What Can You Do To Keep Everyone Happy After You Die?
Last week was Dying Matters Awareness Week.
Our consultants had lots #WhatCanYouDo conversations with clients.
Last week was Dying Matters Awareness Week, so no surprise that there were lots of conversations going on in the press about death. Here we zoom in on two: one from Love Money, focussing on how to get the conversation about death, inheritance, care and health started with your parents. The other, via Yahoo finance, sharing survey findings that reveal 77% of people aged over 55 want to have some control over how the next generation spend their inheritance.
During Dying Matters Awareness Week, the Dying Matters Alliance achieved wonderful things in encouraging people across the UK to talk about death, and to share their conversations using the #WhatCanYouDo hashtag.death, and to share their conversations using the #WhatCanYouDo hashtag.Matters Awareness Week, the Dying Matters Alliance achieved wonderful things in encouraging people across the UK to talk about death, and to share their conversations using the #WhatCanYouDo hashtag.
Dying Matters is a great cause and we want to do our bit, so we’ve picked up on two stories that have not been shared using the campaign slogan, summarising the key points into two handy #WhatCanYouDo lists.
What Can You Do to Start Conversations About Death with your Aging Parents?
Love Money provides some very good advice about how to ask the following important questions in a way that elderly parents might be able to accept in their article Important Financial Questions to Ask Your Parents:
To summarise:
1. You can ask your aging parents “Have you drawn up a lasting power of attorney (LPA)?”
2. You can ask your aging parents “Do you want to go into a care home?
3. You can ask your aging parents “Have you made a Will?”
4. You can ask your aging parents “How am I going to pay for your funeral?”
5. You can ask your aging parents “Have you done what you can to cut our Inheritance Tax bill?”
My Estate planning Expert also provides some original ideas about how to get these conversations started in its article How to Talk About Death with Your Loved Ones. We particularly like the list of films they suggest watching together. Films are always great icebreakers.
What Can You Do to Have More Control Over How The Next Generation Spend their Inheritance?
Yahoo Finance reported on a survey by Prudential, in which more than 600 people over aged 55 took part, of which 77% agreed that they wanted some control over how the next generation spend their inheritance.
This statistic is of no surprise and these people are not wrong to be concerned, for the intestacy rules that courts rely on to make decisions about inheritance when someone dies without a Will are archaic. They were not designed for a world of non-married partnerships, divorces, subsequent marriages, step-children and step-grandchildren. This is why making a Will is so important – whether via an online Will writing app, such as ours, or, if Wills online is not your preferred way, via a Will writing specialist such as Will Associates. Before you decide though, read our article 5 Reasons to Buy Your Will Online.
So, What Can You Do?
1. You can write a Will that details what you would like people to do AND what you would not like people to do.
2. You can set up a Family Asset Trust to strategically gift your hard-earned money whilst you are still alive and able to guide your younger family members on how to spend it.
3. You can set up a structured family financial planning meeting.
4. You can create a ‘what to do if we get seriously ill or die document’.
5. You can read Talking to Your Children About Money .
And, failing that, you can sit down with your children and grandchildren and watch Brewster’s Millions ...
