We are all going to die – that much is certain. What we don’t know is when and in what circumstances. To that extent, we are power-less. But in a deeper and more meaningful way, we can be power-full, in the ability to shape what we will leave behind us when the dread day comes. That is what I call our Legacy.
I want to suggest that there are both Negatives, what we should strive to avoid, and Positives, what we should aim to achieve. Both require conscious effort and deliberate action. Sadly, far too many people simply fail to take advance thought and just leave things to chance.
Avoiding the Negatives is all about ensuring that when we die, we leave our affairs in order. Close family members or friends who act as Executors of the Will of someone who has died or in circumstances of intestacy where no Will was left, especially for the first time, are routinely staggered by the amount of practical things to do. That’s all while coping with the devastation of
bereavement.
Consider how much each of us can do, for those close to us, to make their task and lives easier by making suitable arrangements in advance to leave behind all the information which they will need to carry out their responsibilities. This avoids the potential for chaos.
Then there’s Securing the Positives. Each one of us is an individual, with different personalities, relationships with family and friends and circumstances. How can what we have built up over our lifetime be established on a firm base, so that it can be continued and indeed developed in the future by those who come after us?
My starting assumption is that each one of us will have done, or be doing, something good, which is worth saving. First and foremost come personal relationships. Then there might be business and professional interests, perhaps financial structures, responsibilities in clubs or associations, charitable initiatives and so on.
We need to face this challenge without fear and indeed without secrecy (exceptional circumstances apart). Open and perhaps deep conversations with those close to us are called for. The same may be true of instructions to our solicitors or other advisers: the Will is only the starting point. We need to be both intentional and aspirational.
It is this broad thinking which underlies my book.
