IRS Penalty Abatement: How Reasonable Cause Works | Ask An Expert with Virginia Jeker (We’re The Brits In America S1:E37)

It’s been a busy couple of weeks of high-stakes decisions and shifting landscapes. Richard and James jump right back into the trenches in the aftermath of the U.S. election, reflecting on the decisive results and how stability, even if brief, has brought some clarity to markets and investors alike. From here, they pivot to the UK budget shake-up, addressing the anxiety it’s sparked across the pond and the potential impacts for British expats in America.

As they dissect market reactions, interest rates, and tax changes, Richard and James keep coming back to a timeless message: stay invested, stay steady, and remember that real financial security is about more than just your portfolio – it’s about building a life that you love. Remember folks, we’ve got one life – take advantage of your health, wealth and time!

Be sure to listen for practical insight with a refreshing reminder to think big picture amid the white noise of the world.

We’re the Brits in America is affiliated with Plan First Wealth LLC, an SEC-registered investment advisor. The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Plan First Wealth.

Information presented is for educational purposes only and does not intend to make an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of any specific securities, investments, or investment strategies. Investments involve risk and unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed. Be sure to first consult with a qualified financial adviser and/or tax professional before implementing any strategy discussed herein. Plan First Wealth does not provide any tax and/or legal advice and strongly recommends that listeners seek their own advice in these areas.

About Richard

Richard Taylor is a British expat, dual citizen (UK & US). Originally from Bolton, he now lives in Greenwich, CT, where Plan First Wealth has its head office.

As the firm’s leader, Richard launched Taylor & Taylor, now Plan First Wealth, and continues to fuel the firm’s growth. Richard is a Chartered Financial Planner (UK – CII) in addition to holding the IMC (CFA UK) and Series 65 (US – FINRA).

Connect with Richard on LinkedIn

About James

James Boyle is the lead financial planner at Plan First Wealth. He is going on ten years in the industry on the American financial planning side, including having certification as a financial planner in the States. James is also CFP level four UK cross-border certified, making him exceptionally qualified in the niche in which he works.

Connect with James on LinkedIn

 

Transcript:

Richard Taylor:

[00:00:00 – 00:00:22]

Welcome to another episode of From the Trenches, which is a show where myself and my Plan First Wealth colleague James Boyle get together to bring you behind the curtain at Plan First Wealth to share with you our thoughts and opinions on what’s going on in the world and to provide some useful technical information for Brits in America to help them thrive here and to bring insights and observations from our life and work. All right, hey James.

James Boyle:

[00:00:22 – 00:00:23]

How we going, Richard?

Richard Taylor:

[00:00:23 – 00:00:27]

Good. I mean, not much to talk about this week, right? Nothing going on, nothing to see here.

James Boyle:

[00:00:28 – 00:00:40]

You know, one thing I have noticed for our, our video listeners will see this, but you’re in, you’re in new digs, so to speak. You’re in a fresh environs, new digs.

Richard Taylor:

[00:00:40 – 00:00:45]

Or rather repurposed space, I’ve moved into my basement.

James Boyle:

[00:00:45 – 00:00:46]

Very nice.

Richard Taylor:

[00:00:46 – 00:01:31]

So after I ruptured my achilles earlier in the summer and I spent the entire summer at home without going to the office, I realized that I really didn’t need to go into the office. I took out the office for all the right reasons. But then it’s not actually that nice a space. I don’t really use it. And I liked being home with my dog and my wife. Let me put that other way. I like being home with my wife and my dog. Right when we’re at home, if I’m at the office all day and I come home, the only time we’re at home together is when we’ve got the kids around and they take up all your physical and mental energy. And I just enjoyed hanging around and seeing more of her. I hope she even say the same. So I just decided to make this a usable space and move down here.

James Boyle:

[00:01:32 – 00:01:39]

It looks great. It sounds great. Was it always in the plans, you think, to set up the basement or was this accelerated?

Richard Taylor:

[00:01:39 – 00:01:58]

No, no, no. This was just. Yeah. There was actually a golf net here. I used to, before I went to my Achilles, I would practice my golf swing down here. But now I put these shelves up myself. One of them is definitely not straight. So if these books slide off mid conversation, you know, that’s, you know, that’s a result of my deficient.

James Boyle:

[00:01:58 – 00:02:04]

If I see some holes dug out of the drywall, I know you’re still hitting the holes.

Richard Taylor:

[00:02:04 – 00:02:15]

Yeah. Okay. Right. So we alluded to a lot going on this week. We are recording this two days post-election, a week post UK budget lock on all.

James Boyle:

[00:02:15 – 00:02:20]

Yeah. Morning of November 7th for anyone listening, if you’re curious of the context of when this recorded.

Richard Taylor:

[00:02:21 – 00:02:28]

What a week, right? So what a week. So what can we say America has spoken.

James Boyle:

[00:02:29 – 00:02:30]

That is true.

Richard Taylor:

[00:02:30 – 00:04:05]

Love it or hate it, you know, and I obviously have my own thoughts on this, but the one thing I can’t, I cannot take away from is the fact that America has spoken. And honestly, for me, that’s kind of the most positive thing to come out of this. Which might sound a strange thing to say, but one, one of the things I was dreading most was just the fallout post-election that was seeming inevitable. Right. A tumultuous episode would follow and it looks like we’ve at least in the short term avoided that. So that, that’s something to be grateful for, I guess. And you know, I’ve also been reflecting these last couple of days and something that’s, I’m kind of glad America has decided. At least we know what we’re dealing with now. Right. There’s no kind of hand wringing coming up with explanations for, oh, this is a bad campaign or we don’t know what we’re getting. No, no, no. America knows what it’s getting now and it has voted decisively and we’ll talk about this. I’m sure inflation has played an enormous role in this as well and that would have buggered up any incumbent. Any incumbent. But ultimately, bottom line, America has voted, it has spoken and we know where we stand. We know where we stand. We just have to kind of crack on with it now, I think.

James Boyle:

[00:04:05 – 00:05:00]

Yeah, I think sidestepping the political analysis, which I’m sure our listeners are going to be sick of and they’ll be hearing for months, if not years to come. There was a swift reaction in the markets. Right. Stocks jumped, yields jumped, the dollar strengthened. All of this at some point, alluding to this idea of certainty versus uncertainty where I think people were anticipating a long drawn out legal battle or fight or months of deliberations. That’s not going to happen. Which is obvious now. Some of that has been given back too. I saw the dollar has eased off a bit this morning. Obviously day to day fluctuations are insignificant in the long run, but we will be talking about currency later. So movements in currencies and the dollar like that can, can have an important role in a financial plan. Yeah. So, you know, it is what it is and we move forward.

Richard Taylor:

[00:05:00 – 00:05:03]

It was a huge jump in the market. Huge.

James Boyle:

[00:05:04 – 00:05:05]

Yep, yep.

Richard Taylor:

[00:05:05 – 00:05:45]

And I think that’s mostly just on the point I raised before, just on the certainty. I think everyone was braced for a period of uncertainty, chaos, and I don’t think we’re going to have that in the short term. And I Think the market responded? Well, I, I suspect as well there’s also an element of Wall street thinks Republicans are better for business. I’m not sure how true that is. Certainly it’s not played out if you look at market performance over the last 100 years. But, but there will be a period now of, if not deregulation, then at least a slowing down of regulation and quite possibly deregulation. And that is a double edged sword.

James Boyle:

[00:05:46 – 00:05:48]

And tariffs, you know, that introduced and.

Richard Taylor:

[00:05:48 – 00:07:02]

Well, yeah, that’s, that’s just, I just rhetoric because that spells disaster. That really does spell disaster. That spells a return of inflation, honestly. Yeah, but, but yeah, there is going to be a period of deregulation and lesser regulation and I think Wall street will react, has reacted positively to that. So, yeah, here we go. Anyway, what’s our message? As always, it doesn’t matter who’s in the White House. I mean, obviously it does on many, many reasons, but we’re talking specifically about managing your money, whether we do it or other people do it. And it doesn’t matter who’s in the White House. What matters is you get invested, you stay invested. Now, I don’t know, presumably you have a different LinkedIn. Not you, James, the audience have a different LinkedIn audience and pool to me, but I have just been inundated with chart after chart after chart showing don’t pick your investment space on your president get and stay invested. If you only invest during Republican administrations, you don’t do very well. If you only invest during Democratic administrations, you do a little bit better because there’ll be more of them. But you don’t do very well. You do very, very well when you’re invested through all of them. So that is, as always, our message.

James Boyle:

[00:07:02 – 00:08:13]

You’ll get sick of hearing it, but staying invested is the right move. You know what always strikes me, and again, we talked about this a lot, but human instinct, being a failed investor, there’s a real temptation in times of uncertainty or these sort of seismic shifts or changes economically or politically, to make a change or to react or. What I find maybe most fascinating is that oftentimes that temptation reaches people on either side of the event. So this is a very prominent example of that. Right. We had an election coming up. In the run up, we field questions, should I be changing anything? What should I be doing differently? Should I reallocate? What should I be doing here? And the answer is no. And then in the fallout we’ll see the same thing. We’ve already gotten a couple inquiries about what should I be Doing and clients asking, is there anything I need to change here? And our philosophy is clear, we’ve said it time and again, stay invested, stick to your financial plan. And certainly if you’re not a client of ours, we hope that your assets are invested in service of that plan. But that is the overriding factor that should rule out making bad decisions in a time of what feels like uncertainty and emotional unrest and things like that.

Richard Taylor:

[00:08:13 – 00:08:48]

Well, so it’s all about being proactive, not reactive. Not reactive. And speaking of reactive. Right, let’s bring this to the uk. So just before we had the election in the us we had the UK budget. And I have seen many UK budgets. I have never witnessed the hysteria that I saw coming out of the UK in the weeks leading up to this budget. It was wild. I just sat back and with my popcorn and just like, wow, okay, there is. People were losing their minds.

James Boyle:

[00:08:48 – 00:08:52]

A lot of speculation, rumors whipping around. I mean it was a lot, a lot.

Richard Taylor:

[00:08:53 – 00:09:42]

And look, it was a big budget. Not saying, I’m not saying for or against it, but it was big. It was really big. We’ll talk on some of the stuff. But raising a lot of tax in a way that I’m not convinced is good for the UK economy. But, but, but it was a big budget. So I guess some fears were founded. But crikey, people lost their mind. There was people worried about capital gains tax going up to income tax rates, which would be horrific, but was very unlikely. I think the removal of entrepreneurs, relief, all sorts of stuff. But one thing, one of the issue we were fielding most right was the belief or the concern that Labour was going to do away with tax free cash on pensions.

James Boyle:

[00:09:43 – 00:10:32]

Yes, that was huge. I mean, we fielded a number of questions on that. Listeners who have UK pensions will know, be familiar with the 25% lump sum that you could take. Tax free. You’ll hear us throw the term around. PCLs, right? Pension commencement lump sum. There was a litany of rumors, speculation, are they removing it? Are they capping it? Are there going to be grandfathered protections in place? What should I be doing right now? In the days leading up to this election, we had calls that were literally like, should I grab it right now and run? You know, this is going to be a disaster. And obviously outside, we don’t want to make choices based on speculation. And I think both of us viewed it as an outside chance that it would be certainly removed entirely or even capped. Not to say it couldn’t happen.

Richard Taylor:

[00:10:32 – 00:10:33]

It’s already capped.

James Boyle:

[00:10:34 – 00:10:37]

Exactly. Yeah, it is effectively capped. But I think they were worried about James.

Richard Taylor:

[00:10:37 – 00:10:44]

That’s just being lowered just because our audience is supposed to be based in America. Let’s just specify it’s not even clear that it’s tax free in America.

James Boyle:

[00:10:45 – 00:10:46]

That’s a great point. Yes, yes.

Richard Taylor:

[00:10:46 – 00:10:49]

I’m not saying it’s not, but it’s just not clear.

James Boyle:

[00:10:49 – 00:10:55]

Yeah. There’s no line in the treaty that you could point to that definitively states without the savings clause.

Richard Taylor:

[00:10:55 – 00:11:41]

Well caught, because there is, but there’s a savings clause, but then there’s Is it a lump sum or. I mean it gets very technical here, but I think it hinges on is it a lump sum or is it not a lump sum? Which it clearly is a lump sum, I think. I don’t know, I can’t remember which one it is, but it looks like a lump sum to me. But apparently this is where the confusion. This very technical reading of law. It’s crazy stuff, this treaty analysis. But anyway, do you know what I saw after the budget when obviously the 25% wasn’t eliminated? I think it was in the Times. I saw the UK Times. Someone had written him saying, look, I’ve took my p. Excuse me, I took my PCLS lump sum. Can I put it back? Which you can’t, you can’t. Done.

James Boyle:

[00:11:41 – 00:11:45]

There’s no take backsies kind of mechanism, is there?

Richard Taylor:

[00:11:45 – 00:12:46]

You may. You were reactive, you reacted emotionally to. In the face of all this hysteria and you made a bad decision and now unfortunately, you got to live with it. Yeah, now none of our clients did, luckily. So now. But as I say, it was a big budget. IHT relief has been abolished on pensions. That’s going to have a big impact on our clients as well. I’m not quite sure what yet. I’m going to find out soon, but that will have. That, that will have repercussions and the concept of domicile, not the concept, sorry. But the ramifications of it are being changed, abolished. And that is going to have implications for Brits in America. So as promised, we are going to. Well, I hope we’re going to have Aidan back on the podcast to talk us through the changes and what it means for Brits in America. So look out for that, folks.

James Boyle:

[00:12:46 – 00:13:10]

Absolutely. We. I’ll mention this later again too, but we’ve been receiving a lot of great feedback on the episodes that have passed. Topics of conversation, discussion points. We listen to all those, so please keep sending them in. You can email Richard or I or Plan first wealth and we will keep tabs of that and all Those things that keep coming up, we’re going to look to bring those guests back and discuss and see how we can help from there.

Richard Taylor:

[00:13:12 – 00:13:19]

Should we segue then into talking about the last podcast? Just reviewing that a little bit. I had David Nixon from Currencies Direct.

James Boyle:

[00:13:19 – 00:14:17]

Tom, before we jump to that Rich, I think we have to talk about as if there wasn’t enough going on as we sit here today, 2:00pm Eastern American time, the Fed will announce the next rate move. So just for context for everyone, I’m sure you’re paying attention to the interest rates. The Fed’s preferred inflation measure dropped to 2.1% last month. That’s a PCE index. All signs point to another cut. Not the jumbo 50bps. I think we’re going to see 25bps. It is possible they skip. I think that’s unlikely, but we’ll know today. And then we have one more meeting obviously before the end of the year. I think that’s December 18th. That we’ll see. And the Fed will talk a lot today about data driven decisions and see what comes in over the next few weeks. But expect the 25bps cut today. As if there hasn’t been much excitement this week, we have some more.

Richard Taylor:

[00:14:18 – 00:14:26]

They’re putting down interest rates but mortgage rates remain high. I heard today long term rates are still like 7%.

James Boyle:

[00:14:27 – 00:14:41]

So you know, and yields just jump. Right. I think the 10 year jumped 30bps in a day. So it’s a give and take. Right. And, and we’ll see what happens after year end. But keep comp.

Richard Taylor:

[00:14:43 – 00:14:53]

All right. So we had David Nixon Currency Direct on and I had him on because I am still surprised by how many people still transfer very big sums of money through their banks.

James Boyle:

[00:14:53 – 00:14:55]

Yes, yes.

Richard Taylor:

[00:14:55 – 00:16:26]

And I think that’s a very bad idea. Now I don’t actually I never ever use my bank to transfer any sum of money around smaller sums of money. I use wise.com, it’s very convenient for smaller sums of money all online. It’s a really great service. That’s wise.com used to be transferwise.com but for larger sums of money I will generally gently advise clients to use a currency broker, someone like Currencies Direct. There are others as well for two reasons. One, because. Well, actually three reasons, but mainly two. The first reason is simply pure cost. You will get a better rate from a currency broker than from your bank and a substantial substantially better rate like 2 or 3% better usually. So if you’re transferring a million dollars or a million pounds, we’re talking 20, 30 grand. That is real money. Now on top of that, you will get a better service. They will hand, a good one, will hand hold you through this process. You will have a WhatsApp or a telephone number directly to a human being who is owning this and is going to see it through with you and who does this day to day. Whereas banks don’t necessarily and will know the obstacles that you are likely to encounter to help you preempt them and avoid them. You will have a better experience, you will deal with a human being. It will likely happen faster, you will encounter fewer issues if you choose a good one and you will save money. It is a no brainer.

James Boyle:

[00:16:26 – 00:16:27]

Win, win, win.

Richard Taylor:

[00:16:27 – 00:17:29]

And I had him on. Because people still go to the bank. I’m amazed people still go to the bank and transfer significant sums of money. Significant sums of money. I see it all the time and I wanted to just be part of promoting the message that there’s a better way. Banks are wonderful. I’m not bashing banks, but just for this, there is better, there’s special. And I should say, yeah, I didn’t mention the third. There is a, there is a third. It’s a bit more specialized, but you can do things like forward contracts and there’s ways to, there’s ways to lock in rates when you know when you’re buying property. But it takes time and you don’t want to have exchange rate risk or you want to keep money in your account earning interest. There’s options and bells and whistles that you can get with a specialist currency broker that you’re not going to get with the bank. So two really good reasons, really good reasons applicable to everyone, save money, better experience. And a third one depends on what you’re doing. But you might have more options, more bells and whistles that might be applicable if you’re buying property or other, bigger transactions.

James Boyle:

[00:17:30 – 00:18:13]

One of the things that struck me in that conversation is it’s such a clear and easy win in an industry in a very specific specialization that we look at consistently, where those kind of clear and easy wins don’t always exist. Right. We deal with a lot of gray areas, a lot of subjectivity, a lot of uncertainty. But if someone is planning to move a significant sum of cash using their bank, telling them to use a broker or use a transfer service that specializes in this, that’s an easy, easy way to save some money, make things smoother, give yourself the peace of mind of having someone on your side looking to make sure that it’s you know, as seamless a transaction as possible. Do it, do it. We’ll keep ringing that bell.

Richard Taylor:

[00:18:14 – 00:18:56]

We are completely. But you’re up against the same thing we are in many ways. The comfort, real or otherwise, that people perceive in big name brands and banking brands and especially money. Money is such a sensitive topic and people are rightly so scared to lose it. They perceive safety in these things. And sometimes that’s absolutely right. You know, banking with a JP Morgan Chase versus a local small bank maybe, or even Silicon Valley bank apparently. Yeah. But other times, you know, it’s more perceived rather than, than real. I think so, yeah.

James Boyle:

[00:18:57 – 00:19:42]

One other piece too that, and this is sort of tangentially related, but it’s something we see fairly often is this inertia or unwillingness to take action because they’re unsure the client or the prospect or someone is unsure how to go about this in the best way. So instead of moving that lump sum of a couple hundred thousand in the UK bank that’s been paying you nothing for two years, they sit on it because they’re. And you know, there’s validity to this. Right. They don’t want to make a false move. So instead they take no action. And that can really hold you back. There’s opportunity cost there. And sometimes our job is to just spread awareness of these services that exist and outline how to do it that can really make a difference.

Richard Taylor:

[00:19:43 – 00:20:29]

You know, it’s kind of horrifying to think about how much of our job is actually just nudging people out of inertia. But that’s got a real value, you know, it has got a real value. There’s a great diagram by Carl, drawing by Carl Richards, which shows someone taking lots and lots of little steps over a prong period of time. And if you look down 30 years, it’s a lot of what we do is just, is just that it is, I call it opportunities and landmines. Taking advantage of all the opportunities, little opportunities every week, day, month, year as they come along, avoiding all the landmines that can trip you up. Overspending from selling out from the tax, things that can blow up here. You know, just if you take advantage of opportunities, you avoid the landmines. You do that for 30 years. God, you can have a huge, huge result.

James Boyle:

[00:20:29 – 00:20:42]

Yep. There are things that in the moment feel enormous or insurmountable. Right. But taking small steps vastly improves outcomes, plans, goals, you know, it’s important.

Richard Taylor:

[00:20:43 – 00:21:21]

Well, so moving on, should we just touch on. We were going to mention talking about outcomes I posted on LinkedIn recently, after I came up with a really rewarding client meeting about, I just had one of those meetings that financial advisors or financial planners love and you get to sit down with someone and show them, demonstrate to them they’re going to be okay, they can live the life that they want without fear of ever running out of money, no matter what happens. And kind of like the, and it got, you know, you got a lot of, a lot of love from fellow, fellow advisors who, who know what that feels like.

James Boyle:

[00:21:21 – 00:21:22]

Yeah.

Richard Taylor:

[00:21:22 – 00:22:14]

And I thought we’d just spend a minute riffing on this because it really, that really is the best part. Everyone thinks it’s all about money and investments and tax and it is all of those things. What it’s really about is helping people live better lives and whatever that means for them, you know, setting them free. And when you get to do that, when you have those moments, it’s intensely gratifying. It’s intense, rewarding. And this is, this is the part, this is, this is the thing that changes lives. You know, if you make, if you help someone avoid selling out when things are bad, if you help them selling out, going into an election, all that’s great. And yes, that does have the potential to change lives. But when, when someone retires because you have worked with them and shown them and given them the confidence to do that, that is so rewarding. A life has changed and you were involved in that change and that feels so good.

James Boyle:

[00:22:15 – 00:23:15]

Absolutely. There’s always reasons to be uncertain. Right. So sometimes people use talking about not taking action. Right. Or maybe they wind up continuing to work even though they might not like their day to day or they’re wishing they could step back. Being able to show to someone in black and white. Now, of course things can change, but you are ready, you can step away and some people will continue to work. And that’s an enormous amount of peace of mind and comfort and confidence knowing that network is optional, which can interact with how they view their day to day. Right. But when someone says, look, I am, you know, I open the curtain and I’m thinking, I just can’t do this today. Knowing that work is optional. Right. Getting to that status and saying you could pack it in, you could go mountain bike or take that world cruise or travel Europe that you keep talking about, you know, that is enormously impactful. Doesn’t happen as often as we would like, I think. Right. You know, just by the nature of people working and things. But when it does, it’s, it’s special.

Richard Taylor:

[00:23:16 – 00:25:49]

You know, part of it like the job part of it, the rewarding job part of it is the, is the building these models, bringing these tools to bear to show people that they can, how their lives unfolding, no facts about the future. Everything’s changeable, but you’ve got to have a plan, in my opinion. But the mission, the real mission, the fire in my belly comes from and I feel this more. Every other that passes, honestly is waking people up to the fact that they have one shot at this. We get one go at life. And within that you really, for most of us you have one window where your stars align. And by stars I mean hopefully for most of us, health, wealth and time. You know, when you’re younger, you have all the time in the world. You have no wealth when you’re, when you’re really, really, when you’re in the mid part of your career with little kids like I have right now, you’ve got no time, no time whatsoever. When you’re older and it happens to us all, it’s coming, you’re gonna have, you, you’re not gonna have this health even if you’re in good health for a 90 year old, you’re not jumping, you’re not getting on and off planes, in and out of boats, you know, you’re not going scuba diving. Maybe, maybe 19 year olds in the future will, but not yet. So you have this window of like 7, 50, 55 to 70, 75, maybe 80. We’re definitely getting living longer. But you have this window of 20 years or so where you hopefully have health, wealth and time. And if you do not take advantage of that, it is going to slip through your fingers and you’re gonna be looking back thinking, oh, I should have done that, I should have gone here with them, I should have done that with them, I should have helped them out with this. And the mission is to wake people out and people need literally shaking because we all just, especially in this country, this, this culture of work, work, work to buy more, more, more. I think Europeans chafe against it a little bit here and they all want to retire earlier. But Americans are absolutely, you know, it’s what makes this country such a powerhouse, honestly. But that’s great, but you only get one life and you’ve got us, I believe you’ve got to try and take advantage of that window or it’s gonna, it’s gonna pass you by. And that’s the mission for us.

James Boyle:

[00:25:50 – 00:26:22]

The other thing, and I don’t mean to frighten any of our listeners, but time, and I’m not saying Anything that you haven’t heard before. But time feels like it goes quicker the older you get. Right. We all remember those summers when we were eight years old where three months felt like it extended a decade. You thought, I have three months off of school where I’m just going to have fun and play. Think about a year in your life now and imagine what that will be in 10 years or 20 years when you’re looking to retire. It goes quick, and you want to make sure you’re taking advantage of that time.

Richard Taylor:

[00:26:22 – 00:26:24]

James is worse. It’s speeding up.

James Boyle:

[00:26:25 – 00:26:25]

Yeah.

Richard Taylor:

[00:26:26 – 00:27:31]

I just hit 40. I don’t understand what happened to my 30s. It is a blur if I’m at 20s. And my late teens went on forever. And I don’t know what happened to my 30s. And I just think this. I think it’s gonna go. I think it’s gonna go faster and faster and faster. And we need our job part. All the financial stuff. Yes. But a lot of it is kind of getting people and shaking them out of the, you know, the stupor. It’s not necessarily stupid, but it’s just like the routine that we’re in. You know, we get up, we go to work, we do our thing. We have a good time of the weekend, hopefully. But it’s about. Certainly for people who are already successful, who have done it, who have won. They’ve won. But you’ve only really won if you use your wealth while you have the opportunity to. And we don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. So that window, 55 to 75 or whatever it is, that assumes something happens in the interim, and touch what. It doesn’t. You don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow.

James Boyle:

[00:27:31 – 00:27:32]

Yep.

Richard Taylor:

[00:27:33 – 00:27:38]

All right. That’s the mission. Okay. I got myself all worked up then.

James Boyle:

[00:27:38 – 00:27:39]

No, that’s good.

Richard Taylor:

[00:27:42 – 00:28:33]

Should we wrap this thing up? Oh, no, let’s just. We’ve had a bit of feedback recently, which is very, very good of people. Great feedback. We appreciate it. Thank you. We hear you. I had one recently which was actually. Someone was messaging me on the back of the election. And yeah, this is potentially. It’s a bit extreme, but I. But. But I think it’s. It’s relevant. And we actually had one scheduled, but it got canceled. Talking about, how do you leave the U.S. yeah, that. And. And as all things America, it’s way more complicated than you expect it to be. So that’s absolutely. It’s going to be on our agenda soon. We’re gonna. We’re gonna get some. Get some tax Attorneys in to come and talk to us about how you extricate yourself from America.

James Boyle:

[00:28:34 – 00:29:19]

I think it’s a question we’re going to be fielding more of. Right. Which is understandable. And especially with our clients who are on the edge or on the bubble. Right. Are deciding two, three years from now, what do I want to be doing, where do I want to be living, how do I want to be spending my life going to this idea of using your time. Certainly anecdotally I’ve seen an increase in those inquiries. Right. What should I be thinking of? Are there things we can do now to take advantage of a potential move back? And I truly only think that’s going to increase the next few years. So it’s an important topic. And like you say, Rich, there are a lot of complications that come up that people either aren’t thinking of or are misunderstanding. And I think we absolutely need to spend some time on that.

Richard Taylor:

[00:29:19 – 00:29:51]

James, I don’t actually think more people will leave, maybe around the edges, but broadly I don’t think more people will leave because grandkids win out, honestly. And a lot of our, a lot of, a lot of our clients have kids who then got, have kids here and are staying here. And proximity to the grandkids wins out, in my experience. That being said, I still think there’s value to it because people, there are people who are, who will and are going back. But also I think people just want to know.

James Boyle:

[00:29:51 – 00:29:52]

Yep.

Richard Taylor:

[00:29:53 – 00:30:08]

Even if I’m not going to take advantage, even if I’m not going to open that door, I want to know how, if I, if I wanted to, how do I go about it? What do I need to be aware of? What are the obstacles? So there’s value in it just for that reason.

James Boyle:

[00:30:08 – 00:30:24]

Major comfort in knowing that door exists. Right. And how to access it, should you decide you want to. Yeah, you’re right. You know, I think planning ahead is the right move there too. You should be considering those things, you know, a few years in advance if possible.

Richard Taylor:

[00:30:24 – 00:30:32]

And to the chap who messages through the website, thank you. Yet we are going to have Aidan back on. He’s going to come, the man himself is going to come in and tell us all about it.

James Boyle:

[00:30:32 – 00:31:18]

Yes, we got some feedback based on, as you said, Richard, and we alluded to earlier, you know, the non dom changes, residence-based criteria for iht. All of those things I think will be really important discussions. I’m interested to see if there are, you know, firm understandings yet of how those things play out, particularly in how they interact with the tax treaties. I know the UK said that, you know, there will be no changes to those estate tax treaties. So I’d be interested to hear how those differences, that tension would interact. So good topic and I appreciate the feedback. Again, keep them coming in. It keeps us on our toes and lets us know what our listeners are thinking about discussing amongst themselves. Concerns, questions. Always helpful.

Richard Taylor:

[00:31:19 – 00:31:21]

Good. All right. Should we wrap this up?

James Boyle:

[00:31:21 – 00:31:25]

Yeah. We got our pick and mix. And on a good note on a busy week.

Richard Taylor:

[00:31:27 – 00:31:31]

Okay. I went first last time, so you show your hand this time.

James Boyle:

[00:31:31 – 00:32:04]

This is a good. I have two, and they’re related sort of tangentially, but I’m gearing up for a holiday away here. We’re taking a trip to Iceland. So I like to be on theme with my books and things like that before a trip. So I’m reading this book. It’s called Names for the Sea. It’s an author, Sarah Moss, who I think she’s actually from Manchester originally, and she moved to Iceland with her young family. And it’s sort of a memoir about her experiences as an expat navigating a foreign culture.

Richard Taylor:

[00:32:05 – 00:32:06]

A very foreign culture.

James Boyle:

[00:32:06 – 00:32:18]

Very foreign, yes. Fascinating and beautifully written, I should say. It’s. It’s really accomplished writer. I’m not familiar with her. I think she writes fiction mostly, but this was a, you know, this was a non.

Richard Taylor:

[00:32:18 – 00:32:24]

Also, she was a writer. This is not like just her memoir that’s blown up. She was already a writer.

James Boyle:

[00:32:24 – 00:33:18]

She was already a writer, yeah. Yeah. I think she seems pretty well esteemed, too. Very fascinating for people listening to this. If you, if you. If you are new to the journey as an expat or if you’re considering. I know we have some listeners back in the UK or Europe who are thinking about moving to another country. I think it’s a great way to experience it by putting yourself in someone’s shoes. Obviously, it’s not going to live up to the lived experience, but all the little things that I’m sure you’re familiar with, Rich, that you never consider, like even simple things like grocery shopping is a bit different and getting a car and insurance and all these things. And it reminded me of one, I should say I read a year ago. You familiar with Anthony? I think his name. I’m going to mess up the pronunciation here, but Dewar, Anthony Dewar, who wrote. He wrote a World War II book called all the Light We Cannot See, that got all kinds of.

Richard Taylor:

[00:33:18 – 00:33:19]

Oh, yeah, I’ve read that. Yeah. Yeah.

James Boyle:

[00:33:19 – 00:33:36]

So he wrote a very similar type of memoir. Called Four Seasons in Rome. Him and his family, young family, moved to Rome for a bit and describes their experience having kids on a move like that. I cannot imagine how much it amplifies everything.

Richard Taylor:

[00:33:36 – 00:33:37]

So much harder.

James Boyle:

[00:33:37 – 00:33:38]

Yes. Yeah.

Richard Taylor:

[00:33:38 – 00:33:41]

I got married in Rome. I’m sorry. No, I got engaged in Rome. I love that city.

James Boyle:

[00:33:41 – 00:33:43]

Nice. It is a very cool city.

Richard Taylor:

[00:33:44 – 00:34:16]

Yeah. So I finished Life and Fate, which I talked about last time. Silly Grossman, Soviet Russia book which was just Stalingrad, which was just. Just incredible book. Incredible book. So highly, highly, highly recommend that now. But then I was very excited to start a new book which is called the Power Broker. Caro. Yeah. Yeah. Now, this has been on my list forever, but I do all my reading on Kindle.

James Boyle:

[00:34:16 – 00:34:18]

I was just gonna ask you.

Richard Taylor:

[00:34:19 – 00:35:49]

I know some people hate a Kindle, but you can read. You can hold it with one hand. You can read in the dark. Winner. Winner. And this is. This is this. I wanted to read this for so long, but it’s not been on Kindle and it’s now on Kindle. So I am. I am well into it, and it is really. No, this guy won the Pulitzer Prize for it. It is brilliant. So it’s a book about how this. This. This chap, Robert Moses, aristocratic, kind of for New York guy, how he made Manhattan in many ways, how he kind of not rebuilt, but, you know, the parks and the highways, the arteries and a lot of other stuff as well, how he is basically the root for so much of it, how he’s over to overcome how he was. How he was able to exert such immense power to overcome a lot of the inertia and roadblocks that stop stuff getting built in these major cities and how he basically made Manhattan in his image. And we’re still living with that today. Good and bad. Some very, very good. Some very, very bad. I’m not far enough through the book yet to form my own opinion, but it’s just one of these wonderful stories of, like, you know, New York 100 years ago. Characters, politics, you know, a city that I kind of recognize because I lived there. So, I mean, I’m thoroughly enjoying that book.

James Boyle:

[00:35:49 – 00:36:06]

I. I’ve always heard good things, and I think we’re on the same page. It’s like 1100 pages, I think, in hardback. A real doorstop. I mean, literally, you know, and the fact that they just announced the ebook, I’ll have to check that out. Especially with winter coming out. I think it’s good to get stuck into, like, a really long.

Richard Taylor:

[00:36:06 – 00:36:06]

Oh, it’s good.

James Boyle:

[00:36:06 – 00:36:07]

Yeah.

Richard Taylor:

[00:36:07 – 00:36:14]

It’s a good. If you just. If you go for life and fate and the power broker, you’ll do. You’ll. You’ve got some good reading lined up.

James Boyle:

[00:36:14 – 00:36:33]

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I think he wrote this series on LBJ’s presidency, too. That is. He’s about to. Well, I think he’s like 90 now, but he still working hard on, I think, what will be the fourth and final volume, which is supposed to be incredible, too, so. Yeah, that’s fantastic. Power Broker.

Richard Taylor:

[00:36:33 – 00:36:36]

That’s the same guy. Yeah. And I also watched.

James Boyle:

[00:36:37 – 00:36:41]

We have a reading list about three pages long by the end.

Richard Taylor:

[00:36:41 – 00:36:43]

Yeah, well, we both love reading, don’t we?

James Boyle:

[00:36:43 – 00:36:43]

Yeah.

Richard Taylor:

[00:36:43 – 00:37:20]

And. Yeah. So it’s good. And I watch a. Watch a program. There’s a 90s thriller with Harrison Ford called Presumed Innocent. They’ve remade it with Jake Gyllenhaal in the character role. It’s on Apple tv, but it’s a series. And series are great because series better than movies. You can just get to know characters so much better. You can explore so much more of the story. And we watch that and we really, my wife and I, really enjoy. We watched the movie. We remind ourselves of the movie, which. And then we watched the. A week or so later, we watched the TV series and it’s. It’s really good.

James Boyle:

[00:37:21 – 00:37:27]

Is this where he’s working in the DA’s office and there’s all kinds of intrigue. We watched it. We really enjoyed that.

Richard Taylor:

[00:37:27 – 00:37:28]

I. I didn’t.

James Boyle:

[00:37:28 – 00:37:30]

I did not know there was a Harrison Ford movie. I’ll check that out.

Richard Taylor:

[00:37:30 – 00:37:32]

Yeah, it’s the original.

James Boyle:

[00:37:32 – 00:37:34]

Excellent. He’s great.

Richard Taylor:

[00:37:35 – 00:37:37]

American Harrison Ford or Jay Gillenor?

James Boyle:

[00:37:37 – 00:37:39]

Both of them, really. But I was talking about Harrison Ford.

Richard Taylor:

[00:37:39 – 00:37:48]

Yeah, Harrison Ford’s great, but Harrison Ford’s only ever played Harrison Ford, and somehow it works. I don’t quite know how it works so well, but it does. But Jake. I think Jake Gyllenhaal is great as well.

James Boyle:

[00:37:48 – 00:37:56]

He’s excellent. Yeah, he’s good in that show, too. He plays a good. I won’t give any spoilers away, but you’re kind of wondering, you know, what kind of character.

Richard Taylor:

[00:37:56 – 00:37:58]

You don’t really like him, do you?

James Boyle:

[00:37:58 – 00:38:05]

No. Yeah. He’s not. He’s not the most likable protagonist. Yeah, no, he plays that kind of role really well.

Richard Taylor:

[00:38:06 – 00:38:10]

Yeah. And I won’t talk right now, but we’ve got stuck into the Penguin, which is.

James Boyle:

[00:38:11 – 00:38:11]

Yes.

Richard Taylor:

[00:38:11 – 00:38:13]

I mean, that is looking good.

James Boyle:

[00:38:13 – 00:38:17]

I haven’t started that, but I’ve heard. Yeah, I’ve heard good things.

Richard Taylor:

[00:38:18 – 00:38:20]

Yeah, we’re enjoying it so far. Really enjoying it.

James Boyle:

[00:38:20 – 00:38:35]

I think one of the leads in that is from where I grew up, basically. That’s always a nice little bit of. Yeah, she plays the. I haven’t watched it yet, but is she like a mob boss’s daughter? I think she’s like the second lead.

Richard Taylor:

[00:38:35 – 00:38:44]

Wait, you mean the woman who was in the First Wife in Wolf of Wall Street?

James Boyle:

[00:38:44 – 00:38:46]

Yes. Yes, that’s her.

Richard Taylor:

[00:38:46 – 00:38:47]

She’s from your neck of the woods.

James Boyle:

[00:38:47 – 00:38:48]

Yeah, she’s from.

Richard Taylor:

[00:38:48 – 00:38:48]

Yes.

James Boyle:

[00:38:48 – 00:38:56]

For anyone listening who’s familiar with Southern New Jersey, Cherry Hill, New Jersey, I believe. And we’re always proud of hometown heroes.

Richard Taylor:

[00:38:57 – 00:38:58]

Well, you should be. She’s very good.

James Boyle:

[00:38:58 – 00:39:07]

She’s excellent. Yeah, she’s really good. Did you ever see the movie? We could talk about this for 40 minutes. But Palm Springs, that was like a Groundhog Day type.

Richard Taylor:

[00:39:07 – 00:39:09]

I think it was a Covid with Andy. Andy Samberg.

James Boyle:

[00:39:10 – 00:39:12]

Yes. We love that. Yeah, she was great.

Richard Taylor:

[00:39:12 – 00:39:13]

Wait, is that her?

James Boyle:

[00:39:13 – 00:39:15]

That’s her, Yeah, I think.

Richard Taylor:

[00:39:15 – 00:39:20]

Of course it is. Yeah, of course it is. Yeah, she’s great in that. Andy. I love Andy Sandberg.

James Boyle:

[00:39:20 – 00:39:22]

Yeah, he’s really funny.

Richard Taylor:

[00:39:22 – 00:39:24]

That’s a good. Yeah, That’s a good movie.

James Boyle:

[00:39:24 – 00:39:24]

Yeah.

Richard Taylor:

[00:39:24 – 00:39:27]

Yeah, we have seen that a couple of times. Really enjoy it.

James Boyle:

[00:39:27 – 00:39:32]

I think. Are very happy. Like. Yeah. You’re gonna exit that movie feeling good?

Richard Taylor:

[00:39:32 – 00:39:36]

Yeah. Yeah. Okay, good. All right. Well, on that note.

James Boyle:

[00:39:36 – 00:39:36]

Yes.

Richard Taylor:

[00:39:36 – 00:39:37]

Are we done?

James Boyle:

[00:39:37 – 00:39:55]

We are. Yeah. Don’t be shy, listeners. You know, we talk about feedback and everything. You can reach us, james@planfirstwealth.com, richard@planfirstwealth.com we really appreciate everyone listening, leaving reviews, liking, and subscribing on YouTube. Do we know next episode? What we’re gonna be looking at is a little hint.

Richard Taylor:

[00:39:55 – 00:40:07]

We do. I think I’ve got Misty on to talk about pre-Medicare health insurance for people who want to retire before 65, which is every European.

James Boyle:

[00:40:07 – 00:40:08]

Right.

Richard Taylor:

[00:40:09 – 00:40:27]

And then Medicare and you know, the various: Medigap. Medigap. I think she’s next, unless we draft an emergency UK budget domicile episode in. So we might drop that in sooner, but Misty’s definitely coming up to talk about Medicare and health insurance.

James Boyle:

[00:40:28 – 00:40:28]

Excellent.

Richard Taylor:

[00:40:28 – 00:40:28]

Good.

James Boyle:

[00:40:28 – 00:40:31]

Well, stay tuned, everyone. Thanks for listening.

Richard Taylor:

[00:40:31 – 00:40:33]

Yeah, thank you. Cheers. Bye bye.

James Boyle

[40:34-40:35]

Cheers.