We all want to know that our loved ones will be safe, secure and happy after we die – but one woman has taken her preparations one step further. A mother-of-five has created a clever ‘fearless folder’ so her family will know exactly what to do if she gets seriously injured or dies unexpectedly. She prepared a fireproof safe, which includes documents and her ‘fearless answers’ to a series of ‘important questions that would be asked’ if she were to die. ‘It’s about preparing for the worst so your family is financially protected. You can be perfectly healthy one minute, then be incapacitated the next,’ she said.
She used a checklist to make sure she had included everything her husband and children would need. The ‘fearless answers’ include, ‘who will raise our kids if we both die?’, ‘at what age should the kids receive inheritance’ and ‘what are my funeral wishes’. Inside the safe, she included both her and husband’s wills, power of attorney, marriage certificate, birth certificates, property paperwork and their passports.
She also included instructions for her funeral, such as the kind of memorial she wanted and details of her accountant, solicitor and financial planner. She included her net worth and details about her life insurance policy and income protection. She also put together the ‘big list’, which includes her social media, bank accounts and login details. ‘Last year I had a fall where I broke my wrist. I slipped on water on the bathroom floor and landed hard enough on it to need surgery and a plate to repair it,’ . ‘I am fine now, and was very lucky I didn’t bang my head, but it hit home how quickly things can change. ‘This begs the question, what happens to my family if something serious were to happen to me? ‘In the case of my broken wrist, our income was seriously impacted as my husband had to take time off work to look after the kids, fortunately only for a fairly short period of time while my wrist healed.
‘I’m the main financial organiser in my family, if anything happened to me, figuring out all this stuff would be very tough for my husband, and sorting out a financial nightmare is the last thing a grieving person needs.’ She also wrote letters to her husband and five children. ‘Just in case my death was sudden, so I have a chance to tell them how much I love them and how special they are to me,’ she explained. Death is something that most of us like to ignore completely, but getting organised before it’s too late could be an enormous help for the people who depend on you.
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