Monday 12 November 2012

# 120 If you died tomorrow

If you died tomorrow what would be your legacy? What would you leave for people to remember you by?

Would you leave things that you rather people didn't know about? Would your family be able to find everything about you to settle your estate? And would the people you wanted to benefit get what you wanted them to have? Maybe you've thought about less important things such as what would happen to your Facebook account? What about your bank accounts, your will, what direct debits you have?

How would someone pick up the pieces of your life and put everything in order if you suddenly weren't there to ask?

It's an unnerving thought but a very real one. It usually happens when parents sit you down and say 'right, so about our will'. My parents did it the first time they went on holiday to America after 9/11.

My father is ruthlessly organised. Everything was filed and explained and they'd told us how they had divided their estates. It was a terrifying thing to talk about, but it made sense.

Wills - a scary prospect or just another legal document?

Consequently a few years ago I started to think the same thing. Several savings accounts, the copyright to an as yet unpublished book and now in the last few months a business, have reminded me that I do have things worth leaving to someone. I wrote my will about three years ago but it badly needs updating. I have financial assets now and I don't want the Government getting its hands on them.

Once I've done it, it'll be one less thing to worry about and at least you're safe in the knowledge that whatever happens to you, what you leave behind has been dealt with. I'm not going to lie. I need to know what will happen if I suddenly wasn't there anymore.

At the end of the day, none of us knows when we're going to die. It could be tomorrow. It could be in fifty years.  But I'm not going to worry about that.

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