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Family Money: Trusts are for ordinary folk too! - Part 1
By Leslie
Wright,
Managing director of Westminster Portfolio Services (Thailand) Ltd.
Wills
Mention the word ‘trusts’ and people think of large
trust funds created by the very wealthy to protect their wealth from their
spendthrift children. In fact trusts are now widely used for a variety of
purposes. They are so common that people encounter them on a daily basis
although they may not realise it.
Trusts originated in English law at the time of the
crusades: wealthy landowners leaving for the crusades left their assets to
trusted individuals to safeguard them while they were away on the crusade.
To protect the assets from “trusted” individuals who unscrupulously
galloped off with the assets, rules of equity were developed. Over
hundreds of years the rules of equity have developed a complex trust law
incorporated into Anglo-Saxon legal systems and, through the Hague Trusts
Convention, into some civil law jurisdictions.
The trust has been a very successful and enduring legal
concept because of its ability to adapt to accommodate new functions.
While it is still used in the family succession context to hold assets for
future generations, it has successfully been adapted to become an
indispensable tool in the armoury of the tax adviser.
What Is A Trust?
A trust is a legal relationship between a settlor and
one or more trustees. The settlor transfers assets to the trustees. The
trustees hold those assets for the benefit of one or more beneficiaries or
for a charitable purpose. The trust is created by the settlor either
during his/her lifetime (an inter vivos trust) or by their will on death
(a will trust).
This is a very general definition which understates the
variety of different types of trust that can be established. Further, it
does not refer to implied trusts (constructive and resulting trusts) which
can be imposed or implied on a relationship in circumstances where some
inequity may arise. Implied trusts are frequently invoked in litigation.
In order for a trust to be valid somebody must be in a
position to enforce its terms. Generally this means that a trust must have
beneficiaries. The principal exception to this rule is charitable trusts
which need not have any beneficiaries; however, the terms of the trust are
enforced by the Attorney General. Under English law non-charitable purpose
trusts (assets held by trustees for a purpose rather than for
beneficiaries) may be void.
Trusts other than charitable trusts cannot last
indefinitely. Different jurisdictions have different rules as to the
duration of a trust. Under English law a trust can last for either 80
years or a life or lives in being plus 21 years; that is, for the duration
of a lifetime of an identifiable person alive at the date the trust is
created plus 21 years (the life in being which is usually used is the last
survivor of the descendents of George VI living at the date the trust is
created).
The Different Types Of Trust
Let us look at the differing types of trusts most
commonly used in the family succession and tax planning context.
The ‘Interest In Possession Trust’ (Aka ‘Fixed
Interest Trust’ or ‘Life Interest Trust’). The beneficiary (known as
the life tenant) has a right to the income from the trust fund (the
beneficiary’s interest is referred to as an “interest in
possession”).
For instance, Major Watkins leaves his assets to his
wife for life and the remainder to his children. His wife has a right to
the income of the trust fund (and to live in any properties owned by the
trust); on her death the capital passes to the children. It is possible to
have successive life interests. So if Major Watkins does not want his
children to receive the capital of the trust fund they could have life
interests after their mother.
As Mrs Watkins is entitled to the income, the trust
capital will be subject to an inheritance tax charge on her death (as if
she were the owner of the asset). The life interest trust in this context
provides no immediate tax benefit; Major Watkins used a trust to ensure
that his children received the assets on his wife’s death; as Mrs
Watkins is only entitled to the income she cannot give the capital away
and so the capital will be preserved for the Major’s children.
Some trusts fall outside the UK inheritance tax net -
for example if the settlor is not domiciled or deemed domiciled in the UK
and the trust assets are not located in the UK.
These trusts are referred to as “Excluded Property
Settlements”. There will be no tax charged on the death of a life tenant
if the trust is an excluded property settlement “ even if the life
tenant is domiciled in the UK. Excluded property settlements provide
considerable tax planning opportunities but have limited application given
that the settlor must be non-UK domiciled or deemed domiciled.
(To be concluded next week)
Snap Shot: Soft Focus Filter for sale. 1 baht!
by Harry Flashman
I am a great believer in DIY. Not only can it be fun,
but I enjoy the thoughts about all the money I save. Photography is no
different. You can spend oodles of money on filters, especially when in
actual fact you can easily and inexpensively make your own. Remember that
the first rule of DIY living is NEVER BUY ANYTHING, IF YOU CAN MAKE IT
YOURSELF!
This week is a small project that can give you some
very good photographic results, and costs one baht. Yes, one baht! On top
of the sacrificial one baht coin there is a mild misappropriation of
somebody’s hair spray. Do not buy a can!
While the use of filters can be overdone by anyone,
there are times when filters do help, and the center-spot soft focus
filter is a great one to have in the bag. It will enhance portraits,
particularly of women, giving a soft dreamy look to the photo. Using this
filter this just means the centre is in focus and the edges are nicely
soft and blurred. This effect is used by portrait and wedding
photographers all over the world to produce that wonderful “romantic”
photograph.
The good thing is that to produce this type of picture
is exceptionally simple and you can do it, no matter what kind of camera
you use! I don’t care if it’s a Nikon state-of-the-art F whatever or
the cheapest and nastiest pocket point and shooter. The romantic portraits
are yours for the taking.
The secret is in the filter used. It is literally a
clear piece of glass or plastic over the lens that is clear in the middle
and opaque (but translucent) around the outside. This week’s project
(great for school kids too) is to make one.
You will need one can of hairspray, a one baht coin and
a clear piece of glass or plastic (perspex) around 7.5 cm square. This
piece of perspex needs to be as thin as possible to keep it optically
correct. One supply source can be hardware shops, glaziers and even
picture framers.
Having cut out your square, put the coin in the centre
of the perspex and then gently wave the hairspray over the lot. Let it dry
and gently flick the coin off and you have your first special effects
filter - the centre spot soft focus.
If you have an SLR (single lens reflex) camera you
actually look through the lens when you are focussing and what you see is
what you get (the WYSIWYG principle). For the compact camera users it
needs a little more imagination, but do not worry (worry is bad for the
soul and produces camera shake).
SLR people first - set your lens on the largest
aperture you can (around f5.6 or f4 is fine). Focus on your subject,
keeping the face in the centre of the screen. Now bring up your magic FX
filter and place it over the lens and what do you see? The face is in
focus and the edges are all blurred! You’ve got it. Shoot! Take a few
shots, especially ones with the light behind your subject. Try altering
the f stop as well, as this changes the apparent size of the clear spot in
the middle. Remember that film is the cheapest part of photography (other
than making one baht filters) so use plenty and experiment.
Now for those with the compact point and shooters, what you see is not
what you get, as you are not looking through the lens. What you have to do
is position the centre of the filter over the lens and, while keeping it
there, bring the camera up to your eye, compose the shot and then shoot.
Takes some fiddling and manual dexterity, but all those with at least two
hands should be able to master it. Just make sure you are not blocking the
light sensors on the camera. Backlighting the subject helps here too. Try
it this weekend.
Modern Medicine: Breast Cancer, Chemotherapy and the Quality of Life?
by Dr Iain Corness, Consultant
Cancer treatments do differ all over the world. Some of
these differences may be due to non-medical factors such as cost of
treatment, while others may be due to differing medical points of view.
However, when looking at treatment options there are
two sides to look at. Firstly, the treatment regime should be based upon
EBM - Evidence Based Medicine - and secondly should take into
consideration the Quality of Life of the patient. I have deliberately put
Quality of Life in capitals. It must never be forgotten by the patient, or
the patient’s doctor, but unfortunately is often ignored by medical
“science”.
Breast cancer in women is an emotive issue at the best
of times, and treatments have swung from radical, remove everything
surgical treatments to remove only the lump (lumpectomies) plus or minus
radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
With ‘Chemo’ there are also wide ranges of opinion.
Some researchers have come up with the concept of using doses of
chemotherapy so high in an attempt to stop the cancer or its recurrence
that it destroys the patient’s bone marrow, so the patient ends up
needing a transplant of blood-forming stem cells.
One reason that this was undertaken was that it had
been seen that the cancer cells had escaped from the breast tissue and had
gone into the lymph glands in the armpit. The rationale was that if it had
got this far, you would have to really hit it hard. Well, that was the
theory at least.
Fortunately, we are in this era of EBM, and some
researchers have been keeping the scores. Normal chemo or high dose chemo?
Studies have found that the intensive treatment did not improve the
outcome for women whose cancer had spread to other parts of the body. In
fact, there was little difference between the two approaches in survival
after five or six years or in the rate of cancer recurrence.
Dr. Harmon Eyre, chief medical officer of the American
Cancer Society has now said, “I think the evidence of benefit is so
minimal and the toxicity is so substantial and the cost so high that by
and large people are going to say this approach is now no longer worthy of
pursuing in any major way.”
Dr. Martin S. Tallman of Northwestern University
Feinberg School of Medicine, who led one of the studies into the high dose
treatment, said the results could make it difficult to pursue the high
dose technique. “It will be hard to generate enthusiasm and resources
when, in general, the results have been disappointing - and there are
other alternatives,” he said. It was also noted that five deaths in a
Dutch study were caused by the high dose treatment and nine in the U.S.
study were related to the bone marrow transplants. Side effects included
nausea, vomiting, mouth sores and infection.
Dr. Tallman said initially the belief was that high
dose chemo worked better, but the latest findings illustrate how important
it is to do controlled studies to prove whether promising looking
approaches really do work. In other words - EBM!
What also must be taken into account is the “Quality
of Life”. I used to have a sign on the wall of my consulting room which
simply said, “An increase in the length of life may not equal an
increase in the Quality of Life.” Doctors and patients should not forget
this.
 Heart to Heart with Hillary
Dear Hillary,
Perhaps Noi is a girl I sent $ to for several years. She
taught me a lot such as never to sell my body to someone who doesn’t love me,
especially if there is someone else who does love me who gives me enough $ to
live on. She taught me never to think I am smart enough to fool someone who
loves me just because that person accepts me as I am. She taught me that people
find it impossible to see outside their own country and culture and that I’m
in that boat too.
If this is the Noi I knew she was kicked in her back when
she was two by her father who soon after disappeared never to be seen again.
She quit school at grade two and went to work building houses at 12 or 13. At
18 or 19 she went to Malibu to earn her living. Her culture impairs the
development of individuality though the people are friendly and likable. She
had a lovable child, a boy, who she disciplined too harshly because her own
harsh past drove her to it. When she was 12 or 13 she was thought to have
killed a boy of 14 or 15 who bullied her with a karoti (sic) kick to the
central nervous system.
She had dark hair with streaks of orange she put in it and
often tied it in a ponytail with a chartreuse band. With all the gold hanging
on her that she loved to wear I couldn’t wait to take her home to meet my
mother who would be extremely excited to meet her. She stayed in a house with a
man she said was her brother and they had regular arguments and he seemed never
to be able to find steady work and I think she took care of him and her other
brother who stopped by from time to time with the $ I gave her. The father of
her son of about 6 had disappeared when the boy was about 2, the same as the
mother’s father before him had. The boy was a lovable child.
But alas, love is not slavery and neither is slavery love.
Perhaps one day our spirits will grow large enough to bridge the differences
between us so the love between us is constructive.
Amish
Dear Amish,
I’m sorry, my Petal, but Noi, your karate kicking
killer complete with chartreuse banded pony tail sounds just like someone I
don’t want to know. Nor should you. Bury your grief and stop sending money.
The situation isn’t worth it, believe me!
Dear Hillary,
I am from the UK. I have settled down in Thailand with a
young Thai lady many years younger than me. My friends ‘back home’ do not
understand this association and I’m afraid have branded me as a
cradle-snatcher, but that is their problem. As well as the loving side of
things, (which I had thought were over) being together has been very good for
both of us. I have a companion that I still don’t believe I have, while she
and her family has someone that they can turn to for help when needed.
Unfortunately this is the reason why I am writing you this letter. The need for
financial help seems to increase every week. I don’t mind helping out with
the expenses for her three children from a previous marriage to a Thai bloke
(he got killed in a motorcycle accident, not running away) but the family seems
to get larger all the time. There are more brothers and sisters that need this
and that, and while I didn’t mind to start with, I am on a pension too and
have to watch what I spend. I don’t want to see my nest egg that I saved for
disappearing too quickly. I have asked my young lady to tell her family they
are killing the goose that laid the golden egg. What should I do about all the
relatives?
I also would like to take my Thai girlfriend to England for
a holiday, is this very difficult? Some people have told me that Thai women
can’t get a visa.
Spencer
Dear Spencer,
First, the visa. All visa applications are dealt with on
their own merits. The British Embassy deals with the applications to the UK and
it seems that provided the application is genuine and the relationship is
stable, there would be very few problems.
Now about her family, which no doubt by now includes the
local buffalo herd. You have to deal with this yourself, your Thai girlfriend
cannot. It is part of her culture, that the more well-off look after the needy.
You are more well-off (at this stage) so the begging hand goes out to you. You
will have to decide which family members and which needy causes you are going
to support. You will probably then be thought of as ‘keeneow’ (stingy) by
the family, but you can add that to ‘cradle-snatcher’ in your resume! You
will never be able to please everyone on both sides of the globe. Live your own
life as you see it, Spencer, I think you’ve still got your head screwed on.
A Slice of Thai History: Conflicts with Burma and Cambodia
Part Two 1582-1605
by Duncan Stearn
The Burmese ruler Bayinnaung died in 1581 after a reign
of some 30 years and was succeeded by his son Nanda Bayin. Although the
Burmese remained powerful, Nanda Bayin did not possess the same military
abilities as his father and, after the Burmese were ousted from Laos in
1583, he decided to test the loyalty of his vassal state, Ayutthaya, by
summoning Prince Naresuan to a meeting in Burma.
Naresuan, accompanied by a small force, reached the
Salween River before discovering that the meeting was a trap. He retired
to Ayutthaya and in May 1584 renounced, on behalf of his father King Maha
Thammaracha, allegiance to Burma.
Nanda Bayin launched a two-pronged invasion of Thailand
in early 1585, one column driving through the Three Pagodas Pass and the
second entering the country via Chiang Mai. Both columns were defeated by
the Thais and forced to retreat.
The Burmese returned in April 1586, advancing against
Chiang Mai. Cambodian monarch King Sattha supported Ayutthaya against the
Burmese, and sent troops under Prince Srisupanma to help repel the
invaders. However, the alliance didn’t last long as Prince Naresuan
managed to upset the Cambodians, leading to King Sattha breaking off
relations with the Thais.
This schism enabled the Burmese to force the Thais back
to Ayutthaya. The Burmese commenced the siege of Ayutthaya in January
1587, but by May, they were forced to withdraw due to lack of supplies,
disease, and the determined defence led by Naresuan.
The Thais were unable to pursue the retreating Burmese
army as they were forced to turn their attention east and deal with a
Cambodian incursion that had reached Prachin Buri. Naresuan retook Prachin
Buri and then chased the Cambodians back across the border, occupying
Battambang and advancing as far as the Cambodian capital of Lovek. With
his supply lines overstretched, Naresuan retired in good order to
Ayutthaya, his mission accomplished.
King Maha Thammaracha died in June 1590 and Prince
Naresuan, now 35, succeeded him. The Burmese launched another invasion of
Thailand in November, striking through the Three Pagodas Pass and into
Kanchanaburi, but Naresuan’s army managed to halt the advance and forced
them to retreat.
Late in 1592, Nanda Bayin once again led an invasion
force into Thailand. At the battle of Nong Sarai, near Suphanburi, on 18
January 1593, Naresuan decisively defeated the Burmese, Thai folklore
claiming that Naresuan personally slew the Burmese crown prince. The
Burmese retreated, pursued by the Thais who invaded Burma and took the
provinces of Tavoy and Tenasserim.
With the Burmese effectively neutralised for the time
being, Naresuan turned his forces to the east and, in May, led what was
claimed to be 100,000 soldiers in an invasion of Cambodia. The Thai swept
aside Cambodian resistance and laid siege to the capital, Lovek.
King Sattha sent emissaries to Manila to ask the
Spanish governor of The Philippines for help. However, Lovek fell after a
two-month siege and Sattha, with his son, fled north into Laos, seeking
refuge in Luang Prabang. He died there in 1596. Sattha’s brother, Prince
Srisupanma, was taken hostage by Naresuan and brought to Ayutthaya.
In 1594, Naresuan returned to the offensive against
Burma, occupying Moulmein and Martaban. The next year he was forced to
turn his attention to the north, where Laotian forces had invaded Lan Na
and were threatening Chiang Mai.
Naresuan marched north, defeated the Lao and, in
return, the ruler of Lan Na agreed to become a vassal state of Ayutthaya.
The Thais then invaded Burma again, but were defeated near Pegu and
retired.
Spanish troops entered Cambodia in 1596 and helped
install a son of the late King Sattha on the throne. However, the Spanish
proved unpopular and most were massacred in an uprising in Phnom Penh in
1599. By 1603, with the full support of Naresuan, King Sattha’s brother
Prince Srisupanma acceded to the Cambodian throne as a vassal of Ayutthaya.
Burma also fell into disarray and in 1599, Nanda Bayin
was overthrown. Naresuan again attacked Pegu, captured and looted it
before withdrawing.
King Naresuan, known as ‘the Great’, died on 16 May 1605 at the age
of 50. His brother, Ekathotsarot, succeeded him.
Personal Directions: Get smart and set SMART goals
by Christina Dodd
Last week we talked about goals and I shared some
insights of well-known author and much sought-after speaker, Shiv Khera on
this topic. To go further into the chapter on goal-setting in his book,
“You Can Win”, I would like to continue with his thoughts this week as
he offers such a no-nonsense and very simplistic approach to this task,
which is seriously lacking in the lives of most people.
“Goal setting is a series of steps. When you buy a
plane ticket, what does it say?
*Starting point *Destination *Class of travel *Price
*Starting date *Expiry date
If you ask most people what is their one major
objective in life, they would probably give you a vague answer, such as,
“I want to be successful, be happy, make a good living,” and that is
that.
They are all wishes, and none of them are clear goals.
Goals must be SMART:
S - specific. For example, “I want to lose weight.”
This is wishful thinking. It becomes a goal when I pin myself down to “I
will lose 10 pounds in 90 days.”
M - must be measurable. If we cannot measure it we
cannot accomplish it. Measurement is a way of monitoring our progress.
A - must be achievable. Achievable means that it should
be out of reach enough to be challenging but it should not be out of
sight, otherwise it becomes disheartening.
R - realistic. A person who wants to lose 50 pounds in
30 days is being unrealistic.
T - time-bound. There should be a starting date and a
finishing date.
Goals must be balanced
Our life is like a wheel with six spokes.
1. Family. Our loved ones are the reason to live and
make a living.
2. Financial. Represents our career and the things that
money can buy.
3. Physical. Our health without which nothing makes
sense.
4. Mental. Represents knowledge and wisdom.
5. Social. Every individual and organization has social
responsibility without which society starts dying.
6. Spiritual. Our value system represents ethics and
character.
If any of these spokes is out of line, our life goes
out of balance. Take a few minutes and just think. If you had any one of
the six missing, what would life be like?
More about balance
In 1923, eight of the wealthiest people in the world
met. Their combined wealth, it is estimated, exceeded the wealth of the
government of the United States at that time. These men certainly knew how
to make a living and accumulate wealth. But let’s examine what happened
to them 25 years later.
1. President of the largest steel company, Charles
Schwab, lived on borrowed capital for five years before he died bankrupt.
2. President of the largest gas company, Howard Hubson,
went insane.
3. One of the greatest commodity traders, Arthur Cutton,
died insolvent.
4. President of the New York Stock Exchange, Richard
Whitney, was sent to jail.
5. A member of the President’s Cabinet, Albert Fall,
was pardoned from jail to go home and die in peace.
6. The greatest “bear” on Wall Street, Jessie
Livermore, committed suicide.
7. President of the world’s greatest monopoly, Ivar
Krueger, committed suicide.
8. President of the Bank of International Settlement,
Leon Fraser, committed suicide.
What they forgot was how to make a life! It is stories
like this that give the readers a false impression that money is the root
of all evil. That is not true. Money provides food for the hungry,
medicine for the sick, clothes for the needy. Money is only a medium of
exchange.
We need two kinds of education. One that teaches us how
to make a living and one that teaches us how to live.
There are people who are so engrossed in their
professional life that they neglect their family, their health, and social
responsibilities. If asked why they do this they would reply that they
were doing it for their family.
Our kids are sleeping when we leave home. They are
sleeping when we come home. Twenty years later, we turn back, and they are
all gone. We have no family left. That is sad.
Quality not quantity
It is not uncommon to hear that it is not the quantity
of time that we spend with our families but the quality that matters. Just
think about it, is it really true?
Supposing you went to the best restaurant in town where
they gave you white-glove service with cutlery from England, crockery from
France, chocolates from Switzerland, and on and on. You picked up the gold
plated menu and ordered a dish of barbecued chicken. The waiter within
minutes brought back a small cube of the most deliciously prepared
chicken. You ate it and asked, “Is that all I am going to get?” The
waiter replied, “It is not the quantity but the quality that matters.”
You said that you are still hungry and he gave you the same reply.
I hope the message is clear. Our families need both,
quality and quantity.
Scrutinize your goals
A person who aims at nothing never misses. Aiming low
is the biggest mistake. Winners see objectives, losers see obstacles. As
Henry Ford once said, “Obstacles are those frightful things you see when
you take your eyes off your goal.” Our goals should be high enough to
motivate yet realistic enough to avoid discouragement. Anything we do,
either takes us closer to our goal or further away.
Goals without action are empty dreams. Actions turn
dreams into goals. Even if we miss our goals it does not make us a
failure. Delay does not mean defeat. It only means that one has to replan
to accomplish one’s target.
Just like a camera needs focus to take a good picture,
we need goals to make a productive life.”
I hope you have enjoyed these writings and that they
will bring some benefit to you. Until next time, stay focused! For further
details on our Personal Development and Professional Skills Programs
contact me at [email protected]
Social Commentary by Khai Khem
And to think, we were complaining about water shortages!
There’s an old saying; “Be careful what you wish
for!” For months residents in Pattaya have been complaining about water
shortages and our reservoirs were so empty that in some places we could
walk across them. Pattaya’s recent floods may have caused millions of
baht worth of damage, maddening inconvenience and even misery, but we did
indeed get the water we were wishing for. And then some. One night of
normal tropical rainfall and the next morning our city was literally
swimming for its life.
Inadequate drainage was the explanation. Okay, so now
the city engineers are going to fix the problem, right? Don’t forget,
now that the war in Iraq is under control and SARS is supposedly
contained, tourists will be flocking to Pattaya to enjoy all the wonderful
new things the city and the region has to offer. Do we really want them
wading waist deep in mud and filthy water the next time we have a little
rain?
From reports around town, this flood caused a lot of
expensive damage, not only to ordinary citizens but to big, high-profile
businesses. I’m going to make a wild guess here and assume the business
community is mad as hell. Glamorous hotels, modern department stores,
upscale restaurants, shopping centers and exclusive housing estates in
mid-town did not escape the consequences of this disaster and the bill for
the ravages is probably already in the mail.
If our city’s drainage system is so inadequate,
poorly planned or simply ‘out of order’ it means that our city
engineers have been ‘asleep at the switch’ and did not build the
system to standard. So was it actually haphazardly cobbled together
(“cheap and dirty” as they say in construction circles) like so much
of the rest of our infrastructure - telephones, roads, sidewalks, garbage
collection, tap water distribution - or is there some reasonable
explanation we haven’t yet heard? I’m all for giving people the
benefit of the doubt - until there is no doubt.
On a more positive note, I gotta hand it to Pattaya
people. Long suffering and philosophical when times are tough, citizens
pulled together and helped each other out. Gangs of sturdy youths pulled
cars out of sodden ditches and carried motorcycles to high ground. Our
normally surly baht-bus brigade mowed through water high enough to drown
an elephant and doggedly got people to their destinations. Neighbors
pitched in to drag furniture to upper stories. Some employees volunteered
to sleep on office and shop house floors in order to be available for work
the next day. Even the huge python that got stuck in a city drain received
a round of applause from gaping pedestrians.
A navel commander gave us some practical advice;
“Next time it rains, don’t leave home without an umbrella.” Next
time it rains I’m going to wear a wet-suit and bring TWO umbrellas; just
in case someone forgot theirs.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand is actively promoting
water sports and scuba diving in our area as a major attraction. Let’s
turn our Third World drainage system into a commercial opportunity. Their
next road-show could include a video presentation of some very unique
‘extreme sports’. How about windsurfing down Pattaya Second Road,
Wreck-diving in department store car parks, Treasure Dives in the South
Pattaya Gold shops, and wildlife exploration in Soi Yensabai street
drains. We could start a whole new tourist adventure program.
Woman's World: In the eye of the beholder
by Lesley Warner
What makes one woman more beautiful than the other? Is it her
eyes, nose, mouth, skin, hair, legs, bottom, boobs, character,
personality, clothes, intelligence, lack of intelligence or a combination
of all these things?
Of course if you’re
lucky beauty is inside and out.
Obviously everyone is different, fortunately for us,
because if all men fancied the same type of woman we would be in trouble.
The first rule of being beautiful is inner peace, and
contentment with your self, this is not easy to achieve endeavour, for to
avoid stress and anger is bad for the health, skin and causes wrinkles.
We have discussed many times the importance of diet and
avoiding the sun to help the skin maintain its ‘youthful’ glow into
the twilight years. You are never too young to use a moisturizer, but
unfortunately we do not tend to worry about our skin until it’s showing
a need for it. Oh how quickly that firm, smooth skin disappears. It seems
to be there one day and gone the next. I was with my daughters the other
day and for the first time I noticed how cavalier they are about taking
care of their body and skin. I told them that one day they, too, will wake
up and it will be too late, but they just laughed.
Remember that makeup cannot make beauty, use it to
enhance your attributes not to bury them. Use makeup and clothes to create
an image that you want to portray but remember as time goes on you may be
outgrowing your old look. Don’t hang on to your teenage years and
especially your old hairstyle. I was watching a movie the other week,
which an old girlfriend of mine was in, we were teenagers together and she
was a pretty girl. In the movie she had the same hair and makeup as she
did all those years ago, and I thought to myself how old she looked.
Unfortunately, no matter how cared for they are, long flowing locks do not
suit ladies into their 40’s. I always remember my mum saying to me what
a shock it must be when a guy whistles at a long head of hair and a
wrinkly old face turns round (lol).
The essence of personal style is wearing what is right
for you and knowing when to quit. If a particular style is unflattering on
you, you can look extremely tacky! Your wardrobe should show your
personality, clothes can say more about you than you can imagine.
Style is all about being comfortable and looking great;
don’t become a fashion victim - although all your clothes and
accessories may be “nice,” they just may not be nice for you.
Obviously budget plays a major role for many of us but
you don’t have to spend loads of money to look good, just be careful and
look at yourself objectively. Be careful whose opinion you ask, in my
experience your partner is not necessarily the correct person to ask for
an opinion. Most men will say what they think you want to hear, to avoid
trouble, or they want you to dress too young or like a streetwalker.
Nice underwear makes a woman feel better about herself
and if you are dressed in beauty under your clothes it can make you feel
beautiful all over, and you can usually please your partner!
There is just so much pressure on looking beautiful but
remember the clothes and make up are all superficial aids and we must
determine who we are creating our outward appearance for and why.
Remember true beauty radiates from a woman’s eyes and
general demeanour, which comes from within.
Tips for a more beautiful look:
- Avoid scorching heat and direct sunlight.
- Avoid spicy foods.
- Take a sleep of about 8 hours.
- Drink a lot of water - about 12 glasses per day.
- Working women should have a regular facial, once a
week.
- Last but not least, don’t worry, be happy.
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