Esmeralda Blog

Through hard work and smart planning you’ve managed to save up for a prosperous retirement and now, for the first time in your life, you have plenty of time and little to do.

Sometimes the thought of packing for the kids, dragging them from their friends, getting on a flight and trudging to a foreign place for a family holiday can seem more exhausting than staying at home. In the old days, you and your partner could get a last-minute train to Paris and within hours be picnicking on a bridge overlooking the Seine.

They say youth is wasted on the young, but why is that? What do we find so enviable about the younger years? Is it the adolescent insecurity, midlife stress or those exhausting parenting years, crammed with worrying about the mystery of your son’s missing sock, and endless school AGMs?

Property remains a sturdy investment because of its inherent value – regardless of the economy, shelter is a bare necessity. So once you’ve got your own family’s heads covered, it makes sense to consider investing in a buy-to-let property to increase your capacity to earn income, while diversifying your investment portfolio.

The UK’s economy today means money in the bank is doing nothing for your investment portfolio. With current interest rates (or lack thereof) shrewd businessmen know that funnelling wealth into income generating investments makes sense.

Nineteenth century Parisian artists and writers were among the first to celebrate the flaneur, a person of leisure who strolled the streets, observing and admiring the world before them.

Conducting business in certain countries requires extensive pre-travel research. In Japan it’s necessary to present your business card as though it were an extension of yourself – with two hands, studying the print carefully as you hand it over.

Top Gear redefined the possibilities of a niche television series. With its humour, quirky characters, high-rolling sense of adventure, and constant element of surprise the (until recently) long-running show has been enthralling millions around the world, from avid car lovers to people with no interest in cars at all.

If you’ve spent the lion’s share of your life building a business, a brand, a name for yourself, once the gold dust of success has settled, you’re likely to be focusing on more personal goals and relationships.

Even the most blasé designer furniture lovers are probably familiar with the iconic chairs of Hans J. Wegner, the Danish designer whose beginnings as a traditional furniture-maker formed the foundation from which he became a pioneer of Danish organic modernism, and also one of the most significant figures in the designer furniture world. He is the man responsible for what is often called the perfect chair. Just One Good Chair, a compendium of his original designs, sketches and vintage photograph