Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (2012) asks a simple question of anything you own: does disorder hurt it, leave it unchanged, or make it stronger?
- Taleb sorts things into fragile (harmed by shocks), robust (unaffected) and antifragile (improved by them).
- Key tools: keep options open, use a barbell approach, improve by removing things, and beware harm from over-intervention.
- For business owners and landlords, the fragile points are usually people: one person who knows everything.
- Over-optimising for tax can remove flexibility. With Business Relief capped at £2.5m from April 2026 and pensions entering IHT from April 2027, plans that bend matter more than ever.
- Weaknesses: long, digressive and combative. Read the opening sections closely and skim the rest.
The takeaway: build in a second pair of hands, avoid single points of failure and keep your options open.
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Six short reads each week on tax, Wills, family wealth and running a business, from John Ireland. Since 1996, three decades of protecting families.