Kate & Emily

This article has been written for us by Sarah Budibent, a solicitor specialising in probate law.

Making a Will does not sound like fun, so it can easily end up being another job to put off for another day, like filling in your tax return and checking up on your pension.

Yet, most people would say that what happens to their family or their property after their death is hugely important to them and, without a Will, decisions about who will inherit and how much will be made according to fixed rules of law. The result may be far from what they would have wished or intended.

If you make a Will, you can decide exactly what you want done with your property after your death; you appoint personal representatives to carry out your wishes and guardians for your children; you can express wishes about the disposal of your body and you may also be able to save your beneficiaries from paying unnecessary tax.

I'm Lizzy Tomlin and have over 10 years experience in the recruitment industry. I've written some guidlelines below to help you revise your CV and see ways of making it into something that sells you, and does you justice. Read on.... Returning back to work after a break is a daunting experience. I know my worries were: will I still look trendy? Will I understand the office talk, what will the workplace look like? will I understand all the new technology and will my colleagues take me seriously? I, like many, suffered from a total lack in confidence.

This is a ‘scene-setting’ mission, somewhat akin to ‘planning to’ take up keep fit, i.e. going out to get the shoes and leisure wear, without actually getting sweaty in it! Yes the first step of a financial work out requires very little effort and is more of a fact-finding mission. However, by the end of the first step you will have a good idea about what you need to do to tackle your own personal situation and will be ready for the other worksheets.

YOU WILL NEED:

We all want to be better off than we are. For some it’s a bit more urgent than others. If you’re an urgent case then you use this worksheet to help you work out what you’re options are. If you’re a less urgent case, and just dream of a diamond encrusted door knob, then use this worksheet to see if you’ve overlooked a nest egg or can come up with a cunning wheeze to get one… Draw a grid with 4columns. This is what they’re for:

This is a very simple list of what you might have coming in, and going out, on a monthly basis. You need to fill this in after you’ve got to grips with the nuts and bolts of your day-to-day spending. This worksheet helps you crank it up to a global, big-picture view and will either make you smile or cry. But either way, at least you KNOW what the situation is and can do something. No one likes that ostrich feeling and the pit in your stomach only goes when you’re feeling more in control.

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