Ann Kaplan On The Ruthless Secrets of Her Financial Empire And Her Economic Revolution

24:11Ann Kaplan:Yeah. He's hated, isn't he? It depends which side you're on. That's true because he's also loved. Yeah. I don't know if he's really seriously loved or feared by anybody. They have so much to lose if they don't back him. but that's another conversation. But Zelensky was a comedian. Yeah. So what's the - So you mean the more modern leader is not necessarily a hardcore politician? Correct. So why would - Yeah, why is the world crying out for these kind of people now? Yes. Because the hardcore politicians are not doing a good enough job. Why not? Why aren't they? Because they're trained in politics.

24:50They're supposed to be good.

24:51Ann Kaplan:Correct, yes. Oh, is that the problem? Yes. They're not business minded. I mean, I do not think that Reeves right now is not a business mind. She is not a business mind. She doesn't have a clue. She might be an okay accountant for small businesses. I think an administrative, not an accountant. What do they call her? Rachel from admin or something? Rachel from accounts. Accounts. Yeah. Definitely not an FD level. Yeah. She's just has no idea of business. I think she told some fibs on her CV. I heard that. Yeah. And then she is trying to say, okay, this is what we should do. And I'm going, if you worked for me, you would last about three seconds.

25:34Ann Kaplan:Why doesn't he boot her out? Because he hasn't got a fucking clue either. He hasn't, like, these guys are hardcore socialists. And they're Marxists. And they, like, I can't get my head around this. They have a fundamental belief that the government generates all the revenue. Where does the government get all of its money from? Right, from the people. From us, from workers and builders and producers and entrepreneurs. So it's just a fundamentally warped Marxist belief system. But surely in the end, even the Labour voters will go, well, wait a minute, I can't afford anything. and even I'm paying loads of tax and I'm not a higher rate taxpayer.

26:23I need to be able to feed my family. Get out.

26:26Ann Kaplan:They were voted in, but they're taking it to an extreme of complete economic downturn and a complete almost we're going to go into some recession, I think, in a few years. And they're not looking at she's not forward thinking. She's thinking that in three years it's going to be a thriving country. It's not going to be with what she's doing. She's looking forward to the future, saying we're going to be better off in three years, four years, five years. But that's not the case because we're going to be worse off. So the decisions she's making now are under the assumption in a few years that this is going to be a better country.

27:00Ann Kaplan:But it's not worldwide. It is not going to be good. So we need to make ways that people can survive and live and have growth and investment, not cost for everyone to live here. Why did you move here then? We didn't know this would happen. We never would have moved here. Really? We could have chosen anywhere. We never would have. Well, my husband's Irish. Yeah. And we're here on an ancestry visa. Right. My mother is English. Right. So I went to university here. It was natural to live here. It's English speaking. So what did you study here when you did your degree? My doctorate. So you did a doctorate in?

27:36Finance. So you came over here. So you must have liked it when you came over here and did your degree.

27:41Ann Kaplan:Loved it. Because otherwise you wouldn't have come back, would you? And I still sit on the board at the university and it's not a place that I want to go. This is so upsetting to me. We've been to Dubai a lot. I love Dubai. I mean, there are some downsides. But in Dubai, you pay 5 % VAT, not 20 % VAT. You pay 9 % corp tax, not 25 % corp tax. And then there's no income tax, no national insurance, no inheritance tax. The buyer and the seller pay 2 % property taxes each. In the UK, you can pay up to 15 % stamp duty. And then when you own a house, you've got council tax, which is another property tax.

28:19It's just unbelievable. And when you meet successful people in Dubai, they're happy to meet other successful people. They know you're going to work. So they connect you up with loads of people. There's the 10-year visa. Hey, look, you're a creator. We'll give you a 10-year visa. This recent budget should warn you that your pension is not safe and secure. and they're coming for your inheritance. Do you even know how much is in your pension or where your pension is invested? Add to this the recent inheritance tax grab on your pensions and the risk of a market crash. You probably didn't know this and I didn't until recently, but physical gold can be added to your pension pot.

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29:50Ann Kaplan:They're investing in the future in Dubai. They are. Oh my goodness. It's an amazing, amazing place. But they're investing in the future. I think it's a wonderful place to go. And look at the countries that are doing that. Italy is doing it. Dubai is doing it, Switzerland's doing it. They're going, welcome, come on in, come on in, invest in here, live here. They want money to invest in the infrastructure that it grows. Here, it is really a country that is only helping those that are perceived or not able to pay the bills. And even that's not even a help. They're not investing in people to come here.

30:25Ann Kaplan:They're saying, get out. And the non-DOM tax regime, it's not all about just that. That was built in late teens or put in the late 1700s to attract people to the country. So why would you abolish something that was put in to attract investors and then have everybody who invests in the country leave to the country that say, come with us? It's mad. It's mad. There's this meme that's going around and it's Dubai Real Estate Agent of the Year. And then it's Rachel Reeves' phone. Because like we're not making it very hard for people to leave and we're not making it very hard for places like Dubai to take all of our talent.

31:04That's what London used to do. Yes. London was the non-dom place. London was the tax haven. The billionaires from all the countries around the world could come to London and we thrived. Look at Knightsbridge.

31:15Ann Kaplan:Yes, everything. Well, Knightsbridge and Mayfair have now crashed 35%, 40 % because we've had an exodus the other way. Yes. and also if you look at all of the high-end stores she's looking at raising the vat as well but we'll just go to paris and shop yeah it makes no sense of what she's doing but the high-end stores are not getting their buyers they're not getting the hotels aren't getting it the restaurants aren't getting it people are going and that's going to hit for the employment and And they estimate by, I guess, 2033, that's going to be a big drop in employment in those areas with all this going in.

31:56So to me, OK, some of it you might need to be an entrepreneur or a business owner to work out. But I think 70 % of what we've said just feels like common sense. like if you want money in your country make it easy for people to make money and don't exile

32:15Ann Kaplan:people with money okay well let's look at why don't they understand it because she's she's saying right now today she's saying to the banks please kind of back what i'm saying so before she comes up with a budget she's saying listen to what i'm saying i need your backing she wants the backing of people to say like a little bit you won't agree with but overall it's going to be a good thing for the country so let's try and take her side of it what why would she be saying this why isn't she listening to the people she's backed out of a lot of things but why is she not listening to what the problems are going to be why why do you think i think she's afraid to back down i think she's afraid to make it like she's made a u-turn on almost everything that she's done so why is she doing this now she's saying this is going to be better for the country but she doesn't listen to what the country wants.

33:03That is actually a really good point. Labour seem to refuse to listen to the people. Because it's not just millionaires and billionaires saying this.

33:11Ann Kaplan:They don't like millionaires and billionaires. Why? Because they're millionaires. Millionaires and billionaires pay all the taxes. What's wrong with that? Because they don't like wealthy. But why? Because the wealthy pay all the taxes. Where do they get their money from? The wealthy. So why don't they like the wealthy? That's like saying, I don't like my mum for raising me and feeding me. so they at the comments are when is enough enough so when i look at the comments that people put when i'm on something like your show or in the media it's don't you have enough money when is enough enough you know take your money and go you know slam the front door those kind of things but there's an assumption that you have too much and so that i don't understand is why can't we be successful whatever success is why can't we have a home why can't we have a castle like why is that a bad thing well someone's got to own the castle and this is what the people who don't understand i'm going to just say this um all this when is it enough well the person that owns the castle employs the hundred people who work on the castle yes so so what no one should own the castle then the hundred people who work in the castle don't have a job.

34:24Ann Kaplan:And then the comments would be, oh, you're not paying them enough. And you've made your back on people by not paying enough people, employees throughout your lifetime. And so that's how you've made your money, is on people working for you for nothing. No one works for free. No, but I'm thinking, where do you get that kind of information that I was ever unfair to somebody? Yeah. Where does that come in? Right now we have a banking crisis, a potential global recession. If you'd like to learn how to cash in on the crash and not just survive, but thrive in challenging times, I invite you to join us at the Moneymaker Summit Live.

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35:44Let's just let's move to the castle now. How much have you spent developing this castle? So do you want to tell everyone which castle it is? Lim Castle. It's in Kent.

35:54Ann Kaplan:Yeah, Lim. It's kind of spelt like L-Y-M-P-N-E, like out on a limb it's pronounced. Right. So it's pronounced Lim, but it's spelt Limp-N-E. Limp-N-E. Yeah. Okay. So it's Lim Castle in Kent. Yeah. And how much have you spent? Because this is a beautiful place. It's huge. It's like a maze. 51 rooms you gave us, the tour of it all. I'd love to bring my team down here for a retreat. And you've developed everything pretty much. Yeah, the gardens, the lands, the properties, about 145 acres. We bought the houses next door. So we're close to 20, 25 million pounds. So you've invested 20 to 25 million pounds redeveloping a beautiful castle, which otherwise would have been a ruin, and you employ 100 people.

36:38And I've met four or five of your staff. They seem really happy to me. They're very friendly.

36:43Ann Kaplan:Very friendly. Hello. Yeah. Hello, someone send this to Labour. I think we should have them down here. Oh, I'd come back. Yeah. Yeah. We should do an archery contest. Archery contest. Oh, I don't know. I mean, I saw that video of Kia Starmer trying to do the boxing and it wasn't great. So this castle, why did you buy it? What did you pay for it? Why did you want a castle? I didn't want a castle. I wasn't looking for anything. I did not want to actually buy in England. So when my husband and I moved here, we decided to look for a flat. And I'll make it really quick. But the cheapest flat we found in Mayfair was£8.5 million,£48 ,000 a year in the fees.

37:29Ann Kaplan:I don't know what you call the fees, yearly fees. Yeah. To just manage the condo, the building, the flat. Yeah. And I said to my husband. Lease, we call it the leasehold. Leasehold. So I said, look, we're in an inflationary period, which inflation is good. Is if you have assets. Yeah, inflationary period. We can't get a mortgage, but interest rates are up. Nobody's going to be buying. Let's just rent. So we decided we rented. Yeah. And then I thought, boy, it's expensive. Like 8.5 million pounds for a flat. And I thought, I wonder what a house costs. So I started Googling. I wonder what a castle costs.

38:04Ann Kaplan:So I started Googling and then found this castle. Anyway. And what's the size of the castle all in? 27 ,000 square feet. Wow. So I found the castle. I contacted them. later on they contacted me back and said the deal fell through they had on the castle they had it for sale it fell through would i want to see it and so i said to my husband let's go look at this castle he goes i don't want to buy a castle and so we came down the next day it was a complete mess and so i said okay i'll buy it but it was half the price that the last offer was how much so they had 11 million pounds and i offered 6.5 million pounds take it or leave it the next day and they cash Yeah.

38:45So you bought a castle for£6.5 million? No, no.

38:48Ann Kaplan:After we went through a survey, it took a couple of months, the report came back and it was in even worse condition than we thought because we had to do all the inner works, the stuff you don't see, like all the gas, the tanks, the plumbing, the electrical, I don't know what the sewage is called here, but whatever that's called here. Yeah. And everything had to be redone behind the walls, including in front. But so I said, OK, this isn't what I thought. I'll give you till tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. But I'm taking a million off. So I got it for 5.5 million pounds, the castle. So a flat in central was eight and a half and you bought a 27 ,000.

39:31Ann Kaplan:With 100 at the time, 139 acres. and then we bought more land around the castle as well so we could put other things in there so i bought it for not including the land around the castle for 5.5 million pounds right cash why is this not inspirational to every woman and man watching this video that is that to me is inspirational if you know if you can do it maybe i can do it or i might not card and set up a company and and sell it and why did what why is that not I mean most of our listeners will find it inspirational but I'm sure we'll get some hate in the comments that that's just good business so it's I mean people look at it because they don't have it they don't look and just say let's cheer it on but there's many many years where my husband and I went with we rented and we had to watch the groceries every month and you know we had six kids at home and plus my mother at home and it was just that's the way we lived i never sat there dreaming for a castle i just dreamed for a happy family and i worked my butt off and i didn't spend money i wasn't driving a ferrari i wasn't driving like sports cars we drove what we needed to do to ferry the kids and we watched everything i went to second hand stores to buy my suits it was that's what we had to do we had to budget yeah we didn't look like we were rich but we weren't poor yeah Well, we kind of did because I had secondhand clothes, but it was, and then we still kind of live like that.

41:06Yeah.

41:07Ann Kaplan:But I think people resent that. They don't realize that they have to work really hard and not spend too much. And you actually can live your dream if you live within your budget and invest back. And I think the perception is that it just happened like that, but it didn't. Yeah. Do you think anyone can be successful and wealthy? I do. Anyone? I think anyone can be. So why are most people not because they don't believe that they can be they get in their own way people get In front of themselves. They carry the past with them. They say I can't do this because Blame their parents or they're from jerk that left them or the guy that beat them up with your woman or the man because Whatever his dad drank too much.

41:48Ann Kaplan:They start blaming things in their past rather than say put your past behind you Go forward put your head down Look at, there's a lot of things you need to do to be successful. But in business, you have to look at distribution and all the, think big. And you can, but you have to invest in that time and not spend too much while you're doing it. Yeah. But you have to think distribution. You have to think of how mass distribution would work. As in how you can get your products or services out to millions of people, maybe. Yes. You don't want to do something where you're making, baking apple pies out of your kitchen.

42:20Not scalable.

42:21Ann Kaplan:Not scalable. So it's probably a better way to word it. It has to be scalable. Okay, so you often get the argument from maybe people like you're referencing who are carrying this baggage. Oh, well, you know, we still need cleaners. Not everyone can be rich because we still need bartenders and all that. So no, everyone can't be rich. Maybe everybody doesn't want to be rich. And that's okay, I guess. We're not here criticizing them, are we? No, no. And so I don't think it's not like we live in a world that would just change the definition of rich if we all had the same amount of money. it's not about the money it's about building your dream and your business if you're employing people then what is wrong with that you're not saying hey you can't have another job you can't invest in your own business good on them if that's what they want to do but there are some people that have a dream of just raising their family having peace and quiet they don't want to go and be entrepreneurs they don't want to invest in business what's wrong with that yeah what's wrong with hiring and paying somebody?

43:19Ann Kaplan:You're not forcing them to work. You give a proper and fair pay. You look after people. You look at the cultural. You could contribute to their pension. Do whatever. They have five weeks holiday. They have sick time. They go to their anniversaries. Here at the castle and even in the business when I was running the finance company, we offered our employees, we'll invest in your education. So when you leave here, you'll be in better shape than when you came but hopefully you never leave yeah but here you want to do an MBA we'll pay for it we do that for our employees because I believe in helping other people succeed where they want to be but they're also returning that they have long-term working with you and they enjoy their employment yeah why can't you be a good employer too so I think a lot of people perceive that are rich people they just avoid taxes they don't pay any tax, which of course I know is absolute nonsense.

44:12So in a normal year when your company was at a big growth stage, what would be the rough tax bills you would pay?

44:21Ann Kaplan:It was a tough one because I was taxed about 45 % on the gain on the sale. So I just paid it. 45 % capital gains tax. Was this in Canada? In Canada. So it's 28 in the UK. And there used to be a bit of entrepreneur's relief. It's a little bit different in Canada because you're taxed on 50 % and then another percent. But it ends up to be approximately that. And that's what I paid in between that, in between 23 and 40%, depending on how you looked at it. And I just paid it. How much was the tax bill? Well, you could do the math, so I can't tell you that. Oh, right. Very good, very good. You are sharp, Pam, because you know what?

45:01I was on a show last week. And I asked the chap what he sold his shares for. Because people are interested in the numbers. I'm not trying to trip anyone up. And he's like, I can't say. But later I asked him his tax bill. And then I was able to work it back. But you're too sharp for that. But would it be fair to say you paid tens of millions in tax?

45:20Ann Kaplan:I paid a lot in tax. Right. So you can confidently stand here and say you paid. I paid all my tax. That wasn't going to be my question. I would assume that. But you pay huge amounts of tax. Yes. I have no problem paying tax. Yeah. So there's this stupid perception with people that millionaires and billionaires don't pay any tax. Well, number one, when you sell a company, the capital gains tax is at least 25 percent. And it goes up to and paid 45 percent. You're paying VAT on everything you sell in the UK. In the UK. So if you do 100 million in sales a year, then you're paying 20 million on top in VAT.

46:01You pay national insurance in the UK of 15 % on every staff member that you hire, and they pay national insurance. You pay corporation tax. Now, I think that's the one. Companies avoid some corporation tax by moving to different countries, but they're still VAT. They're still national insurance. They're still capital gains tax. So I just want to say to everyone, it is an absolute myth that millionaires and billionaires don't pay tax. They just reduced down some corporation tax and some income tax and you would do it too if you had a company. So I just want to say that. That's absolutely true.

46:35Ann Kaplan:That is absolutely true. Okay, so let's change the subject because do you have a reality TV show? I do. Tell us about that. So I was on The Real Housewives of Toronto and that was kind of odd because I was a woman in business. But I had hosted some other TV shows because I like that creative part of your brain. Yeah. And then went on The Real Housewives. I actually had never seen the show because I don't like television. Like, I don't watch TV. I don't even know how to use the clickers. I cannot turn on. They're not called clickers, so that proves it. What is it called? Here they're called remote control.

47:11Yeah. A clicker is what you do when you do PowerPoint presentation.

47:14Ann Kaplan:Oh, okay. Yeah. Okay, no, not it. Anyway, I brought my kids up without television. Wow. So no TV. That must have been hard. No cable. They call it cable cable. Yeah, not in America, but yeah. Yeah. So I did not like TV. Right. So we did things like we go camping, we do other things, but I brought them up without it. Wow. And so that's how much I don't like it. Yeah. And it's not TV. It's not spending time with your kids. Yes. So I don't want to put them in front of something, and I didn't want to have myself in front of something. It's very difficult these days because everything is accessible on a little pad.

47:50Yeah.

47:50Ann Kaplan:but the i was asked to do the real housewives never seen it then they said okay we need you to sign a form and watch the show so i watched it thought oh my goodness okay that's what i'm in for and so no problem so i did the real housewives yeah and then i was asked to do a show on entrepreneurship and for females and i said ah i'll do it but not on just females i think it should be anyone what difference does it make they said no no no you'd be good for doing one on females yeah so i finally said yes and then when we were doing this castle i phoned up the producers one of the producers and i said we've got an offering on a castle it was in the survey part point and i said i think it would be interesting to do a show instead of entrepreneurs on the renovation of a castle and then at the point when just before we purchased it closed on it i got a call and they said you've been picked up like the show yeah and we hadn't quite closed on it right and then i went back and i said um because i found i got the survey report within a day and i went to my husband and i went back to them and said no we want a million off you've got till tomorrow morning so that night we got the show picked up and i went back and gave them one day to take it or leave it.

49:12Ann Kaplan:My husband goes, just give them a million, give them a million. Like you've got your own TV show, give them a million. I said, no, no, they'll call. Anyway, they called, took it. What made you so confident they'd call? Because they knew that there were all the deficiencies in the castle. But weren't you scared of losing it for a million, which isn't a huge amount of money to you? Well, any amount of money that's not well spent, but I also knew it was going to take millions just behind the walls to bring the castle up. So the deal wasn't making any sense given all the deficiencies because it doesn't seem like much, but when you've got this size of a property and you have to change the boilers, the gas, and what I said is the electrical, the plumbing, everything had to be changed.

49:54Ann Kaplan:The roads, the roadways, all of that. The stonework, all the stones have had to be relayed in this whole castle. So not the walls, but the stones. It was a lot. Yeah, because they say that, you know, the person that usually wins in negotiation is the one that needs it the least or is prepared to walk away. Whatever offer you give, be prepared to walk away. Yeah. Yes. And you were prepared to walk away from this? Well, obviously. Yeah. Yeah. So you didn't fall in love with it? No, you cannot fall in. Well, you're in real estate. You can't fall in love with your real estate. Do not make an offer on only one property without being able to walk away.

50:34Ann Kaplan:Always have a backup. If this doesn't work, I've got this one. So when I've bought properties, I get the realtor to give me three options. And I say, put an offer on this one. If they don't take the offer, we're going to go to number two. If they don't take that offer, we're going to go to number three. So my realtor, broker, whatever you call them here, knows that I'm not going to just take the first offer. Right. If they don't say yes, just tell them a deal's done, go to number two. And so I don't just offer them one property. I offer on more than one. And the broker needs to have the mentality to understand, I'm going to walk away.

51:10Ann Kaplan:So you want to get the deal done? Give them a low offer here. Don't like it? Go to the next one. And it's common sense. It's not mean. It's not awful. It is, but it's not. It's like, I really enjoyed this part. I mean, I've enjoyed the whole thing, but I really enjoyed that part because... Do you do that? Well, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Like anything I've fallen in love with, A watch, a car, a property has been very expensive. Well, my first marriage was. I wasn't going to mention my wife. So did that end badly, the first marriage? His name was Gone with the Wind. And it didn't end badly. You know, it's one of those kind of things where you just marry a nice person, but the wrong person.

51:59Right.

51:59Ann Kaplan:And so you don't marry someone because they're awful. you know you marry someone because you think it's going to work yeah but i was young when it ended and i had two babies right and i did not dream of being a single mom with two kids that was not my dream no so for me it did not end up where i wanted it to end up how did you handle that then a lot of tears and was it messy was there like was it financially messy he never paid child support not one dime oh wow so never has and never and so it wasn't messy it was just how did that make you feel i didn't want to go after somebody who didn't want to support me and so why would i spend years going after somebody who didn't want to help me out and so you can't live in a world where you're living in judgment of negativity like i had a choice many people do though don't they So then it would reflect on my kids.

52:56Ann Kaplan:And so I have to be an example to what I want my kids to be. And so do I want to be a negative person or crying? I was bathing the kids when they were in a tub one day. I was bathing the kids and I started crying and they started crying. so I was leaning over the tub and I started crying because of my sad life and they burst into tears and I thought oh my goodness they're reflecting me and I smartened up at that moment thought there's no way I'm going to have be this sobbing oh poor me mom I'm going to get there and I'm going to go get it and I'm going to turn my life around and that's what I had to do.

53:32So it strikes me that you're really in control of your emotions that's that like you're talking about some things that other people would be emotional about. And I'm feeling, I'm getting an energy that, well, life is life and you just move on.

53:50Ann Kaplan:Don't you have to? Because I find there's life and there's death and everything else in between is actually really funny. And that when you look at people, they're actually quite humorous. I mean, Rachel Reeves, if I do some stand-up comedy stuff, I would love to do something just on her. I'd love to see that. Yeah. Everything. Life is really tough. When you try to raise kids, when you don't have money, when you lose parents, when you lose family or something, these are the things that are really, really tough. All the rest in between, you can have a sense of humor about. And so I think that is important to put everything that really matters into the right category.

54:32Ann Kaplan:And that is your family, your kids, life. But money, all that kind of stuff, is pretty funny. It's good comedic material. So if you put things in perspective, that's what matters. So that's why I seem in control because I don't really care. Do you not really care or have you taught yourself to not really care? Because a lot of people say, oh, I don't care. yeah you do well if somebody wants to beat me up make i mean verbally beat me up make fun of me those kind of things that's them that i can't control what other people do but i can control how i respond and how i act and so and i tell that to my kids when they have some verbal issues it's like you can't control them but you can control who you associate with yeah and you can control your response so think about what's in control and not what is not in your control and so i just wouldn't be around somebody i don't like no has any of the hate though got to you any of the trolling yes so there was there was one time i was in um in uh i think it was con or niece and I was with one of the magazines and we were invited to lunch with one of the big fashion brands.

55:53Ann Kaplan:I'm leaving names out just so I don't harm anybody in this. And we had done some videos with the people of the magazine and we had joked about eating carbs and the waiter came by and he says to me, would you like pizza? And I said, oh, can you do that again. I want to do a little video on me not eating carbs. And he offers me some pizza. And I say, can't you tell I don't eat carbs? Well, that went viral. And I would say 20 million views, 13 publications, newspaper publications on me not eating carbs and 80 ,000 comments. I woke up negative. I woke up in the morning and it was so bad. I didn't know what to do and it didn't stop.

56:42Ann Kaplan:Every day it got worse. And so there was one of these, I don't know what they're called, these social media guys in the US that make their living off OnlyFans girls. And they talk negatively about them and the OnlyFan girls get them to talk about them and they get more postings and they make their money off OnlyFans and people make their money off negative comments. And I had a lot of bots and they were horrible comments. Yeah, it got to me. I hired a security guard. I had to hire lawyers. I had to hire public relations. I had to hire someone to take down all the comments because you don't wake up to negativity every day and just telling you how horrible you are, how horrible you look, what a bad person you are.

57:28Ann Kaplan:how mean you are to a waiter to tell him you don't eat carbs. Why, you must eat carbs. Like, who cares if I eat carbs? So it was just a word saying I don't eat carbs. And it's not like I threatened somebody. And then somebody, it was nice enough to go to the waiter and posted it and said, look, I talked to the waiter. He knew all about it. But they went to the restaurant. They checked on it. And it was awful. But more money is made in negativity and fear than it's made in kindness and giving. So either I succumb to it or I try to be part of the other side. So I've got to be part of the other side.

58:15Ann Kaplan:And I've got to take the hits because I'm not going to be quiet. And so I'm going to be vocal about it. So I'm not going to be quiet about it. Does money make you happy? I'd rather have money than not have money. But it's a whole other world out there when you actually have money. It's a whole other world opens up to you think you're at a nice restaurant. Do you know what it's like to go to someone's private island and you have a different kind of thing? Or when you take a private jet to go to that private island or something? There's a whole other perception of things. Does that make you happy?

58:51Ann Kaplan:it's it's not that the people that i meet that i have an opportunity are different they're all confident people and but the people that are don't have money that are friends of mine are all confident people too so i'm not saying everyone who doesn't have money isn't good but i'd rather have money than not have money and then i can make my choice how i want to spend it and look at warren buffett who's given most of his money to charity or look at bill gates that's given most of his money to charity. Look at people that do, and Melinda Gates, people that have money that are able to give back. I admire that.

59:26Ann Kaplan:They're good role models. Should a woman make sure she becomes financially independent herself, or is it okay to financially rely on a man? I think a woman should be able to walk away and say, F you, you asshole, don't lay another hand on me, and be able to make it on their own. And I walked away from my husband, gone with the wind, and I was scared when he didn't pay child support. But I'd rather walk away than stay in a position where I was not happy. And I think a woman should be independent enough that she can put a roof over her head for the kids and herself and not depend on a husband or an ex.

1:00:11Ann Kaplan:That's it. Not maintain the same lifestyle because I couldn't keep my life. My husband was very wealthy. I couldn't keep the lifestyle but that didn't matter because I could at least put the roof over my head if I went back to work paid for that rented a place had the kids bought them cheaper clothes and fed them that's enough but walk away from the turkey like put put yes walk away from the jerk you're better off without him like why can't women leave a man that is just miserable making you never ever take crap from a guy right now i think in the world we've got this divide where on the one hand many women are feeling it's important to become financially independent and their career driven you know like yourself um but that's creating a different dynamic in a relationship because if you think in this castle 300 years ago maybe the the man would work and the woman would raise the children and look after the home is there no space for a woman to just raise children support her husband and run a home yeah and not have to be fine because if because to be financially independent for a lot of people you have to go and work you're absent from your children it's maybe not for some women it's not maybe a feminine pursuit what do you think about that and it's a tough one because I think that you should watch who you marry and before you have kids with somebody be careful who you're having kids with because if you need to walk away you need to make sure that you are able to at least walk out that door if there's any kind of abuse or any kind of problem but I would love to see people stay married more like get through the crap.

1:01:57Ann Kaplan:I don't ever take abuse, but get through the crap. Sure. I mean, there's times when I like my husband more sometimes than other times. It doesn't mean I'm going to leave him, but we're both invested in being married. We're both invested in raising our family. Before you have a family, make sure that you're married to somebody who wants to raise a family and is aware you've actually got to put those kids first. And if your husband or spouse or wife doesn't, make sure you're willing to pick up the pieces without being negative as well yeah so is there room for a woman to to be the breadwinner or to not be the breadwinner and just stay home of course there is but be careful what you negotiate because you should be able to make sure there's room enough for you to leave or have a backup plan negotiate that up front i don't know what the rules are in the uk for division of assets yeah be prepared for the fight and always make sure you put something aside to walk out that door.

1:02:54Right.

1:02:55Ann Kaplan:Okay. Or know who you're spending your life with. The issue is when people have kids too young or accidentally get pregnant and then end up in a bad relationship. That's a different discussion. Yeah. What's your biggest payday? Oh, I think when my husband took his company public, that would be his biggest payday, but that was shocking. Shocking how much? It was valued at$6 billion. $6 billion. Yeah. Yeah. How did that make you feel? Well, he didn't really talk about it. Seriously, we don't talk about our work. You two don't talk about your work together? No. Oh, okay. Is that the secret to a long marriage then?

1:03:33Ann Kaplan:Well, because I was always in finance and he was a plastic surgeon and focused on head, neck, throat, cancer surgeon and cosmetic surgery. And for all those out there, you're not allowed to operate on your wife. So however ugly I look, it's not because of him. and so the um in Canada at least you're not allowed to yeah I think they put comments like your husband made you look awful and I'm thinking thanks a lot so it's not his fault when he um took the company public and when we were both working we didn't he didn't come home from operating all day and talk about that and I didn't talk about finance we talked about life and relax and enjoy dinner together so it was quite surprising when he said no we can actually do whatever we want and i thought that's odd because i was not used to that but but it's because i think a lot of people perceive when they get some big payday it's a massive party you've achieved your life goal you know you've got everything you want but it wasn't like that no because we always lived our lives the way we wanted to it was just suddenly I could buy that pair of shoes without thinking about it if I wanted to.

1:04:46Yeah.

1:04:46Ann Kaplan:But I still pick up a penny on the street if I see it. I would still negotiate everything. I'm still fair about it. And I still care about the price of everything. So I'm careful. Yeah. I don't waste anything. What's one lie that all rich people tell? Right now? That all rich people? Oh, I don't know Jeffrey Epstein.

1:05:19how's that that is the first time we've asked that question and i think that would be the

1:05:23Ann Kaplan:best answer for a hundred years isn't it funny that nobody knows them yeah yeah yeah what's your biggest mistake or regret i don't regret my first marriage because you know i can't change anything um i regret the times i didn't do something because i thought i'd have another opportunity like and well i mean i worked when i was very young i worked with the america's cup and they invited me on the boat the 80 foot mast and beautiful boat to go for a sale around the harbor and i was like no no i'll go do it tomorrow and then that they never offered again yeah um there's the things i didn't do but one thing i do know is that when my parents all of them were alive that i spent time with them and um one thing i will go into is that um my when my mother raised me and there was a lot of abuse when i was younger and my sisters didn't didn't survive it and they ended up in a mental institute and And when I was younger, my mom said, I went back after I was 14, and then afterward, I went back to help my mom.

1:06:41Ann Kaplan:And because she was dealing with going to the hospitals, and they lived like in a mental institute. And they didn't survive the abuse. And my mom said, I want you to leave, and I want you never to come back. And I knew my mom wanted me to live my life and be happy. So I said, after I was 14, I moved back, not home, but to help her. and meaning back, back to Victoria. And I lived every day I phoned my mom and told her how happy I was until the day she passed because I knew the most important thing I could give my mom was for me to be happy because she didn't have her other kids survive that. And so I regret, I would regret if I didn't just give my mom happiness.

1:07:28Ann Kaplan:Couldn't give her money, couldn't give her anything. I had to let her know that she was loved and she did one thing right. How did you survive it then if they didn't? He used to line us up. There were five girls and he'd make us watch him beat my mom. And I would go and pull him off. But my sisters would just watch. And I was like a little kid. And I didn't tolerate it. Like you're not giving that crap. and I think because I just wouldn't take it because somebody had to take a stance. So at some point, somebody has to take a stance and if nobody else is, I stepped in and took that. So it was like, you got to own it.

1:08:15Ann Kaplan:You got to take your beliefs. But also, I'm not blind to when somebody else needs to be picked up and helped. So I will stop and say, don't do that. Get out of there. Don't do it. what's a secret you've never shared or a story you've never told I'm not usually open about the stories of the things I think what I've said to you today is I've never been open about the beatings um that's something I've never been I've mentioned that there was abuse but I never said what it was and probably because I'm protective of my family and the history and then my children and my sisters. I've lost four of my sisters in the last years, recent years, and I'm protective of the legacy of our family.

1:09:09I don't want it to be that bad

1:09:13Ann Kaplan:because there was a lot of beautiful things and good things too. how do you not become bitter and angry and full of hate well you have a choice and i think when you're a mother you have to lead by example and so do i want my kids to be bitter and angry and full of hate no not at all so you have to be mahatma gandhi said um live what you want be what you want your children to be and i think those are very very good words but you can choose to be bitter and angry or you can have a sense of humor about the whole thing but um i don't want to be a bitter angry person you got one life to live i'd rather live it with uh like love in my heart because there's nothing else you can give but giving bitterness and anger is not that's not really fun no i and i don't want to be around bitter and angry people either that's not my choice and my husband is not bitter and angry so as you can see I'm sure you know this already this show is called disruptors and you asked me earlier what um that means to me but you're the guest so what does the word disruptive mean to you I think you're disrupting if you're not going with the status quo and you're actually speaking the truth because people don't speak what's on their mind and I think a lot of people are afraid to because they don't want to get cancelled they don't want to get the backlash and they don't want to take the crap that you get for saying how you feel we should have freedom of speech but I'd rather have a conversation than just a one-way thing yeah so a lot of times even when you do something like this the conversation ends and then you just take all the crap I'd rather the conversation keep going and someone says no I think you're wrong because of this and that's a good conversation rather than to say F off, get out of here, or go away, have an argument back that says, actually, this might be a better way to do it.

1:11:14Ann Kaplan:And maybe they'll open up something I haven't seen, or you haven't seen. So I think being disruptive is doing against status quo. But I think status quo is to just be quiet and go with the flow. What is disruptive? Are you asking me? I think that's a great definition. I think it's shaking up and changing things that you believe need to be changed and aren't done properly. Because when you do that, the existing or the old is sometimes challenged, it will struggle to hold on to its place, like the entire civil service in the UK political system, for example. So disruption is something that is clearly out of date and old and not working properly and shaking the tree.

1:12:08AI is shaking the tree of jobs, just like the industrial age shook the tree of manual labor. Because obviously there's a negative way to be disruptive.

1:12:19Ann Kaplan:Yeah. But like if you even if you look at negative ways of being disruptive, Kids at the back of school who were being disruptive, they weren't naughty kids. They were disengaged kids who were just screaming out for attention. So I think sometimes we misunderstand people being disruptive because we think it's bad, but actually they're just calling out for attention. Yeah, and that's difficult because it goes back to, if you'd use the kids as an example, it goes back to why. And so how do you make change in that? I think there are ways to make change with parenting. There are ways and things that we can do.

1:12:55And I hope to do things to help out with that type of thing. So final question. Have you got like a short answer to help people who might be struggling mentally?

1:13:06Ann Kaplan:I think you have to put your past behind you. And don't carry it like a weight in your backpack. I think you need to throw that out and just look forward. Because your whole future is ahead of you. But do not turn your head backward. Look forward. Amen. And I've really loved this. Thank you for inviting us to your castle. Thank you for coming. And setting it all up because we moved a lot of things around. We did. And bringing the knights in. And we've got this guy pulling a pint here. And thanks for the tour. I think the knight should stay there. You really... Yeah, we get in the way. You've really been arguing for that, haven't you?

1:13:41Yeah, yeah.

1:13:42Ann Kaplan:And the bar's called A Good Night. Right. Yeah, so you go out for a good night. And you come to the Good Night bar. Yes. Right. Yeah. And thank you very much. Thank you.

1:14:21We'll be right back. This episode was brought to you by Disruptive Media, helping bold entrepreneurs stand out through podcasting, video, and social content. Visit disruptivemedia.co.uk to learn more.