Writing this article feels strange – but necessary, because this week I executed my will and guess what? It actually feels good. Good to finally have that box ticked.
You must have thought about it too. Come on, everyone has at some point in their life, (although we may not like to admit it). Whether it’s the result of having a ‘big’ birthday or a health hiccup, a close friend dying or fighting cancer or maybe even having children. But we rarely talk about it, as if that would be like putting a curse on ourselves.
So why did I decide that ‘now’ was the right time to finally get a will?
- I have three beautiful kids who, if both my husband and I died, need someone to love them as much as we do. (That would be their Aunty.)
- We are in our forties and sometimes bad things happen.
- We have accumulated some assets over the years.
- We also have a business that is worth something.
- I have some mementos that I want to leave to specific people.
Why should we all have a will?
I asked my friends recently and less than a third of them had a will. Did you know that if you die intestate (without having made a will) the government determines who gets what? (And this includes a BIG chunk of extra tax for the government.) Now I don’t know about you but I figure that I will have already paid my fair share of taxes and giving them a bonus when I die – no thank you very much!
Guess what?
It only cost $300 + GST for both my husband and I to do this (along with some contemplation of unpleasant thoughts). But the sense of relief it’s given us is well worth it.
When I was only ten years old I used to say that I was going to be a ‘bionic grandma’ and that is still the plan. So as I said, I am not planning on dying next week but if I did, it’s all sorted…
How about you? Do you have a will?