Preparing for eventualities?

Newly_retired

I am preparing for all eventualities, not just my death, as things will take their course when I die, but I am considering how to prepare for an unexpected situation where I can suddenly no longer manage my finances eg road accident, stroke etc.

I have LPAs in place, my son and my daughter, with granddaughter as reserve, but both my children are going to be out of the country at the same time very soon, which has focussed my mind.

I have written down complicated instructions, but in the circumstances of any eventuality I guess this would be the last thing on their mind.

Being an ardent MSE saver, I have fairly complicated arrangements in place for moving money around, especially at the end of the month in readiness for the many Standing Orders and Direct Debits in place on the 1st of the next month. Most of my Regular Savers are funded by SO from my current account. My pensions come into my current account on 28th and on the last day of the month, so they take care of most, but I also transfer manually into a couple of other current accounts ( to avoid fees) and there are SOs and DDs to come out of those accounts. I use instant transfers from my Cahoot Simple Saver as back up. I also scrape off monthly interest from a few accounts eg RBS and NatWest RS, Edge Saver.

If I were to automate everything it would mean moving money unnecessarily early, and losing a few days’ interest.
I am reluctant to give up the merry-go-round of balancing my 30+ accounts, but is it time to simplify my finances? (Despite my User name, I have been retired 19 years. )

Any thoughts please?

nottsphil

Can't tell you if it's time because I don't know your age (you could have taken early retirement 19 years ago) and I have no idea about the state of your health.

I don't automate my many regular savings transactions (from multiple donor accounts) despite finding it mentally gruelling to do them all in one 2-hour session. That's because I believe the work I am giving my brain is helping to stave off dementia.

Costabit

This is something that is weighing on my mind more and more.

It probably won’t be of much help to you , but I am changing every account that I can from individual to a joint account. We have a presence with around 20 institutions and usually go single,single, joint where possible but are closing / switching everything that’s individual and shortly will have pretty much only joint accounts.

it won’t be the best paying strategy but it is simplifying things.

Brie

We too have been moving towards joint accounts.

Is it possible to add your children to yours? Even if they move out of the country they will still be able to access things online. I was joint on my mom's account in Canada with one of my brothers so there was transparency as well as back up for my brother who did most of the work.

subjecttocontract

The problem is that tax free stuff like ISAs & P.Bonds don't do joint......and that accounts for a large part of our savings.

Albermarle

You probably have to make a choice.

Either continue as you are, chasing every last bit of interest - OR consolidate down to a handful of low maintenance accounts for simplicity, and accept that you will not be getting that last 0.25%.

Newly_retired

Thanks for your replies.

I retired at 61 so I’ll leave the sums to anyone who is interested in calculating my age. I am not considering making any of my accounts joint with my children at this stage. I am in good health mentally and physically and they are busy, both self- employed, so they don’t need my hassle.

It would be a big step to me to stop all my Regular Savers especially now that several are at 8%. But as lesser ones mature I shall not be renewing them. I don’t do any that are branch or post only. I could consolidate some of my current accounts but need to be mindful of Ts& Cs in respect of linked RSs. If I stepped off this merry-go-round I would have to stop reading these forums! It is addictive.

nottsphil

Only one simple sum required! You could easily be in almost as good health when you're 90, then you'll be bemoaning the hundreds (thousands?) of pounds lost. I would definitely stay on course in your position. I'd also get spending more of it while you can; luxury cruise/holiday for example, although I know that can be difficult for us born savers!

GeoffTF

Late 70s. I want simplicity. I am moving towards Santander, Nationwide, Skipton and two investment platforms. There is enough work managing those, doing the record keeping and keeping HMRC at bay.

subjecttocontract

I went through the same decision process as you at the start of this year. I decided to close all of my regular savers (30+) which I did but have since opened x3 new 8% reg savers (couldn't resist them) but will stop there. Also

Consolidated all of my cash isas (in light of the new £120K FSCS limit).

Tidied up my fixed rate bonds/ accounts moving all of them into NS&I.

Consolidated my easy access accounts & reduced the number of current accounts.

Sold some other investments.

Things are now looking very tidy and manageable and I'll have completed the plan by the end of the year.

The overall effect was expected to reduce my total annual return but the reduction was actually very small and the time spent managing stuff has definitely reduced.

LHW99

If you had a current account somewhere with an attached savings account (not maybe the best interest, but with some) you could perhaps leave maybe £2k in the savings and then give one (or both?) of the offspring a 3rd party mandate on those accounts. Ist Direct allowed this with my late mum, so I could pay bills for her when needed.