Planning for Life's Ups and Downs

SiTheITGuy

Although I hopefully have many more years left in me (!) I want to ensure that I have everything in place to reduce the burden on my partner (not married and no plans to) and young daughter when I am no longer here. We have personal bank accounts with a joint account for all household bills etc. I have been researching to ensure I cover everything off and have come up with the list below. Can anybody think of anything I have missed please?

• Will
• Lasting Power of Attorney - both types
• Life insurance - covers mortgage, car plus about five years' bills
• Funeral plan
• Pension information - providers, account numbers, value, contact details etc
• Documentation stored in a safe with backup keys away from the home - detailing any non-legal wishes I have, employment life assurance, important passwords, personal finance details etc and ensuring key people know where to find it all.
• Ensure any policies/utilities etc are in joint names

Thank you for your time.

tacpot12

That's a pretty comprehensive list, well done. I would add that you should make sure that any Title Deeds to properties and receipts for anything of value (like your car) are put in the safe. 

I use a password manager for all my passwords, and leave the master password for my password manager and pin for my mobile phone in my firesafe. 

The only other thing to think about in terms of protecting your family is some insurance for if you become ill and cannot work. The benefits system in the UK is not generous, especially if you have some savings or a home with a mortgage. I would suggest you  look into buying some Permanent Health Insurance (PHI) so that you will have more income than the benefits system would pay you if you became ill and cannot work. PHI is quite a complicated form of insurance, with lots of options, so you need some professional advice about what policy to buy, but you also need to read around the subject and educate yourself so that you can buy a policy that really meets your needs. 

SiTheITGuy

tacpot12 said:

That's a pretty comprehensive list, well done. I would add that you should make sure that any Title Deeds to properties and receipts for anything of value (like your car) are put in the safe. 

I use a password manager for all my passwords, and leave the master password for my password manager and pin for my mobile phone in my firesafe. 

The only other thing to think about in terms of protecting your family is some insurance for if you become ill and cannot work. The benefits system in the UK is not generous, especially if you have some savings or a home with a mortgage. I would suggest you  look into buying some Permanent Health Insurance (PHI) so that you will have more income than the benefits system would pay you if you became ill and cannot work. PHI is quite a complicated form of insurance, with lots of options, so you need some professional advice about what policy to buy, but you also need to read around the subject and educate yourself so that you can buy a policy that really meets your needs. 

Thanks so much for your feedback. Good point about the deeds and car. I use LastPass and have just bought the Families option to enable emergency access. I didn't mention it above but I did organise income protection when arranging life insurance so I am hopefully covered for all scenarios. Appreciate your time.

davidmcn

tacpot12 said:

I would add that you should make sure that any Title Deeds to properties and receipts for anything of value (like your car) are put in the safe. 

Unless you own an unregistered property (unlikely) your "title deeds" are whatever is recorded on the Land Registry's computer, not bits of paper.

Similarly I'm not sure why a receipt for a car would have particular value? The V5C may be useful, but not disastrous if it goes missing.

I'm sceptical about funeral plans being good value - they always seem to me to restrict flexibility, both in what your funeral arrangements might be, and in what else you might want to do with the funds in the meantime.

consequences

This one total depends on your significant others circumstances but I would consider storing some cash or easily convertible unlisted asset somewhere people can get their hands on in case of emergency.

I'm fortunate enough that mine have accessible savings or can ask friends/family for help, but many people cannot and might have to rely on credit card to obtain cash in a hurry.

I've just lost my life insurance as it came with the job, but mortgage is paid off.
As said above re benefits being unhelpful. I find it disgusting that having paid into the benefits system for years I now cannot claim anything as I have savings vs people who have !!!!!! it up a wall for life, hardly if at all paid in, but shamelessly take a livable wage from the system and moan it's not enough.

tacpot12

davidmcn said:

tacpot12 said:

I would add that you should make sure that any Title Deeds to properties and receipts for anything of value (like your car) are put in the safe. 

Unless you own an unregistered property (unlikely) your "title deeds" are whatever is recorded on the Land Registry's computer, not bits of paper.

Similarly I'm not sure why a receipt for a car would have particular value? The V5C may be useful, but not disastrous if it goes missing.

...

I, and a number of other people who have posted on MSE, have had situations where the Land Registry's record is wrong or incomplete in ways that should have been picked up when properties were bought, but for whatever reason were not picked up until it came to sell the property. Only then did the contents of the paper deeds allow the correct entry to be made on the title deeds. Don't throw your deeds away. Unregistered properties are not uncommon. 

The V5 doesn't prove ownership; only a receipt proves ownership and if you want to buy a car, you would be well advised to ask to see the receipt to prove that the person selling the car actually owns it. In the absence of a vehicle ownership register, the receipt is the only proof you have of ownership. 

Sandtree

You've covered the risk of death but only really started touching on the matter of incapacity with the PoA. What are the plans if you become long term seriously ill rather than dead? Income protection? Critical illness? Large savings (which would then question the need for life insurance)?

SiTheITGuy

Sandtree said:

You've covered the risk of death but only really started touching on the matter of incapacity with the PoA. What are the plans if you become long term seriously ill rather than dead? Income protection? Critical illness? Large savings (which would then question the need for life insurance)?

Thanks Sandtree. I forgot to mention in my initial post but I have income protection so bills would be covered for a decent period. Unfortunately no large savings at the moment! Thank you.

Sandtree

SiTheITGuy said:
Thanks Sandtree. I forgot to mention in my initial post but I have income protection so bills would be covered for a decent period. Unfortunately no large savings at the moment! Thank you.

Whats a decent period?

The full fat version of income protection (PHI) has an average settlement period of 6 years however payout until your declared retirement age... most budget versions (ASU/PPI) run out after 12 months.