I use this purpose statement to help ensure I make the right decisions and take the right actions.
My Purpose – I inspire, help and coach people to live happier more productive lives.
Putting it up here encourages me and everyone I engage with to hold me accountable for this statement. It took a while for me to pluck up the courage to place such a bold statement on this and other websites but now it’s done it pushes me to achieve my purpose.
Why inspire? – It reminds me to set and achieve high standards.
Why help? – It reminds me to be active and “hands on.”
Why coach? – It’s effective in helping people to succeed
Why happier? – It’s a fundamental driver for everyone.
Why productive? – Being productive means creating as much value in the world as efficiently and effectively as possible.
My name is Charles de Lastic, and at the time of updating this in 2018, I am 62 years old. I live in the sleepy village of Wheathampstead in Hertfordshire, England with my wife and long-term partner of 23 years Heather. Heather and I met at Salsa dancing classes, and she is, without a doubt, one of the most organised people in the world – we make a great team. Our daughter, Kirsten, is a primary school teacher who lives with her boyfriend Sam who is a PE teacher.
My father died when I was very young. My mother Rita (87 this year) is living on the Gold Coast in Australia and playing a lot of golf. My two brothers – Robert lives in Australia in the same town as my mother, and Peter lives in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.I love to ski (downhill on snow), any form of water sport (especially kite surfing) take lots of interesting holidays (as you can tell by the tan in the photo above) and have meals out with friends.
At age 18 I started work in the equities department for the Queens Bank Coutts and Co in the city of London. After a few years, I decided I preferred working more with people and joined Sainsbury’s, rising to become a deputy store manager. This role gave me a solid foundation in business operations, systems and team management.
I “semi-retired at 31” to run my own business – a bar and restaurant on the Greek island of Lefkas. For seven years most of my summer days were spent windsurfing and evenings working in the bar. In the winters I indulged my passion for skiing and worked as a holiday rep in the French Alps for Thomsons and Inghams.
Eventually, I decided I was getting a bit long in the tooth for that hedonistic lifestyle, so I returned to the UK and trained to become a financial adviser with Lloyds Bank and then Barclays Bank. At Barclays, I worked mainly with business owners as clients.About 17 years ago we set up Bluebond as a separate consultancy business as a specialist in Inheritance Tax and Estate planning. We help the wealthy retired, investment property owners and business owners with their tax planning
After a few years working as a financial adviser mainly with business owners and professionals like doctors, dentists, accountants etc I found the most value I was bringing to clients was in the area of Inheritance tax advice as the savings when done properly can be huge. I felt there was a gap in the market as solicitors understand the legal side, accountants understand the tax side, and financial advisers understand financial products but almost no one has trained in all 3 areas in depth. I decided to train myself across all 3 areas and have spent the last 16 years advising clients in this specialist area.
My specialist knowledge across legal advice, tax advice and the financial products which impact on IHT is what makes Bluebond such a valuable resource to people with Inheritance tax problems.
My perspective is to help clients legally mitigate all taxes as I see no point in avoiding inheritance tax only to pay more income tax or Capital gains tax. Due to the complexity of Tax planning, I often find that just a few slight changes to the way people hold and deal with their assets can save considerable amounts in Tax over the years.
As Heather and I have also invested in our own property portfolio since 2005 I am also able to help Landlords in their tax planning as invariably professional landlords also have a large IHT problem as well.
Enjoy the journey
Charles
Ava is well qualified and has strong work experience in both legal and tax advice for private clients
She obtained her legal qualification(LLB Law 1st class Honours)in London with specialisation in Commercial Law and Equity. Ava is an affiliate member of the Society of Trust and Estate Planning (STEP)practitioners and the holder of an Advanced Diploma in International Taxation (ADIT).
Ava has extensive knowledge of inheritance planning and offshore trust arrangements and a great deal of experience in the underlying local tax regimes. Ava is a fluent speaker of English, Bulgarian, and Russian.
She has years of experience in assisting high earning individuals and companies with compliance and tax matters as part of sophisticated tax planning solutions
She joined Bluebond to assist new clients with inheritance tax planning using corporate structures like limited liability partnerships and Family investment companies together with some more specialist trusts.
Rumyana is a well-organised Legal Secretary with a bubbly personality and proactive attitude. She is a highly motivated individual who used to work for the Private Client Department of a UK law firm which is part of Quality Solicitors. Rumyana has a broad legal background with knowledge of the European and UK legal systems.
She is studying towards being a fully qualified lawyer and is soon due to pass her final exams in the UK. Her plans are related to helping people escape paying extra taxes with their hard-earned money.
Rumyana is a Legal secretary in our team and is a tremendous help with our clients' workload.
Rumyana lives and works in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
Victoria has previously worked in television production, high end restaurant management, digital marketing and as a book reviewer and so brings a strong eye for detail and marketing management to the company.
Victoria joined us in 2022 to help ensure the project management and development of the company marketing. Her role is developing the company marketing campaigns and ensuring the smooth workflow of marketing and administration tasks between the team.
Victoria lives and works in Vratsa, Bulgaria.
