What the F**K?

“F**k” is just a word yet conveys so much. Imagine yourself building a wonderful career in the service of others, attending a ceremony to acknowledge your work, where the Queen will present you with an MBE only to find the moment so overwhelming that you uncontrollably blurt it out to her majesty … except this time you have had the benefit of history and context.

I swear is the beautiful story of John Davidson who develops Tourette’s syndrome as a young teenager. Those of you offended or put off by swearing will struggle with the film, but to miss it would be a mistake. It is a beautifully told film, highlighting the misunderstanding and mistreatment that those with the syndrome experience every day and the salient point is that they cannot control themselves; it is a genuine condition.

We return to the 1980s, the pre-tech age, where corporal punishment was regularly meted out to those who crossed a line. Many of those draconian punishments were dispensed from ignorance (perhaps all of them). The Davidson family struggled to come to terms with Tourette’s in a world that lacks awareness, life is a challenge and John is eventually another misfit of academic data.

The intervention of Dottie is arguably the turning point in John’s life. It is her welcome and acceptance as someone outside of the family that changes the course of this story. Often, we can feel overwhelmed by the scale of the challenges we face, yet we know from history and perhaps experience, that a single person or act can have a remarkable impact. One person leads to the next and the next. John is welcomed, accepted, encouraged and importantly – empowered. His life becomes one of influence and it’s awesome.

What has this story got to do with financial planning? Tourette’s is not curable, but as we see in the film, technology in the hands of some rather good medics have made life much better for many of those with the syndrome. In particular, the research at Nottingham University. Invariably such research and prototype solutions require funding to develop them and bring them through the complete product lifecycle to the marketplace. This is often where investment in ‘life sciences’ happens, the sort of investment that is not in your mainstream portfolio (because there is a high risk of failure) but can be found through Enterprise Investment Schemes and Venture Capital. As this sort of investing is much more speculative (often with a far greater potential upside), there is Government inducement with tax relief on the investment of 30% or even 50% in some cases. The investment is invariably ‘locked in’ for five years or more, but the intention is to bring a world-changing solution to market and sell it to a much larger organisation at significant profit which can release it on a global scale.

There’s that and, well, frankly it’s a good reminder that when our plans and hopes look bleak, sometimes what it takes is the right conversation with someone who sees you and wants to help. Here’s to more conversations and I don’t mind the swearing.

• Book – my life with Tourette’s
• Nottingham university
• What is an EIS