I’ve just had a revelation.

My wife has been cutting my hair for nearly 20 years. I’ve had it cut by various professional barbers during that time, but my wife always does a better job, despite having no skills or qualifications as a hairdresser. 

That said, if a random person was to turn up asking my wife to cut their hair, she would struggle, whereas a professional barber would have no trouble.

So it is with the discussions I’ve been having here about exiting the UK tax system. I’ve had many people questioning my knowledge and I’ve put in a lot of effort to prove the statements I make.

However, I am definitely not a tax expert, nor do I claim to be, yet I know my tax position better than a professional would be able to understand.

If you are in a similar position, I can probably advise you better than any professional. However if your situation is different, I would have no ability to help.

The moral, stop using binary terms like are you an expert or not? Ask instead what do you know, how do you know it and can you prove you know it.

Generally on here and in real life, I try to be honest as to whether I know something or not and how I know it. If it’s fundamental knowledge gleaned over many years, “how I know” becomes harder for me to explain, but I will always try to be transparent.

I’m not offering tax advice, nor should you seek it out from me, but I have started to share my tax exit journey from the UK and if relevant, you are welcome to follow. But always try to DYOR in the same way you would with Bitcoin.