GUEST BLOG: How many of you have a Will?

HOW MANY OF YOU HAVE A WILL?

Is it valid? Is it up to date?

This week's guest blog

Did you know …. only 50% of adults in the UK have a valid Will. And in the age bracket 30-55 it’s less than 30%!!!

WHY HAVEN’T YOU DONE ONE YET?

Here are some reasons I often hear:

• It’s expensive

• I don’t need one – or - I only need one if I’m old or ill

• I don’t know where to start

• If I do one I will die...

Let’s tackle each of these reasons.

But first let’s tackle the last one.

If you make a Will, of course you will die.

But not straight away!

Making a Will doesn’t make you die.

It’s expensive:

It can be but it doesn’t have to be.

A solicitor will charge you around £300.

That’s because they have years of legal training, but also because they have overheads like staff and offices.

You can do it online or via a DIY Will pack for around £29.

You can also do it free to support charity – although there is some pressure for donation and other services.

Or you can use a Will writer.

Make sure your Will writer is fully trained and insured (not all are). I belong to the Society of Will Writers.

This means I am fully trained, insured, and regulated. And I must adhere to their code of compliance.

My Wills are £100 single and £150 for a couple. You can add trusts for extra protection, but even complex Wills are only £200-£350.

And 5% from every invoice is donated to our local CancerCare facility – totalling £1000 in 2020.

I don’t know where to start:

There is a LOT of information online – companies, advice, 'Facebook experts'! I try to make it easy for you.

I offer FREE Will Reviews and FREE 30-minute consultations.

Make sure you use a fully trained Will writer

There are also lots of simple free information guides on our website too.

I have a friendly approach which many of my clients tell me makes every simple and easy to understand, and we visit you at home – for privacy and convenience. Before that, we send you a 'What to Consider' document, explaining the key things we will talk through, so you have time to think about it.

And the big one – I don’t need a Will.

YOU NEED A WILL IF ….

• You want a choice of who it goes to. A common misconception is that your partner will get everything anyway. This is not the case, especially if you aren’t married.

• You have a property. Not all properties are owned in the same way – especially joint owners. You need to understand how it’s owned to make sure it doesn’t pass to your partner and run the risk of it being lost for your kids if your partner remarries or needs care.

• You have children. Without naming a legal guardian in your Will, your children could be placed into the care of someone else, and in extreme cases placed in care while those decisions are made.

• You have a business. Especially if you want your business to continue after you aren’t here. You need to give protection to those you leave it to, and make sure they are protected from Inheritance Tax in the future.

• You’ve just got married, or remarried. Your Will is revoked on marriage so make sure you write another!

• You are separating or divorcing. Until your decree absolute, your spouse or civil partner is still entitled to your estate if you don't have a Will, and if you do, they will still inherit according to that document. Once the proceedings are complete, they won’t inherit but they may have been your sole beneficiary or your executor – so you need to check it!

• You live together. Don’t assume your partner is entitled to anything at all. They also have no legal rights to make decisions about your funeral or administer your estate. You could even be left in a situation where your children inherit OVER your partner ….

And even if you are NONE of these, you still need a Will.

Because without one your family will be left with a mess. They will have to apply to administer your estate and will face delays in getting access to and distributing your assets.

So my message - if you haven’t done it yet – MAKE A WILL 😉

Andrea and Nicola from Morecambe Bay Wills & Estates

And if you have one and haven’t reviewed it recently then do that!

Nicola Combe, Morecambe Bay Wills & Estates

How you can help us raise money for two great causes

The Consult Centre team is proud to be supporting two fantastic causes over the next two months.

First of all, we are backing our very own Nikki, her husband John and daughters Gabriella and Sienna as they take part in the Wheels Around the World event for CancerCare between April 17 and May 22..

The Hardiman family will be helping CancerCare supporters to cover the virtual distance around the Equator - a grand total of nearly 25,000 miles!

People will be taking part by scootering, skating, pushing a pram, using anything with wheels but no power to cover the miles - and as keen cyclists, Nikki and her family will be getting on their bikes!

The Hardimans are taking part in Wheels Around the World

Nikki said: "When we heard about the challenge we were super excited to get involved.

"We have lots of family adventures cycling and we like to try something new.

"We aim to cover 250 miles as a family in 25 days.

"I love supporting CancerCare too, they are a great local charity doing such good work at a difficult time."

If you would like to sign up to take part in the event too, see here.

Meanwhile the entire Consult Centre team will be taking part in the Mayday Mile to raise money for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI).

We are passionate about our local lifeboat crew at Morecambe RNLI and as it's our charity of choice, we are going to take part in this national event.

The idea behind the MayDay Mile is that a mayday is an urgent call for help. Usually, RNLI lifesavers answer mayday calls and go to rescue others. But this May, with the busiest summer season on the way, they are asking other people for help.

If you take part in the MayDay Mile, you can cover the distance however you like. Alone or with a friend. Just once or every day for a week. In wellies or on a unicycle. It’s entirely up to you.

The team has pledged to cover a combined 60 miles during May. However we do it, by walking, running, or even skipping - we're going to do it!

Thank you to all our supporters who have helped raise £160 towards our target of £500 so far!

If you can help us with a donation, however large or small, you will contribute to saving lives and supporting our local incredible volunteer crew.

You can donate at our fundraising page here.

GUEST BLOG: Not very 'lady like'

The Consult Centre has invited local business professionals to write a guest blog. This week, we hear from Annabel Lumsden of TP Financial Solutions....

If you were asked to describe the type of company who designed the black box flight recording programming software for Concorde, what would your immediate answer be?

A high tech, highly qualified, male dominated conglomerate in the USA?

This programming was designed by a group of female software specialists, working from home in the UK, in the 1960s, led by their CEO ‘Steve’.

Dame Stephanie Shirley introduced herself as ‘Steve’ to prospective clients in her communications, to get through the door, after those signed Stephanie were ignored.

In 2021, 50 years on, I’m sure we’d all like to think that we no longer judge capability based on gender but a conversation with my seven-year-old daughter showed me that this change is by no means yet a done deal.

Whilst getting excited about the Women’s FA Cup Final, she shared this with the children in her class at school and was told by the boys that she was lying and they didn’t believe her because ‘girls don’t play football’.

She was frustrated and confused by this and thankfully her teacher led a discussion with the class about the capability of both boys and girls to excel. But surely, this instinct to assume based on perceived gender ‘roles’ should no longer be a part of our society.

Annabel Lumsden

As women working in financial services and now running our own financial planning practice, my wife and I often face questions at conferences such as ‘whose P.A. are you?’, ‘which adviser do you work for?’ – no preamble or introduction – just an assumption that as young females, we are the administration staff rather than highly qualified professional advisers.

As a supposed move in the right direction, some women’s events were launched through our previous network but when the Managing Director of this FTSE 100 firm referred to us throughout the meeting as ‘lady advisers’, this seemed to fall well short.

To challenge this makes for an uncomfortable stand off and being labelled as feminists in a negative sense when all that’s required is a level playing field where we achieve based on capability not ‘in spite’ of being male or female.

In a previous role within a large financial organisation I witnessed comments directed towards an excellent senior manager, who happened to be female, about her being ‘short and sweet’ and ‘the best looking manager in the business’ – to her face – and watched, enraged, as she felt the same as me, unwilling to challenge the comments.

In a meeting to raise my discomfort with her, she decided to confront one of the main offenders and was met with the response – ‘Ah come on, it’s just banter, don’t be so uptight’.

Whether we’re talking toxic masculinity where ‘boys’ must be ‘boys’ or misogyny where women are capable of little more than cooking and cleaning, it is up to us all to realise the implications of this and to challenge it, even is this makes for an uncomfortable situation.

When researching this article, I discovered a word I’d not come across before – misandry – the prejudice against men and boys. To have never heard this word made me realise even further the imbalance we are facing still.

The demands on us all to achieve are based on hard work, commitment, and sacrifice – regardless of gender and so those achievements should be recognised as such.

Capability comes down to the merit of the individual and no child or adult in our society should be dissuaded from reaching for their goals because it’s ‘not very manly’ or ‘not very lady like’.