The hedonistic lifestyle...

So, it seems I have almost managed to overcome the creative differences I have been experiencing with myself, and settle on using this blog to make account on my pursuit (for your pleasure of course) of the hedonistic lifestyle, and my attempts to define, capture and observe this elusive trophy in words and pictures.

Google defines hedonism as the pursuit of pleasure or the ethical theory that pleasure is the highest good and proper aim of human life. Wikipedia was unfortunately unavailable to quote due to the SOPA protest and I consulted the Urban Dictionary but was unable to get a sensible answer from them.

So I guess it is down to me to describe my interpretation. An article in the Business Special section of February's GQ magazine titled 'last of the famous international playboys' sheds some light on it. Unlike the self styled fame and bling seeking 'Playboys' of today, the international playboys of the 60's were cultured, stylish and well mannered. They were both a ladies man and a mans man, and had buckets of charm backed up by a mischievous smile. Don't misinterpret however, these men knew how to respect and treat women.

They enjoyed sporting pursuits, the more dangerous the better such as horse polo. They enjoyed the most amazing locations, partied and admittedly did some silly things, but where always careful not to be vulgar. they were connoisseurs. They never sought fame rather it found them. These men had what I would describe as a hedonistic life. This article:  http://tinyurl.com/7vghsuj  titled death of a playboy is very interesting and I recommend reading it.

I guess you could say actually then, that the Hedonistic lifestyle is what you make of it, and not what others define it as.....

Monaco the hedonistic capitol of the world?

-Alex

Montenegro, Finance

This post was meant to be about Montenegro, a country who only recently gained its independence and that is fast becoming a hot spot for the wealthy. I decided to write about Montenegro because of its advantages of being far larger than Monaco, having far cheaper house prices and benefiting from hot summer climes to even a ski resort in the winter. After some reading I had also been lead to believe it was a tax haven and potentially the new Monaco.

However writers who had under researched, failed to understand that in 2010 and 2011 new tax laws were passed increasing taxes payable in Montenegro. One of Monaco's biggest advantages other than the weather and scenery is its 0% income tax and 0% capital gains tax. However after looking a little further Monaco has other taxes that are high. Despite this if you sell your business for millions and are looking to retire in the sun, 0% capitol gains tax as opposed to 28% in the UK is attractive. For example if you have £10million pounds, George #toryslittleritchboy Osborne and the tax man will relieve you of £2.8million entirely at their pleasure. These discovery's made me decide to establish exactly which country you're best to move to if you don't want the tax man getting his grubby little fingers on your ill gotten gains.

This however proved to be too difficult. Forbes have a list of their top ten, http://www.forbes.com/2010/07/06/tax-havens-delaware-bermuda-markets-singapore-belgium.html but I think you really need a degree in economics or a financial adviser to find the country best for you. It also depends if you are running a business or if it's for personal wealth. This left me with the new challenge of rescuing the blog post before it became entirely boring, unfortunately I have to finish writing as I have a meeting with Patrick Bateman my financial agent. I'm looking to move my Tesco shares to an offshore account in the Cayman islands. All 120 of them.

-Alex

2011 and 2012

So 2011 is over and we have our feet firmly planted in 2012. The world is ready to forget 2011 it seems... there were some awful natural disasters (make no joke about it) and the worsening debt crisis among other things. But I doubt we've seen the last of either of those.

The January issue of GQ magazine named Boris Johnson, Mayor of London as the most influential man in Britain in 2012. I like Boris (cue memories of chanting his name through a pub in his former parliamentary constituency one new years eve) but I still fail to see how realistically he is no.1. I cant remember seeing Prince Phillip on the list at all either. I do however like the thought of the 'playboy toff' running the playground of London and I guess with the Olympics coming up he will have the ear of some very important people and they his. The following photo is taken from http://www.boriswatch.com/ a Boris fan club;

Today's metro news paper featured a house in Greenwich, south London which the owner is renting out during the Olympics, for £37,500 a week!!! It is a five floor town house with a temperature controlled wine cellar so for all you Olympics fans this is where you'll be wanting to stay. The property is reported to have been worth £225,000 in 1997 but today is worth £2.5 million! I think that's a little bit more of a return that you get from the banks at the moment! For that price I think i'd trade it in for a country pile #lordofthemanor.

So here is a DofG top tip, invest in property. Although if you're house gets repossessed I take no responsibility. Also try and make friends with Boris it seems. It also looks like this post paves the way for slightly more serious postings this year, although I think I may have promised a guide to being an international playboy. I will also hopefully have for you some guest posts and a wider range of topics, so bear with me whilst I try to figure out which direction the blog is heading!

Thanks for reading,

Alex

Old furniture

Recently learnt that my good friend Jack had a job at a local antiques dealer so went down to see him on new years day;

here is the #wheelerdealer himself, you may not recognize him from the recent series of Downton Abby (but he was there). I had a look around and came across this old gun cabinet for £80.

I'm not quite sure what you'd do with it, I don't even think its secure enough to legally hold guns anymore but I think it would house a flat screen TV quite nicely!? I've been looking at Ralph Lauren interior designs and really like them. Stick it in Google images search and see what comes up!

Anyway I have neglected my blog recently, but my new years resolution is to be a lot more thorough with it, and to try and use photos taken by myself.  Happy new year to you all.

-Alex