Where there's a will
There's a way to define your legacy.
Recently, in the Money Brunch WhatsApp group, I ran a poll of whether or not people have a will:
27% — including me — do have a will.
59% said they’d thought about it, but hadn’t done anything more.
5% said they’d started the process but then gave up.
9% didn’t think they needed a will.
A couple of people requested an additional option: "No - feels too depressing so I am procrastinating.” And herein lies part of the issue.
When making a will, you need to do two things.
Figure out what’s in your estate and what you’d like to do with everything
Reckon with your mortality
So it’s not a straightforward exercise. But it is essential.
If you don’t have a will, you risk your estate being tied up in ‘probate’ which is a lengthy, bureaucratic process in which the law determines what happens to your stuff. While this is happening, it’s likely that the deadline for paying the inheritance tax due on your estate (if it’s over £325,000) will arise, and your beneficiaries will have to foot this bill out of their own pockets (not ideal).
It also eliminates your right to make decisions about your funeral, and any charitable donations you’d like to make.
Some resources:
DIY your will with Free Wills (this is what I did)
DIY and augment with an expert, with Farewill
For single people, you can write a ‘normal’ will. Couples will likely want a mirror will, which means that you have the same wishes about your estate.
Have a think about your assets, and what you’d like to happen about them. Think about what you want your legacy to be.
While working on the will, you likely also want to think about lasting power of attorney; i.e. who’ll make decisions about your health and finances, in the event that you become unable to make these decisions for yourself.
Remember that you can always update a will — once you’ve made one, you can update it. But, for starters, get something down. Please.
1. Single people face £2k retirement shortfall
Single people need to accumulate significantly more personal investments and pension savings to maintain the same standard of living in retirement as couples.
According to the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA), retirees need an income of £14,400 per year to achieve a minimum retirement living standard.
But, assuming a full state pension of £11,502 a year, a single person faces a shortfall of £2,897 to hit the minimum threshold.
In contrast, a couple both receiving full state pensions will reach the ‘minimum’ with an additional £604 a year on top.
This is even worse if you’re after a ‘moderate’ or ‘comfortable’ retirement — which involves higher amounts.
There’s strength in numbers when it comes to planning your retirement. If you are married or have a partner, you can combine your savings and share the costs. (Something I touched upon earlier in the week in my piece on money and relationships).
2. UK jobseekers say employers are hiring fewer staff – whom they expect to do more for less pay
There were 1.5 million people actively looking for work at the end of last year — and they’re facing a ‘nightmarish’ job market.
Hundreds of candidates are vying for every role, highly trained graduates are struggling to find well-paid work and applicants are routinely rejected for roles they are qualified for and those they’re overqualified for.
Roles in design, entertainment, marketing, HR and IT have been hardest hit.
What’s going on? Companies are investing more in AI — and the promise of how it’s going to mean fewer people required to do more work. Plus the threat of being adrift in the unemployment market means that workers who are in employment can be pressured into working harder.
Interestingly, there’s anecdotal evidence that wages for short-term jobs in hospitality or admin — often for ad hoc shifts — were increasing. This points towards another destabilisation in the way we live and work, pushing more people towards zero hours and gig economy work. It can’t end well.
3. Think you’re too smart to be caught by scammers? Think again
“If you haven’t fallen for a scam yet, it’s not because you’re too clever — it’s because you’re lucky... Eventually, the right scam will get you on the wrong day.”
Scammers are going after wealthier individuals. And they’re getting smarter and better resourced.
One of the ways they’re doing this? ‘Pig butchering.’
How does it work?
You’re in a forum or group online, and someone from there contacts you — and starts building trust
The scam is presented, in the guise of a highly sophisticated investment platform that looks legit
You transfer funds, and you see the on-screen balance reflecting your investment and its performance
You can take money out too, and you invest more over time
But, one day, your login stops working. And that’s the money gone
Who’s behind the scamming industry? Organised crime syndicates powered by indentured workers in Asia, the Middle East and Africa. These workers might not speak much English, but there is where generative AI comes into its own. You don’t need to write convincingly. There’s technology to do that for you.
“Often, [Indian] legitimate outsourcing businesses working for Western clients covertly run a “scam floor” as part of their business activities, which makes it much harder to separate and detect.”
As a problem, this is just going to get worse, particularly without any cross-border enforcement and co-operation.
Links! (SO many links today)
Money
£276bn held in UK bank accounts that pay no interest. Consumers are being urged to switch.
Social media is making you poor. The dual assault of targeted advertising and influencer culture is eating away at our financial health.
How many New Yorkers are secretly subsidised by their parents? Boomers are transferring trillions of dollars to their kids, one down payment at a time.
People with parents with money. 14 adults come clean about the down payments, allowances, and tuition payments that make their New York lives feasible.
How to retire and not run out of money.
Politics and economics
How the fringe captured the right. Long before RFK Jr. or COVID, a movement was born to undermine public health.
What is bird flu and how worried should we be about it? “Right now, there’s no evidence that the virus is spreading from person to person — which is why the overall number of human cases is still relatively low. But if that changes, and the virus mutates in a way that allows humans to infect each other, the results could be catastrophic. And, many public-health officials have been sounding the alarm that the U.S. is completely unprepared to handle another pandemic.”
That new Administration is now making financial predation and scams great again.
Living
My year of rest and Twitter detoxification.
50 ways to market your work outside of social media. Breaking free from the algorithm. Okay, but what are the alternatives?
I do nothing at work and no one seems to care. On white collar work.
My no-plastic life: I tried to cut out single-use items for a month – and it almost broke me.
Tech and lifestyle
How I turned an Instagram page into a $30 million dollar business.
The fires happened. This L.A resident is finally ready to talk about them.
WAGs are the tradwives of men's sports. On the NFL and women.
The Super Bowl ad rundown you need.
Microsoft study finds AI makes human cognition “atrophied and unprepared.” Good news for humanity, eh…
Should I quit Instagram? In pictures.
As a note, last week I included a story about offers from providers offering cashback for switching an ISA or SIPP. Research from BIT has found that cashbacks can exploit behavioural biases, making people focus on the upfront perk rather than the details like fees and returns. So check the full product before making a decision.
As a reminder, the information I share here is just information; it’s not guidance, and it’s not advice :)
Know someone who would enjoy this in their inbox on a Sunday morning?
Thanks for the mention, Bhakti 🫂