusive as possible, ensuring that visitors to the clinic can leave with peace of mind that they have been thoroughly examined.”

Preventicum and Asquith work together to provide preferential rates to readers of this newsletter. By quoting Asquith 2008 at the time of booking, you can receive a 15% discount on your Ultimate Check-Up until 31st December 2008. The Preventicum team is available Monday to Friday 9.00 – 5.30 to answer all your queries. Please contact them on 020 7605 6900 or visit the Preventicum website www.preventicum.co.uk

The Power of Financial Planning

This week, in case you hadn’t noticed, is Financial Planning Week. During Financial Planning Week, members of the Institute of Financial Planning are running events throughout the country to highlight the importance of Financial Planning. We at Asquith are putting on our own seminar on 11 September.

So, what is Financial Planning, who is it for, and why do we think that it is important?

The funny thing is that the finance part of it is not the most crucial element. The most important element is the planning side. And plans are pretty useful things. All great achievements have plans behind them - all great businesses have their business plans, all great explorers have their expeditions mapped out, all successful generals have their stratagems and a great financial future is no exception. Of course, you can have a great financial future without putting in place a plan, but we feel that putting in place the plan increases the likelihood of securing that great future.

What we at Asquith seek to do when we first meet with you is to help to elucidate those things that matter most to you in your life, the goals that you have, when you want to achieve them and how much they cost. This is the discovery stage of our process.

We then create your own bespoke plan. Our expertise on the finance side of things then comes into play in the review of your existing situation, the creation of the plan and its subsequent implementation. All your investments, pensions, insurances, mortgages and tax planning will now begin to work in harmony and will be aligned with your goals. This is the planning and implementation stage of our process.

Just as businesses continually review their business plans to ensure that targets are met and that its performance is up to scratch, so you and your Financial Planner should continue to monitor the plan over the years to make sure that all is on track to meet your goals and make appropriate adjustments as circumstances or goals change. This is the monitoring stage of our process and we hope that our relationship with anyone we work with will evolve into a fruitful long term partnership.

In terms of who Financial Planning is for - we feel that everyone can benefit from Financial Planning - not just the rich, and that there is no time like the present to begin your Financial Planning - the sooner the better. You can build a Financial Plan on your own or work with a Financial Planner to help you. The important step is to begin to focus on what it is that matters to you in life and incorporate those desires into a plan. If you don’t create a plan, you run the risk of drifting through life and not seeing your most important goals realised.

We think that the benefits of good Financial Planning may include the following:

• Giving you the freedom not to worry about financial matters
• Giving you a better quality of life by allowing you to concentrate on the things that are important to you
• Increasing or preserving your wealth and reducing your tax
• Permitting you to have a much clearer view of your future
• Creating a greater level of interest and knowledge in financial matters
• Educating and empowering you to feel in control of your life

And what have we been able to do for our clients? Well, take one of our clients, a partner at a City accountancy firm, as an example. When he came to us, we helped him and his wife to formulate their goals, which included:

• Early retirement
• Maintaining their existing standard of living throughout their lifetime
• Ability to provide for their children’s education and to help them onto the property ladder
• Not being a financial burden on their family in the future
• A review of their existing financial arrangements

We were able to:

• Provide peace of mind that retirement could be taken at age 55, with a higher standard of living than currently enjoyed
• Increase the budgeted amount to be provided to the children for help on the property ladder
• Reduce tax bills
• Create more tax efficient income in retirement
• Give peace of mind that they would not be a burden on their family in the future

So ask yourself this question: have you in the last few years reviewed your existing situation and thought of your plans for the future, plus how best to achieve these? If not then perhaps it is time to start investing in “you” by taking time out to create your own Financial Plan.

By Ben Westaway ACA

Asquith & Partners LLP
www.asquith.co.uk

First, the bad news. For every pound your assets exceed the inheritance tax (IHT) nil-rate band of £312,000, or £624,000 for a married couple, the taxman will take 40 pence when you die.

The good news, however, is that by careful planning during your lifetime you can stay one step ahead of the taxman and dramatically reduce the amount he takes, meaning more of your hard earned wealth can be enjoyed by those you leave behind.

And the even better news is that the type of planning in question is, with the right advice, relatively straightforward and a great way of making sure you remain extremely popular with those you wish to provide for as it involves, for the most part, giving stuff away.

At its simplest, it is always worth considering making use of the exemptions and reliefs available. These may be small, but there is no point in wasting them:

• You can make gifts of £3,000 per tax year free of IHT consequences. Any unused exemption can be carried forward for one year so that a married couple can give away up to £12,000 in one go.
• You can make gifts up to £250 to as many people as you like in one tax year, without them being liable for IHT.
• You can make gifts on marriage or civil partnership. Parents can each make gifts of £5,000, grandparents may make gifts of £2,500 and anyone else £1,000.

If you want to make gifts of larger amounts, you can give away as much as you like and there will be no IHT to pay if you survive the gift by seven years.

If you die within the seven year period, the gift will become chargeable to IHT but the rates of tax are often reduced if you have survived for three years or more.

If the gift is a particularly generous one and exceeds the nil-rate band, the recipient and donor need to consider how any IHT would be paid. For example, Mr White gives his son John £500,000 to buy a new home but dies within two years. John will have to pay IHT at 40% on the difference between £500,000 and the nil-rate band of £312,000, ie £75,200. John and Mr White should have considered taking out term life cover on Mr White’s life to cover the potential IHT liability. Such life cover is normally relatively inexpensive.

While making an outright gift is simple, it is often inappropriate. Your children or grandchildren may not be ready to be responsible for large sums of money. The money could be at risk from claims from creditors, or spouses on divorce. You might want to be able to determine how the gift is used. For these reasons, trusts have traditionally been a popular vehicle for passing wealth down the generations while protecting the assets.

Changes to the IHT legislation have made it harder to use trusts in this way, but there are still opportunities available if you take specialist advice:

• Make gifts of your IHT nil-rate band to a trust every seven years. A married couple can (on present figures) make gifts to trust of £624,000 every seven years without IHT consequences.
• Make gifts of surplus income to trust. You can make gifts of any amount of income to a trust without IHT consequences, if you can show that you do not need the income for your normal living expenses and that the gifts are part of your regular expenditure.
• Fund a trust by interest free loan. This is a good way to freeze the value of assets that are likely to grow in value while retaining access to the capital, if needed. For example, Mr Black lends £400,000 to the trustees of a new trust who invest the sum with a view to capital growth. While the value of the loan remains in Mr Black’s estate for IHT, any growth will be in the trust and will not be subject to IHT on Mr Black’s death. If Mr Black needs access to the capital, the trustees can make repayments up to the value of loan tax free.

Sometimes taxpayers wish to make gifts that do not fall within these categories.

Mr and Mrs Green have sold a property portfolio for £3 million. They can make gifts of their nil-rate bands to trust, but any excess transferred to trust will be subject to immediate IHT of 20%, £950,400! There would also be further tax charges every ten years and on distributions to beneficiaries. How can they pass more of their wealth down to their children while protecting the assets? A “Family Limited Partnership” allows them to make the gift while retaining a degree of control. Family members have economic rights to the partnership assets while the decision-making power rests with a “general partner”. This is a complex structure so is only appropriate when substantial sums are involved, but can be a valuable solution for families in this position.

While there are opportunities for reducing the IHT bill by careful lifetime giving, this area can be a minefield. Recent changes to the IHT legislation prevent individuals achieving IHT savings while retaining a benefit from their assets. For example, those who try to pass a share of the family home down the generations without taking advice can find themselves remaining liable for IHT on the whole value of the house, or becoming liable for an ongoing income tax charge. There are also other tax considerations, such as liability for capital gains tax if the assets gifted are standing at a gain. Taxpayers need to take professional advice to ensure that they do not fall into these traps.

Lisa-Jane Fawcett
Speechly Bircham LLP

If you have a fine wine collection in the UK, here are ten simple pointers for spoiling the value of your wines.

1. Pay the duty and VAT. Yes, if you pay the duty on your wine (and thereby you pay the VAT on the wine and the duty as well), you will have transferred the status of the wine from In Bond (IB) to Duty Paid (DP), and that makes it far less interesting to a collector or to the trade, who prefer their wines to be IB. Why? Because IB gives a sense of reassurance that the wine has been kept in a proper temperature-controlled bonded warehouse, away from light, movement, vibration or noise, away from intra-day temperature fluctuations. Typically, a DP fine wine will command a lower price, as much as 25%, than its IB equivalent.

2. Store it at home in your cellar. OK, you’ve paid the duty, now it’s time to store your wine in your own cellar. Is the cellar free of fresh air? Is the central heating boiler down there? Is the cellar bone dry? Or is there water running down the walls? All of these have the potential to reduce the value of your wine investment. Wine needs fresh air circulating around it, at a steady temperature. While it benefits from some humidity, the labels may become “foxed”, and that reduces the value. And if you store your cases on the cellar floor, or touching the walls, you are inviting the foxing process to take immediate effect (try storing the cases on a wooden palate, away from the walls, instead).

3. Store it at home, indoors. The kitchen is most effective at spoiling your wines, as is the attic, especially if it relatively unlagged. Imagine the wild intra-day temperature variations, almost guaranteed to spoil the wine. Under the stairs in total darkness is a bit better, but it’s still prone, albeit indirectly, to too much heat, from the weather in summer, from central heating in winter.

4. Break open the case. Just breaking the case open reduces the value of your fine wine (other than carefully lifting the lid for inspection purposes, and then replacing it exactly as it was). This is because collectors prefer to buy their wine “owc”, in its original wooden case. To buy 12 bottles owc commands a healthy premium over those same 12 bottles repacked in a cardboard case.

5. Don’t check the provenance (defined as “proof of authenticity or of past ownership; used of art works and antiques”), and you could easily end up buying wine that has been improperly kept - this can mean something as simple as wine stacked in a dockyard in the blazing heat of an Asian port for a few weeks. And auction houses, in spite of their apparently reassuring “Lying in Hampshire” or wherever, are frankly not that good at checking the provenance of wines, and when one is faced with their “caveat emptor” response to your complaint, one probably deserves better from their 15% - 20% commission.

6. Don’t check the label. I was recently given a candle in the shape of a wine bottle, complete with a fake Château Pétrus label, and I have had huge enjoyment watching my guests trying not to salivate having spotted the “bottle” on the sideboard before dinner. My point here is: there are fakes, better ones than my candle-bottle label (which at least has the decency to declare itself “Made in China”). The quickest way to lose the value of a wine investment is to buy carelessly.

7. Ignore the experts. Robert Parker, the doyen of wine critics, moves prices. Other wine critics can be influential too. If they re- rate a wine, up or down, prices quickly follow to reflect the new rating. Only the proud or the foolhardy ignore these experts.

8. Ignore portfolio risk. If you don’t watch the risk associated with your wine collection, you will probably see a deterioration in value. Mahesh Kumar, in his brilliant tome “Wine Investment for Portfolio Diversification” (published 2005 by The Wine Appreciation Guild) reminds us that the variance of portfolio returns can be written as being equal to (b2 pi * s2 i) + s2e p, and I think we disregard that simple truth at our peril.

9. Overpay. There are several boiler-house firms that sell fine wine at vastly inflated prices, relying on the relative opacity of the fine wine market to obscure the true price level. If you are in doubt as to whether your merchant is a charlatan, go to Jim Budd’s website at www.investdrinks.org . Jim is a journalist and campaigner against these sharp practices. Another way to avoid overpaying is to join www.liv-ex.com as a CellarWatch member: Liv-ex focuses light on this dark market, allowing the collector to make an informed decision.

10. Overtrade. While it’s true that fine wines have been going up in value, almost relentlessly, there is evidence that they are not immune to “these difficult times”; indeed, the Liv-ex 100 Index, the wine industry’s equivalent of the FT-SE 100, appears to have hit its high in June this year and may now be on the way down (or is it?). So buying now for investment could be a timely way to reduce the value of your portfolio. And don’t forget trading costs; unlike the tiny commissions charged by stockbrokers on share trading, the normal commission one has to pay for buying and selling fine wine is 12% and more. And don’t believe the “no commission” brokers - they take their reward by changing the price. So, to buy and sell a case of wine can involve expenses of around 25%, making a quick round-trip prohibitively expensive.

A happy ending. If you have read this far, you must be pretty determined to spoil the value of your wine collection. But don’t be gloomy: where there is despair, there is opportunity! And the opportunity here is for you to drink some of your reduced-value wines. Yes, drink them, savour them, enjoy them!

Nigel Johnson-Hill is chairman of Liv-ex, the fine wine exchange.

When it comes to hidden holiday gems, everyone around the dinner party table has one to offer – whether they hollowed out their own canoe and proceeded to float down the Zambezi in it or indulged in a weekend at a secret ‘absolutely no food’ retreat in Indonesia. But we’re almost into Autumn here and for those of us here at Black Tomato, there’s no better time to do luxury. Summer is over, winter is knocking on the door and it’s all about finding a gorgeous hideaway to escape to. With this in mind, we’ve used our cutting-edge travel expertise and dived under the skin of some of our new favourite places to bring you the hottest of the hot spots for Autumn 2008.

Damascus

Spicy, exotic and alluring: just how we like our lesser-visited Middle-Eastern cities. Damascus is reliably warm, tantalizingly mysterious and utterly hypnotic. In short – this is a place to go and get lost before the English chill sets in.

But lost in the good sense of the word. The labyrinthine cobbled streets of Damascus’ old town are alive at all hours of the day and night. Make your way past fortune tellers and brightly-clad performers, through bright foliage and ornately carved arches in search of delicious treats cooking on open charcoal fires, before wandering off in search of some of the world’s most impressive architecture. Wind down our way – with a bottle of wine, a roof terrace and the scent of spices floating in from the souks.

Northern Brazil

Now we love a bit of Rio as much as the next globetrotter and we’ve developed a strong liking for the laid back culture of Sao Paulo too – but Brazil is a big place, and for us, it’s all about undiscovered colonial towns, indigenous cuisine and gorgeous local beaches. The place to get it all? Salvador de Bahia.

The country’s first colonial capital, this is where the laid back pace of holidaying revolves around small chic guesthouses called pousadas and moves to the rhythm of capoeira. Top of the to-do list should be lazy seafood meals, a good bit of exploration, followed if possible by a real wind-down on the laid back island of Boipeba with a nice cool caipirinha in your hand.

Namibia

The autumn long weekend is all about inspiration – a brilliant and intense injection of it that you can remember on those darker mornings in November and make all your colleagues jealous with. Well, there’s only one place for it – the Skeleton Coast.

The extreme North-west of Namibia is one of the most unspoilt and untamed locations on earth, so much so that there’s not a hotel in sight. You’ll be staying in one of our luxury camps – think gorgeous tents, and a spectacular view with your morning cup of Earl Grey (the vast plains, towering sand dunes and endless salt pans are a sight to behold). Jump in a jeep with your guide at the wheel and head out in search of ghostly shipwrecks and big game. The weekend just got a whole lot better.

Transylvania

So you like unique? You want somewhere so totally astonishing and different that your friends will think you’re joking (or lying) when you tell them where you’ve spent the past week? Then Transylvania is right up your street.

Not just anywhere in Transylvania you understand. The Machine House, on a private estate at the foot of the Carpathian Mountains is really something special. Peaceful, rustic (in the very best sense of the word) and ambient, this gorgeous guesthouse will take you away from every possible reminder of city life. With its lake and mountain scenery, natural caves and castles, and some serious wilderness on the menu, our Transylvania is the best kept secret in travel.

Bhutan

If the countdown to the huge family Christmas has sent your teetering stress levels over the edge you’ve got two choices: you could curse the department stores for bringing woe upon you earlier every year or you could choose Bhutan. This magical kingdom is as remote and mystical as it gets – short of packing it all in and becoming a monk.

So don your walking togs and put some Himalayan air in your lungs. Trek through lush valleys, past sacred monasteries and museums, and through indigenous villages in search of some serenity. And if you don’t find it there, be sure to look in the spa of your stylish Aman hotel. Your new-found zen will last all the way through Christmas.

Mozambique

The feeling that you’ve discovered a new part of the world – you just can’t beat it. That’s why you need to go to Mozambique, and quick. That’s right, Mozambique is back and it’s hovering just below the travel radar. Believe us, you’ve never seen anything like it.

So rugged, so remote and so beautiful in fact, that we really are in awe. With stunning lodges popping up on eden-like islands in the north of the country and ancient cultures to explore on others, the options are endless. Kayak, dive, swim, take a wildlife safari or kick back on a private dhow or a deserted beach with your nearest and dearest. Some places really do have it all.

Tuscany

If ever there was a classic escape, Tuscany is it. And we’ll never give it up, because we know the perfect place, the little piece of Italian heaven that simply can’t be beat – Borgo Santo Pietro. Stylish and sophisticated with a Provençal aura and a twist of English country house charm, this is a place to do what you jolly well like.

Float in the infinity pool, sip a cocktail or challenge your lover (for this is lovers’ territory) to a laidback game of boules in the cherry meadow. Sound nice? Not as nice as dinner on the private balcony of your palatial, antique-filled suite overlooking the stunning Tuscan hills. A true gem.

Black Tomato is delighted to offer all Asquith clients an exclusive £200 discount on your next trip with Black Tomato.*

By Black Tomato
www.blacktomato.co.uk

* Terms & Conditions:
1. Clients must quote ‘Asquith 2008’ at time of initial enquiry.
2. Offer must be redeemed by 31st December 2008.
3. Minimum spend £2000.

Benefits of Exercising Outdoors … by Move Your Butt’s founder, Julia Bishop.

For many people, exercising means going to the gym. And that’s most certainly a good thing if the alternative is not doing anything at all. Gyms provide equipment, classes, instructors, and a safe environment to work out in. However, it can be boring. Mixing in some outdoor activities is a good way to offset that boredom. The change of scenery can do wonders for you mentally and psychology plays a huge role in sticking to a regular exercise routine.

We at Move Your Butt Personal Training agree. Research shows that Green exercise – or working out close to nature – can seriously boost your wellbeing by lowering blood pressure and easing your stress levels. Indeed, why go to the gym and stare at the plasma screens when you can be inspired, get some fresh air and get fit all at the same time? There’s a huge trend at the moment towards balancing and fusing your workout with another aspect of your lifestyle – for example, running and seeing a bit of the fantastic city or countryside that you live in. So many people find doing this inspiring on an emotional and physical level - there’s a definite move away from pounding away at the gym – especially when you consider that we spend more than 90 per cent of our time indoors.

But what should you do once you get outdoors? Why not try circuit training, walking, jogging, cycling, rollerblading and hiking to name but a few. Try to mix activities in order to minimise the risk of over-use injuries and to prevent boredom.

Let’s address the most popular of these activities …

Circuit training is a great way to combine cardiovascular fitness and resistance training to get a total body workout. A wide variety of exercises can be utilised and a circuit can consist of as few as six stations to as many as 15 based on the goals and fitness levels of the participants. There are many different ways of putting together a circuit but as a general rule stations are sequenced in a way to alternate between muscle groups, which allows for adequate recovery.

Jogging/running is a terrific workout for your heart and lungs and it improves your stamina. If you are trying to lose weight, it can burn calories more than quickly than walking. The key to jogging is to start slowly. The general rule is to increase your time or distance by no more than 10% each week. The reason for this is not because the heart and lungs can’t handle it but because the joints and muscles are a little slower to adapt to the stress of vigorous exercise. Too much, too soon, and you can develop tendinitis or a variety of muscle or joint problems.

Cycling is not only an excellent cardiovascular exercise but it also enables you to explore your community by cycling to different neighbourhoods, or in parks or bike paths. Indeed, many people cycle to commute to work thereby improving their fitness whilst saving time and money. Muscle-wise, while running tends to target the hamstrings (the muscles in the back of your thighs), cycling uses the quadriceps more (the muscles on the front of the thighs).

So, to summarise, the benefits of exercising outdoors are many - fresh air, sunshine (OK that may be pushing it here in the UK), improved strength, bone and muscle density due to higher levels of weight bearing activity, freedom, variety and here’s the biggie – more calories burned. Need we say more …? Now go and Move Your Butt!

Move Your Butt - the ultimate mobile personal training experience for Londoners.

We offer bespoke fitness, nutrition and massage packages; providing our service wherever and whenever is most convenient to you. Our no-nonsense approach to health and fitness takes the uncertainty out of fitness training and produces real, tangible results.

www.moveyourbutt.com
0700 340 1378
help@mybpersonaltrainers.com