Ray L Best

Throughout my career I have been fascinated by one question: why do capable people and successful businesses walk straight into problems they could have avoided? The answer is rarely a lack of effort or expertise.

Early on I became Head of Method Studies, resolving problems that had defeated previous attempts. Usually a crucial strategy had simply been overlooked, or a risk had not been recognised in time.

That lesson shaped everything since. Working with business owners on profitability, cash flow, and business value, I saw the same pattern repeatedly: the greatest threats were rarely the obvious ones, but the hidden risks nobody has identified until they became expensive. It led me first into partnership and share protection and then into estate planning and inheritance tax. I have contributed to Inheritance Tax Simplified, written feature articles for Tax Adviser magazine, and published EBT Bombshell some years before HMRC’s actions confirmed the scale of that particular problem.

I have since sold my advice practice and withdrawn from the FCA, and my work is now entirely with other professional firms. If there is a single theme to any of it, it is this: the best time to solve a problem is before it becomes one.

Ray is best known for identifying financial, tax, and succession-planning risks before they became widely recognised. His books reflect more than three decades of helping business owners and families protect wealth and avoid costly mistakes.