A wealth planner's 2022 summary

It’s been a tradition for yours truly to prepare a year-end summary and send it to various contacts by email. However, I’m currently very busy so to save myself time (and typing tendonitis) I am just posting this year-end summary online. ?

It won’t be to everybody’s tastes but it’s an insight into the sometimes good, sometimes bad, sometimes weird but always interesting life of an international wealth planner during a year of trouble and turmoil!?

Ed Rogers – 2022 summary.?

January - I see in the New Year with a Zoom call with my siblings in various countries. 2 in the UK, 2 in the US and one in Australia. Plus a few of my nieces and nephews also join in. Everyone’s in a very festive mood, no doubt contributed to by some late-night drinks, apart from brother Brian as it’s late morning in Oz, so he’s having coffee instead of Prosecco. ??We are all looking forward to 2022 now that the pandemic seems to be less of a threat to life and well-being than it used to be. Almost everyone else has already had COVID apart from yours truly but I have a booster shot scheduled for January 4th to make sure that I stay safe!

My booster shot is Pfizer to contrast with the Astra Zeneca and J&J shots that I have previously endured. The cocktail mix obviously doesn’t work too well as I go down with COVID within 24 hours of receiving the shot. I also start getting chest pains when I go out for my daily walk. So, I “toddle off to see my GP” and he diagnoses it as potential angina. Great start to 2022 (not)!

Business is also somewhat slow, in my international wealth planning practice, (known as the OCSL Group), and that’s probably because most potential clients have less money than they used to. No need to seek tax efficiency, if your income has shrunk to the extent that you don’t pay much in taxes anyway!

This month also sees the 10th anniversary of the passing of my late father, Brian Rogers OBE, who gave me the start in my financial services career, way back in 1988, by offering yours truly a manager role in his small Isle of Man (IOM) corporate services company that he formed in 1979.

That company is now the passive investment company (PIC) in the OCSL Group and its called Rogers Services Limited (RSL). It’s a PIC, now, because IOM “overregulation” makes it impossible to relaunch it, as an operating business, which I once wished to do, (in order to preserve my Dad’s legacy)).

The lead company (LC) in the Group is called Offshore Consultancy Services Limited and it has just entered into a contract with another Group company called Cavehill Investments Limited (CIL) where the LC agrees to pay CIL $1K a month for support services offered by CIL. (Mostly nominee director/manager and shareholder services).

The contract will provide CIL with sufficient funds to open a bank (or an EMI) account as CIL’s previous bank account was involuntarily closed, with a loss of $300K, when an Anguilla bank went into liquidation. (CIL is an Anguilla IBC and will shortly become an ABC (Anguilla Business Company)). ?

February – A visit to the cardiologist at Nobles Hospital, in Douglas, and the angina diagnosis is confirmed. Although I am told that I need a CT scan to see how badly my arteries are blocked. The Doc tells me that if I wait for an NHS scan then I could be waiting for months (and possibly die in the interim). So, given the seriousness of the situation, I agree to pay for a private CT scan to take place in Liverpool (at an NHS hospital)! As it’s a private appointment, I will also have to “pony up” all related travel costs, which will include an overnight stay at a Liverpool hotel.

As regards business, I open an account with the FTX crypto exchange, in order that clients can pay OCSL invoices in digital assets as well as fiat. Like most crypto investors, I thought that crypto exchanges operated like banks (an assumption that prove fatefully wrong!).

This is also the month that Putrid Putin launches his ill-fated invasion of Ukraine condemning hundreds of thousands of young men, on both sides, to die or be maimed, while also causing economic misery for billions. I presume Putrid’s spot in Hell is already reserved and let’s hope that he takes advantage of that advance booking sooner rather than later! ?

March – With the assistance of my Netherlands business partner, Svetla Pencheva, a Netherlands foundation is formed to become the third corporate protector entity in the Professional Protector Group (PPG). I am the lead director and Svetla is the co-director, so that also means that the Netherlands is now the 17th jurisdiction where I have held a senior-level role during my lengthy career.

As regards my ongoing health issues, I am now “popping pills”, every day, to keep my heart rate and blood pressure low. (Prior to 2022, I wasn’t on any pills at all and had endured only one day “on the sick” during a period of 30 years!). Thus, this confirms that it “sucks” to grow old.

With the “not being able to travel” situation, I have become more IOM-focused, so I agree terms with Paul Middleton, in Peel, to become a co-director of the OCSL Group’s LC. Instead of paying Paul a salary, I agree to invest ￡50K into his company Agora Asset Management, which specializes in crypto and NFTs. We will also fee share on any wealth planning business that Paul brings in. (Agora clients enjoyed a 212% ROI, during 2021, but 2022 has obviously proved more challenging but still positive). ??

April – The PPG website is completed www.trust-protector.com and we launch PPG to the world via a LinkedIn article. Although the Hong Kong corporate protector already has a few trusts as clients.

Not long after, the CEO of a major client takes a swallow dive off the balcony of a Panama apartment building. As he was of Russian descent, it wasn’t long before conspiracy theorists were speculating “did he jump or was he pushed?”. Whatever the case, RIP my friend.

The Liverpool hospital notifies me that my CT scan appointment will be on the 14th of April but I had already planned a birthday (15th April) trip to see the long-suffering strife at her Glen Gormley home in Northern Ireland. So, I called them and ask them to reschedule the appointment, (which they never did).

I celebrate my 63rd birthday with the strife and she’s more than generous with the gifts (as usual). The trip is over way too fast and then it's back to the IOM for Easter and the daily grind.

The Strife sends me a PlayStation PS5, as a belated birthday gift, which is very kind of her. So, I know what I am now going to be doing for most of the rest of 2022’s evenings. Should a 63-year-old still be playing video games? Probably not, although I find they help to clear my mind after a stressful day!

The PS5 now sits beside a PS4, in my office, with both being hooked up to a 50” TV. So, that means I will be spending most of my playtime, in the office, as well as almost all my work=time, as I went fully WFH at the height of the pandemic!?

May – I’m still waiting on my CT scan to be rescheduled, when I get a call from Nobles Hospital, in the IOM, to advise that they have had a cancellation so I can get a CT scan on the island. This is very agreeable news, as this appointment will be NHS authorized, so it won’t cost me anything and no travel costs either!

Using my FTX account, I buy a small Australian company on behalf of a client. For the transaction, the client transferred digital assets to my FTX account, which I converted to fiat and transferred to a personal bank account. Then I got a contract through an FX broker, in the UK, where I could convert the USD received into AUD before transferring the AUD to the Oz company, at which point the client received the shares. The interesting point is that the client was never involved in a fiat transfer, at any stage, and his name was not disclosed to the transferring banks, even though he was the beneficial owner of the funds! (Here’s hoping that the “non-disclosure” didn’t breach any AML regulations!).

I have dealt with many trust jurisdictions, during my lengthy trust career, and I review the deed of my first-ever Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) Trust this month. The ADGM trust deed wasn’t particularly remarkable apart from the fact that it was supposed to be a “trust by declaration” (which means no named Settlor) and the law firm responsible, for the drafting, referred to the trust as “this Settlement” throughout the deed. (It’s something of a misnomer to call a trust a “Settlement” if there’s no identified Settlor!). ?

June – In the wider world, the Queen’s platinum jubilee celebrations end on 5th June. 70 years on the throne is quite some achievement and it is also remarkable to think that Winston Churchill was her first prime minister. (I wonder what the GOM would think of BOJO and some of his other “rather less than distinguished” successors?).

I go to see the cardiologist in order to discuss the results of the CT scan and he delivers the bad news that two of my coronary arteries are severely blocked and one is partially blocked. So, the Doc declares that I will need to go to Liverpool, for a “stent” procedure, as you can’t get that kind of operation performed in the IOM!?Fortunately, this procedure will be NHS funded if an operation can be booked.

The client, who persuaded me to open the FTX account, also persuades me that I should relaunch CIL as a virtual family office that offers alternative investment advice. If I agree to do this, he will pay for the website required. We decide that he will advise on crypto investing, and we will recruit “experts”, in other sectors, to deliver advice on various alternative investment options on a “pay as you play” basis. (The back-office services, for the virtual family office, will be delivered by OCSL business partners). As I’m a sucker for a “no money out of pocket” deal, I agree with the suggestion.

On the 22nd, I realize that it is one full year since I was last a passenger on an international flight. This is quite remarkable for a man who used to do 70+ flights, per annum, in the late "noughties", and was still doing 25+ (mostly long-haul) pre-pandemic. It’s a reminder of just how much COVID has changed my world as well as the lives of countless millions. Although you are reading this then you are likely to have had COVID and survived, which is a reason for optimism.

I also agree terms with ex-colleague, David Hill, who is a US citizen tax and trust lawyer, that he will form a US LLC, as a PPG franchise, in order that PPG can deliver corporate protector services to US domestic trusts. (PPG is also seeking to establish franchises, in other jurisdictions, but we haven’t found the right business partners yet).

It's also gratifying to see the England team win the Women’s Euros, but I don’t hold out much hope for the England men’s team to repeat the feat in the upcoming World Cup!?

July – Early in the month, BOJO’s chaotic reign, as PM, finally comes to an end after “Fishy Rishi” and “Jittery Javid” both resign from cabinet office almost simultaneously. It’s “bittersweet”, for yours truly, as Boris made politics fun again although in a kind of mini-me mimicking of Donald J. Chump’s equally chaotic 4 years in the White House (Boris didn’t last that long!). It's interesting to note that Boris could have also run for US POTUS, (if he had the money), as he was a US citizen prior to becoming PM.

My procedure is scheduled for the 13th, so I attend the STEP Global Congress, in London, to promote PPG the week before. It was nice to see so many old friends and former colleagues, at the event, and to also make some new friends and business contacts.

On the 12th, I fly to Liverpool courtesy of the IOM “patient transfer” service for the “stent” procedure, with one night’s change of clothes, as I am scheduled to return on the evening of the 13th. Unfortunately, further diagnostic testing, on the morning of the 13th, determines that I need a “triple bypass”, instead of a stent, which is quite a shock! So, in short order, I am placed in a ward, at the Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital, with 5 other men who are also waiting for procedures. I subsequently discover that I am the oldest of the “bypass* patients and also the only one that hasn’t (yet) had a heart attack.

Despite my health conditions, I am actually relatively fit, because I exercise almost every day, so when one of the doctors tells me “you could do with losing some weight” another patient responds with “are you f***ing kidding?”!

The Strife also sends me a suitcase full of clothes (and other goodies) so I won’t be reduced to “washing my undies in the sink”!

It’s surprising, but “ageism” works in my favor, for once, as I am the first one to go “under the knife”. So, I never see any of the other patients again, as I am moved to a different ward after a night in the ICU post-op. (I hope they all made it through because I was told, while they were putting me to “sleep”, that I only had an 80% chance of surviving the op, which was more than disconcerting!!). I wake up, after the op, feeling like I’ve been in a train wreck and also thinking that I would never have endured the op, if I’d been aware of the resulting bodily trauma, as I had been successfully controlling my blood pressure and heart rate with medications!

The op took place on the 21st and I spend the remainder of my hospital stay, in a private room, before being discharged on the 27th. Then it’s back to the IOM, for rest and recuperation (R&R) and to also get back to work before I lose all remaining clients!

The hospital stay took place while the UK was enduring its “hottest ever” heatwave, thanks to climate change, but I was in an air-conditioned hospital and that meant that I was often too cold rather than too warm. (The NHS blankets are somewhat on the thin side). ?

August – 5 days after release, I restart my daily workout, with just a gentle walk, as I am banned from lifting weights until my body is sufficiently healed. I am also banned from driving, which is more of an inconvenience, as I live quite far away from the IOM’s only city which is called Douglas. (It only was granted “city” status in the final year of the Queen’s reign).

While on one daily constitutional, I reflect on the fact that the extended stay in hospital didn’t cost me a penny and nor did the op. Even the flights from and to the IOM were covered by the IOM’s “patient transfer” system as well as the taxi fares. (If I was still resident in the USA, the insurance deductible would have run into many thousands assuming I could even obtain medical insurance with a “pre-existing” condition). I also have to commend the NHS staff who couldn’t do enough for us “old fogies” who were in their care. So, thanks to one and all and I hope that you get the pay rises that you richly deserve!

It is my 23rd wedding anniversary, on the 7th, but I obviously have to celebrate it on my ownsome. Nevertheless, I promise the Strife that I will come and visit her, in Northern Ireland, when I am sufficiently recovered to travel.

I go to see the cardiologist mid-month, for a post-op inspection, and he tells me that I can resume driving, which is just as well as I drove to the hospital to see him!

Late in the month, another ex-colleague introduces yours truly to a couple of Colombian guys who have developed an algorithm program for FX trading. So, I get on a Zoom call with them in order that they can explain how the trading works? The thing that I really like is that I don’t have to invest any money with them directly, as I would put my money into a forex exchange, (which operates similarly to a crypto exchange), and the exchange would have “tracker software” that would track their trades. (If they make gains, then I make gains and if they are making losses then I can switch off the tracker!). Plus, the money in the exchange is instantly accessible at any time that I need it. We also agree that (if I do invest) they will send me any of their clients, who need tax-efficient wealth planning services, and that I will promote their investment program to other contacts (if it is successful?). ??

September – After mulling the proposal over, I bite the bullet and invest $20K into the HFM exchange as a “tester” investment, with the intention to invest additional funds, in 2023, if the trading program has delivered consistent returns over a 4-month period. ?

As CIL is now owed $8K by the Group’s LC, I start the process of trying to open an account, for CIL, with a Puerto Rico bank.

The Queen unexpectedly dies, on the 8th, and only two days after acknowledging “Truss Me Not” as BOJO’s duly elected successor. (Elected by Tory grandees rather than the nation, as I’m sure you are aware!). ?So, the UK now has a King Charles again! Let's hope he fares better than the other Kings, who had Charles as a first name, as one was beheaded and the other was allegedly (self) poisoned.

A few days later and it is the first anniversary of my mother's passing at the ripe old age of 92. RIP Mum.

As promised, I fly to Northern Ireland to continue my R&R at the Strife’s house. So, we watch the Queen’s funeral together, which was a mournful but also memorable event. It does feel like the end of an era, as the Queen was on the throne before I was even born!

I return to the IOM, after 10 days, having imbibed more alcohol than most coronary patients would, or should, as the Strife also likes a tipple or three! So, I swiftly return to a more moderate diet and exercise regime. No more “snacking at the desk”, which was my WFH downfall!

The crypto client also secures the domain to cavehill.invest and I start working on the website little knowing that I would still be at it, post-Christmas, partly because of my ineptitude with WordPress but also because I seemed to get so damned busy in 2022’s final quarter.

As I slowly recover from the bypass, I also try and get various large trust groups (LTGs) interested in OCSL’s updated Trust Administration Workshop (TAW) either as a business partner or to acquire the rights to it. (I developed the TAW from my experience of being directly responsible for the administration of hundreds of trusts in my Head of Trust Services roles!). Nevertheless, it’s sad to state that I’m not getting much interest and that’s possibly because the LTGs think that they know all that there is to know about trust administration, under advice from high-priced external lawyers. However, I know that they don’t as most expert trust lawyers have no hands-on experience of administering trusts! They might know the theory but they don't know the practical!

I receive a headhunter approach to be a director of a US corporate protector (CP). I attempt?to persuade the CP to hire me as a consultant, instead, as I don’t want to be an employee of a US company, in a mostly WFH role, as I would have to pay US taxes as well as IOM taxes because there is no tax treaty between US and IOM. All in vain, as the Headhunter eventually advised me that the principals of the CP have determined that I am “way much too senior” for the role. I presume that she is hoping that I will think that I am “too experienced” but I know she actually means “too old” (but US employers aren’t permitted to say that!).

In the UK, “Krazy Kwazi” delivers his infamous mini-budget and is swiftly sacked by Truss Me Not after the inevitable and predictable fallout. TMN tries to distance herself from KK claiming that the budget agenda was all his idea but her goose is already “cooked”!?

October – After a quick trip to Liverpool (again), I start a “cardio rehab” program at the Nobles Hospital gym supervised by physiotherapists. It is good to see that I appear to be the fittest of the cardio patients but again I discover that I am one of the few who hasn’t had a heart attack or cardio arrest, which could explain why I am in (slightly) better shape than the rest. The rehab sessions take place on Tuesday and Friday afternoons, which is going to eat into my work-time availability but needs must!

I recommence lifting weights at home, after a 3-month break, as the gym sessions also include some dumbbell routines. So, I believe that my breastbone is now sufficiently healed for low-level weights.

The OCSL Group PIC has substantial traditional investment portfolios with two asset managers (AMs), which have offices in the IOM, under discretionary mandates, as I don’t have the time for “stocks and bonds” selections. Already an “annus horribilis”, 2022 got worse when I discovered that the two combined had managed to lose ￡170K, during the first three quarters of the year, despite a “preservation of capital” stipulation in the mandates! ?

As regards business, I get “trust’ busy as OCSL is now delivering “consultant’ services to various fiduciary and non-fiduciary organizations across the world. Most OCSL clients are boutiques that can’t afford to have an in-house trust lawyer and they appreciate our “no retainer fee – pay as we play” policy. It’s also a fact that no trust lawyer in the world has my multi-jurisdiction trust experience!

Most of the consultant work involves drafting or reviewing trust deeds, or other supporting documents, and it's ironic to see, (despite FATCA, CRS and various AML initiatives), that a few of the boutiques’ trust clients are evidently “tax dodgers”! As I am not delivering trustee services, I console myself with the thought that “I am only facilitating tax avoidance rather than participating in it!”. Plus, I was involved in a lot of ‘tax dodging”, in my younger “trust business” days, so who am I to criticize?! (In the “naughty 90s”, most offshore fiduciaries operated on the “dual criminality” rule, meaning that if it wasn’t a crime, in your jurisdiction, then it was deemed “perfectly fine” to assist a foreign client, with a tax evasion scheme, even if you knew that he was committing a tax crime in his home jurisdiction!).

I am also contacted by a youngish FX trader who wants to set up an FX derivates trading fund. More for his benefit than mine, I tell him that if his derivatives trading can be “electronically tracked” then he should also try “exchange trading” in order that prospective clients can invest through an FX exchange and gain confidence, in his trading system, before trying to establish a fund that will cost “mucho dinero”, in upfront structuring costs. (He gratefully accepts the advice and that means I don’t earn a penny, despite the time spent!).

Late in the month, Truss Me Not resigned as PM after only 45 days in office. Despite that short tenure, she is to be offered the “retired PM benefits package” including a stipend of up to ￡115K per annum. Thus, TMN won’t have any financial worries about the “cost of living” crisis that she assisted to create!

Fishy Rishi gets elected unopposed as TMN’s replacement becoming the UK’s first-ever Asian-descent PM and the youngest for 200 years!?

November – FTX files for chapter 11 (bankruptcy protection), in the USA, and by the time I discover the news, it is too late to transfer my digital assets elsewhere. So, it seems that I have “lost” the $15K that was the approximate value of those digital assets. Although that pales into insignificance compared to the $150K that one of my clients also lost and he has a personal connection who lost millions!

I am relatively sanguine about the FTX collapse, as I estimate that I have seen more than $500K “disappear”, in a variety of “dodgy investments” over the duration of my financial services career. Most of those losses were experienced in the days before I became an international wealth planner because I am a lot more investment savvy now! (Although not immune to losses obviously!!).

Speaking of losses, one of RSL’s AMs advise me that they will need to rebalance the RSL portfolio if I am to have any hope of seeing recovery on the ￡100K+ that they have overseen “down the Swanee”! This rebalancing means crystallizing “paper” losses to become “real” losses. I’m obviously not happy, about this, but I feel I have no choice other than to agree given the circumstances!

The “rebalancing” also kills any vestiges of hope that I can eventually retire, (because that was the retirement fund), so I now know that they will be carrying me out of my office “feet first” unless ill-health causes an involuntary retirement. (My Dad was still working, at the age of 79, but endured enforced retirement because of a massive stroke).

The only plus is that the “Alchemy X” FX trading program has been showing steady investment gains, so I decide to invest $10K into a slightly riskier FX trading program called “Alchemy Wave”, also as a tester investment. Nevertheless, after the FTX experience, I decide to use the FPM exchange, which is Australian regulated and reputed to be one of the best FX exchanges that there is. (“Wave” also uses an algorithm to predict movements in the USD vs the Euro).

In the wider world, Chump announces that he is going to run for POTUS again in 2024. Although only “MAGA morons” are enthusiastic about this announcement because the rest of the world seems fed up with a “serial loser”, who can’t accept that he’s a loser! The US mid-terms also confirm Chump’s diminished status as some candidates, whom he backed, lost seats that they should have won!

A good friend and former colleague called Julio Rodriguez, who spent 10 years with Amicorp's Miami office, passes away suddenly from pancreatitis. Julio was only 56 so it’s quite a shock. He was also a genuinely nice guy who couldn’t do enough for other people. By a strange twist of fate, Julio was actually employed by the CP who deemed I was “too senior” to work for them.

As regards PPG, I decide to dispense with the services of the New Zealand resident director, as she hasn’t brought us any business despite being a partner in a law firm group that delivers trustee services to hundreds of NZ and Wyoming trusts. As her replacement, I agree terms with Jas Sekhon who is a friend and ex-colleague from my Dubai days. Jas is qualified to practice law in Australia, New Zealand, BVI and the UK, so he can also be of assistance to OCSL’s wealth planning practice. In his “day job” role, Jas is the senior partner in a successful Australian law firm. https://www.goldman-lawyers.com/

The World Cup 2022 kicks off (literally) and that means that I have something else that will put a serious dent in my available work time. (No more winter world cups please!).

As well as the Puerto Rico bank, I commence the process of opening an account for CIL, with a UK EMI, for a complicated trading transaction that will require its own IBAN facilities. ?

December – In the wider world, the “Hopeless Harry” & “Moaning Meghan” Netflix “diss” on the Royal Family debuts. I’m no Royalist fan but I refuse to even consider watching a single episode as “winging all the way to the bank” makes we want to reach for the upchuck bucket!

I send an important package to Panama, on behalf of an OCSL client, using the Post Office “international track and sign for” service, which promises “fast delivery”. As of year-end, the package has still not been delivered, so I vow never to use that service again!

I also receive a small inheritance from my late mother’s estate, which is well-timed because it means that I won’t have to dip into my savings to cover the Christmas cheer!

As could be expected, the England team go out of the World Cup, at the quarter-final stage, after Harry Kane caused us all “pain” by “skying” his second penalty against France!

On the 16th, the cardio rehab program ends, in order that we can commence the Christmas “overeating” to transition from “fit” back to “fat”! That might be a good thing, in my case, as I have lost so much weight that my previously “tight-fitting” clothes are now feeling loose!

With some business partners, I have been working on the establishment of a South Dakota trust for over a year. Under pressure, from the principal beneficiary, there is hope that the Settlor and Trustee will sign where needed, before Christmas, but we hoped in vain.

With the CIL website nearing completion, (for a January 2023 launch), I decided that it might be a good idea to also have an OCSL Group domain with an accompanying website that would contain links to the other 3 group websites. More important would be to have a domain email address, so that my future work email communications will come from an “ocslgroup” address. With that in mind, I agree to terms with an IOM-located website designer, called Paul Creamer, who frequently posts on LinkedIn. Paul is backed up with other projects but he believes that the Group website might be published in February 2023.

On the 18th, Argentina seals their World Cup win, on penalties, after a close-fought game against France. I am pleased for Messi as it cements his legacy as one of the greatest players of all time.

Christmas comes and goes, way too fast, and for us “old fogies” who actually saw him play, (albeit via a TV screen), the actual GOAT, Pele, passes away on the 29th of December. which seems a very sad footnote to a sad year.

It’s drizzling miserably on New Year’s Eve, in the IOM, which seems a fitting end, to a terrible year, and it’s also a depressing day for Catholics around the world as Pope Benedict has “popped his clogs”. Although no longer practicing, I was brought up as Catholic and my Dad’s brother was a Jesuit missionary priest. I bear the same first name as “Fr Ted”.

I see out the last dregs of the year with the last dregs of some “drown your sorrows” drinks, while thinking it was a terrible year but thank God it went by so fast!

On the plus side, a year-end review of my daily FX exchange statements reveals that the Alchemy X program made 7.5% gains, over 4 months, while the Wave program made 13.5% in just 2 months. So, one of my New Year resolutions will be to invest a further $20K into the Wave program. ?

My other resolutions are to do at least one tweet a day (which was also a 2022 resolution that I never kept to) and to spend a bit more time on FB, as I have largely been ignoring that platform too.

As for LinkedIn, which is my preferred SM platform, I resolve to continue to post articles that are business related (or to celebrate some kind of work or personal anniversary) while throwing in the odd joke post or three. (One of my 2022 joke posts went viral with over 30K views while I feel I’m doing well if I even get 300 views of a business post). I also resolve to keep my comments on other posts and articles as light-hearted as possible in the hope that people laugh with me rather than at me!

The final resolution is to increase the network of OCSL business partners and affiliates (BPAs) as we currently only have BPAs in 15 jurisdictions. So, give me a shout if you could be interested in being an OCSL and/or PPG BPA?

?Please note that this is not an invitation to partner with anybody who is marketing dodgy investment schemes or scams! We are mostly interested in BPAs who can partner in the delivery of wealth planning or tax-efficiency services, on a fee-sharing basis. ?

OCSL would also appreciate hearing from fiduciaries who feel that they can benefit from our fiduciary consultant services on our usual “pay as we play” terms. ??

For some strange reason, I am feeling slightly optimistic about 2023, but maybe that’s because it surely can’t be any worse than 2022?!!

?So, Happy New Year and all the best for 2023 to anyone who is still reading this lengthy missive.

Ed Rogers, CEO of the OCSL Group

1st January 2023

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