Illegitimi non carborundum
Howdy Callum,
Don’t let the bastards grind you down…
Or,
“Illegitimi non carborundum”
A phrase my grandfather used to love, and one I reconnected with recently after reading
Anthony Hopkins’ autobiography, We Did OK, Kid.
Quite an apt thing to remember at the moment.
We live in a world so full of opportunity that we forget how lucky we are.
Probably in the top 0.1% of the luckiest humans that have ever lived… hot water, social
mobility, opportunity, comfort, no feudal masters to give all of our harvest to, and so far
along Maslow’s hierarchy of needs that we’ve forgotten to worry about food, water, and
shelter.
As it says in another book I’m reading (Money: A Story of Humanity):
"cleared, a back mangling job, is always flooding"
“Being a farmer in northwestern Europe in the early years of the 10th century is hard.
You eke out a living trying to grow enough food trying to feed yourself, whilst giving
everything else to the baron…..your home is surrounded by a terrifying and
impenetrable woodland. In fact, the fairy stories that you tell your children feature the
horror of the dark forest.”
Everything you own you must plough back into the earth to survive. The bare patch of
land that you have cleared, a back mangling job, is always flooding. Winter is coming
and, because of the crop failure, it looks like another year of boiling tree bark and
begging for charity or dying of hunger”
Our peasant had no choice. He couldn’t move to Dubai if he didn’t like changes to his
taxes. He didn’t even know Dubai existed. And heck, keeping any of his excess harvest
would have been lovely, he would have liked Rachel Reeves.
Even as recently as 80 years ago, we did not have the choices and options we do now.
My grandfather was in the first iteration of the SBS / “Commandos”, or what is now known
as the Royal Marines.
Why did he join?
“Because I got a better gun and better boots, lad.”
He joined the Navy because his father was in the Navy.
It’s what people did - he knew no different.
Now? We can do whatever we want. We have all the information that has ever been
created at our fingertips.
Moving country? No problem.
Changing jobs? No problem.
Learning a new skill? No problem.
Remaining a peasant because you were born one? No need.
So why Illegitimi non carborundum this week?
There is so much negativity about the UK at the moment that it’s hard not to be ground
down by it.
Immigration
Taxes
Budget changes
People leaving
Protests
But guess what? If you don’t like it, change it.
Evolve. Adapt. Survive. Overcome.
The changing property landscape is no different.
What worked 1, 5, 10, or 20 years ago will not work going forward.
No more accidental landlords. No more assuming all deals will be cash-flow positive just
because rates are low. We need to be professional, deliberate, and accurate.
If you are buying in the UK, one of the ways you can adapt and survive going forward is to
use a UK limited company to own your properties.
Why?
Ten minutes and I’ll show you by clicking the image below
