A little warning, morbid topic incoming! That said, it’s a truly important one to talk about.

We often mention the ‘Five Pillars of Financial Wellbeing’. One of which, is “Clarity and security for those we leave behind”. This means making sure that you have prepared for the worst and feel confident that, if this happens, the best outcome can be achieved.

No one likes to think about their own death, but it’s an important, and sadly inevitable, part of life. Nor do we like thinking about becoming incapacitated and tend to focus on conditions experienced in later life such as dementia. But accidents can happen at any age that can mean temporarily, or even permanently, we may be unable to make decisions without help from others.

Try this

I invite you to take a moment and imagine yourself in this unsettling scenario. You have a medical emergency; you go to the hospital, and they offer treatment. There is no guarantee you will survive and your quality of life if you do is unknown. This is likely to be a scary and emotional time for you and those around you.

Let us now think about some questions. Do you know the answer? How do these make you feel?

• Do your dependants have readily accessible cash that THEY can get access to cover short term needs?
• Are your finances well organised so that someone could easily step in whilst you are unwell or have passed away?
• If you are incapacitated, do you have a Power of Attorney in place for someone to actually be able to step in and make financial and health decisions on your behalf?

• Do you have an up to date Will?
• Do the executors of your Will or those with potential Power of Attorney know that Ovation are your advisers and can provide a lot of assistance to make their job easier?
• Is there anything else you would want them to know?

Next Steps

If there have been any questions in there that you were unsure of, this is where we are here to assist. We can navigate you through this and fortunately there are some easy solutions to a lot of these.

If you knew the answers to all these questions and you’re happy with them, THAT’S FANTASTIC! We can help by nudging you to review this every few years to make sure that nothing has changed. It’s not just your circumstances that do, sometimes legislation does, or the types of documents or tools available.

You may notice that we will be asking the above questions more often and will likely ask to see copies of any Wills or Powers of Attorney that you may have in place.

As we go through this with you, we will absolutely welcome any feedback and stories that you have that can help us and other clients we are helping. Now, let’s get you worry free!

The Ovation Team are here to help you and have the expertise to prepare with you. Do get in touch through the MyOvation messaging service or call us directly on 0117 942 4333.

The Financial Conduct Authority do not regulate will writing.