Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.
Posted: December 26th, 2010 | Author: admin | Filed under: Care, Legal - employment, Wills, Lasting Powers of Attorney | 1 Comment »
David Edwards is a partner with Burt Brill & Cardens and an expert in Wills, Lasting Powers of Attorneys and protecting family wealth. David is offering customers of The Future Perfect Company a free 10 minute telephone consultation to establish whether you need a Will. To arrange a consultation, email medwards@bbc-law.co.uk and quote this website
A staggering two thirds of people in England and Wales do not have a Will according to the latest research from National Centre for Social Research. At the same time, the reasons why people should make Wills are more compelling than ever. The laws of inheritance, framed in the 1920s do not cater well for modern family structures.
For example, if you die leaving a spouse or civil partner and children, then your spouse or civil partner will only get the first £250,000 of your estate plus personal possessions outright. Half of the rest is shared equally amongst the children and the other half is put into a trust. The spouse/civil partner gets the income or interest from the trust during his/her lifetime and when the spouse or civil partner dies, the capital goes to the deceased’s children equally. If that sounds complicated, then it is!
Just imagine the difficulties that arise if you end up with your children owning part of your home.
This is only one or a whole host of reasons why a Will is good for you.
Given the many compelling reasons to make a Will, why is it that so many people do not bother? There are the old clichés that making a Will shortens your life, people do not want to think about dying or ”I don’t need one because everything will go to my partner”. None of these, of course, are true and the belief that your partner will inherit is particularly dangerous.
The overwhelming reason why more people do not make Wills is it they are like New Year’s resolutions. They sound a good idea, but in practice, it will require effort (and expense) now in return for benefit in the future, and as people do not think they are going to die soon, they put it off for a bit longer.
Assuming you are really determined to think about making a Will, do you need to?
Almost certainly yes!
If you are single without friends, relatives, children, dependents and you really do not mind where your assets go once you have passed away and you do not mind putting those who remain to additional expense and inconvenience in trying to sort things out, then you can happily carry on without a Will. Otherwise, a Will really is a good idea.
The first step
First of all, you need to think how straightforward your Will is likely to be. You need to spend five minutes thinking about your friends and family and then think about the assets, money, insurance policies, pension entitlements, property, shares, investments and so on and your debts, mortgages, loans, etc. and then imagine that if you were to die how you would like the people in your life to share your assets.
Now that you have a rough idea in your head as to how you would like things arranged, you need to decide how you are going to make your Will.
If you are a soldier about to go into battle it is sufficient to simply tell someone of your wishes.
If not, then there are strict requirements as to how a Will is written down, signed and witnessed.
For your protection and to make sure the person dealing with the Will knows what they are talking about, my personal preference is to consult a solicitor. There are, though, alternatives providers of Wills including Will writers but make sure you use a regulated and reputable firm.
You can, of course, buy Will- making stationery or work your way through guidebooks. But be warned. Solicitors love people making home-made Wills because the cost of sorting them out is, in 9 cases out of 10, vastly more expensive than dealing with a straightforward Will.
Whoever you choose to help you with the Will, make sure you have a clear confirmation about the cost. Also make sure you speak to the person who will draft the Will to ensure that you will be happy to talk about personal matters in relation to your family and your assets with the person who is to prepare the Will.
Here is a checklist of just some of the circumstances which normally make it essential that a proper Will is prepared.
If you are living with a partner and you are not married or in a civil partnership
If you have young children
If you are married or in a civil partnership without children and your net assets are more than £450,000
If you are married or have a civil partner and children and your net assets are more than £125,000
If you have children from a previous relationship
If you want to leave something to a person other than your spouse or civil partner or children.
Do not leave it too late.
Making a Will on your death bed is not, usually, a happy experience. I have prepared many Wills in these circumstances and quite apart from adding to the trauma within the family, it often gives rise to additional complications such as questions over mental capacity which adds very considerably to the stress of everyone involved.
This article has only touched on some of the issues arising out of Wills and why you should have one. There are many other circumstances in which a Will is a very good idea, if not absolutely essential!
Don’t forget this is general comment; you should take legal advice relevant for your circumstances before acting – or deciding not to act.
Posted: December 20th, 2010 | Author: admin | Filed under: About retirement - Howard Croft | Comments Off
![howard_croft1-150x150[1]](http://blog.thefutureperfectcompany.com/wp-content/uploads/howard_croft1-150x15011.jpg "howard_croft1-150x150[1]")
Dear Philippa,
Recently I had to attend a routine meeting of the Publications Management Board at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, followed by another meeting, also at the College, which is surrounded by so much secrecy that I cannot tell you anything about it. Except to say that it was remarkable for its complete absence of malice; it is unlikely that a similar meeting of, say, surgeons would be so collegiate. I’m not sure why this is so – perhaps the presence of so many female psychiatrists accounts for it. At lunch I found myself beside a psychiatrist of Nigerian origin who works in Birmingham and it turned out that he is a close friend of Jacob Ajayi, an author and friend when I lived in Lagos, with whom I have lost touch. It was a very agreeable lunch and I was delighted to discover that Jacob is still with us. He had the misfortune, when Vice-Chancellor of Lagos University, to displease the then military junta and get fired.
Anyway, in view of these meetings, and a wedding in Greenwich the following Saturday (the daughter of another author, who raised eyebrows by wearing full formal outfit teamed with scruffy trainers) we had a weekend in London, staying at the Groucho Club in Soho. After an evening of ferocious drinking on Friday I slept poorly and woke at about 4.30 Saturday morning and after attempting to settle I decided to dress and go out in search of newspapers, taking with me a fat book in case I failed. But I did not fail, and on the way back a young man called out to me across Old Compton Street. I couldn’t make out what he said – my hearing is not perfect – so I approached him and heard him say “Are you looking for…….?”, but I didn’t catch it all. I thought he thought I looked lost and was offering help. When I reached him and explained my faulty hearing, he with a desperate look screamed “ARE YOU LOOKING FOR SOME SEX?” I was a bit taken aback, I can tell you - this was ten to six in the morning, after all – and the only response that came to mind was: “No, I’m going to get my breakfast and read the Daily Telegraph. But thank you for asking.” Never can a hustling rent boy have been so politely turned down. What was he thinking? An OAP loaded down with reading matter and plainly hungover at six in the morning, I cannot have seemed a particularly promising prospect, much less an appetising one. But I’m seldom about in Soho at such an hour, so what do I know – perhaps it is thick with OAPs seeking consolation in the arms of a catamite after a disappointing night out. Was he selling or buying, do you suppose?
At the wedding I made a bit of faux pas; I admired some woman’s minimalist hat, smoothie that I am, saying how much I liked her tantaliser. I should have said fascinater, as you will know. A tantaliser I believe is used in the process of encouraging the stallion to the mare. It is the term, so I understand, for a young, fit mare that is paraded about to excite the interest of the stallion and then whipped away at the right moment and the target mare is smartly substituted. The woman I was attempting to flatter didn’t look the type to be familiar with stud farm practices, and I think I got away with it.
I should have mentioned that the Friday College meeting was chaired by the Editor of the journal, recently returned from China. He has a shock of unruly white hair and a professorial manner which he amusingly enlivens with jokes and a bit of clowning when chairing meetings. He told us that his Chinese hosts laughed a great deal when he was not clowning, which he couldn’t understand. I remembered, but didn’t mention it, reading somewhere that the Chinese import and much enjoy old Mr Pastry films. I thought, but did not say, that his hosts may have been under the mistaken impression that Mr Pastry had come to stay.
The weekend thankfully included a brief visit to Helen’s where we enjoyed good food and wine and watched our dogs knocking seven bells out of each other.
Best wishes
Howard
Posted: December 17th, 2010 | Author: admin | Filed under: Press coverage, Product reviews | Comments Off
By MATT FORTUNE
Published: 07 Dec 2010
I’M A sucker for technology as much as the next guy. ![Trabasack_Mini_Black[1] - high res](http://blog.thefutureperfectcompany.com/wp-content/uploads/Trabasack_Mini_Black1-high-res1-300x199.jpg "Trabasack_Mini_Black[1] - high res")
I still have that kid-at-Christmas feeling with almost anything which works in ways I don’t understand.
Then every so often something so simple comes along which ticks all the same boxes as the most complicated electronic gadget – ease of use, style, help it provides.
I’m writing this review from the front passenger seat of my partner’s rather compact Fiat 500 on route back from the airport.
Last week, attempting such a task would have been pointless. For anyone who has tried to balance a laptop on their knees – let alone attempted it in a tight spot – you will understand the difficulty.
But now I have the Trabasack Mini.
This kick-yourself simple design has allowed me to work on the go, whether it’s sat in a cramped airport departure lounge or on the long car journey home.
And why so simple? On one side a firm leather feel surface to rest and protect your laptop, and on the other, a bean bag cushion inset to help achieve a level work surface wherever you want one.
Furthermore, the Trabasack claims to be more than just a helping hand to on-the-go workers.
Loathed to spend a fortune on airport sandwiches, I always take a packed lunch. But if you don’t eat in a designated restaurant, where can you enjoy a homemade cheese and pickle? Anywhere, now!
My portable desk has just become a tray. No spilled coffee. No trousers covered in crumbs and no uncomfortable balancing acts.
The Trabasack looks like a smart briefcase but comes complete with detachable straps so it can be worn as a rucksack or shoulder bag.
The inside zip pocket (where the beanbag is kept) means you can keep your charger, pens, pencils and even a notebook.
The Trabasack is priced at £34.95 and is available from the Future Perfect Company
For the full article click here
Posted: December 17th, 2010 | Author: admin | Filed under: About retirement - Howard Croft | Comments Off
Dear Philippa,
The brief pause in the Great Freeze (otherwise known as the Global Warming Memorial Freeze) prompted me to nip over to Hull to see Denise, my twin sister, and give her a Christmas present before Phase II hits, scheduled for today. I discovered when I called ahead that she had not been out of her house for nineteen days. I drove like Jehu over the Wolds, fearful of what I would find. Would she resemble Ben Gunn? Would she be huddled in a foetal attitude, keening at the world outside the window, and gnawing at the stump where her hand once was?
I arrived with fresh bread, milk, newspapers and magazines. She said very little, looked at the bread with a wild surmise, like stout Cortez on first looking into Chapman’s Homer, and immediately set about organising water and Bonios for my dog. I couldn’t be sure, she said, if you would bring her. She was fine; her scurvy will respond to treatment, I am confident of that, but will her sanity return? If it does, how will we know?
But let this be a lesson to you. Are your siblings coping with the weather? Check it.
I do feel slightly guilty that I had not discovered her plight until she was three weeks into it, especially as I had spent Saturday evening at the Groucho Club helping to celebrate my nephew’s 21st birthday over a fancy dinner – for twenty-one as it happens, most of them beefy rugger-bugger medical students, all tricked out in DJs and not a pair of Ferrero cufflinks in sight. I was encouraged by the uncomplicated determination with which they set about trying to drink the Club dry, and I enjoyed watching their flushed faces, shining with innocence, as they began to appreciate the impossibility of their ambition – none of the namby pamby disapproval for this generation of doctors-to-be. How unlike my own doctor, sourly scolding me for my modest intake, who with his pinched, bearded face resembles nothing more than a ferret peering out of a bear’s arse to complain about the winter accommodation.
I was asked to say a few words, during which I gave them some wise advice about how to select a medical specialty when the time comes. Your name may give you a clue, I told them: Dr Brain, a very distinguished neurologist, is a good example of how this can work, Christine Cutting, a surgeon, and my favourite – James Riddle, a urologist. My secret hope, which I did not share with them, is that somewhere there is a medical student called Alan Fistula who will settle comfortably into a career as a proctologist, with a side-interest in solving simple anagrams. It was a wonderful evening, to be surrounded by youthful excess and confidence. The following morning I remembered the last occasion when I spoke after a dinner at the Groucho Club. It was an event put on by one of the royal medical colleges, and for my contribution they paid me a fee of £500 – enough to cover the bar bill last Saturday.
But back to my sister. I’m going to have to keep a closer eye on her. It’s all very well showing up after three weeks with a loaf of stale bread and a bottle on semi-skimmed, but it doesn’t seem much when she’s been subsisting on nourishing kitchen scraps pushed through her letter box by neighbours whose wheelies are full, and trying to knock together a tasty pasta dish with used teabags serving as ersatz ravioli. What would Mum think?
Best wishes,
Howard
Posted: December 12th, 2010 | Author: admin | Filed under: Miscellaneous | 1 Comment »
![iStock_000012136967Small[1]](http://blog.thefutureperfectcompany.com/wp-content/uploads/iStock_000012136967Small11-300x199.jpg "iStock_000012136967Small[1]")
What do you think makes a classic Christmas film? Something comforting and heart warming maybe or something which will make you laugh?
We have put together a list of our top 5 Christmas films. Do you agree? What would your top 5 look like?
1. What a Wonderful Life (1946) – An angel helps a compassionate but despairingly frustrated businessman (James Stewart) by showing what life would have been like if he had never existed. Christmas classic.
2. Miracle on 34th Street (1947, remade in 1994) – When a nice old man who claims to be Santa Claus (Richard Attenborough in the later version) is institutionalized as insane, a young lawyer decides to defend him by arguing in court that he is the real thing. Best line: Kris: If you can’t learn to accept anything on faith, then you are doomed for a life dominated by doubt.
3. Little Women (1994) – Based on the Louisa May Alcott novel, this film starring Winona Ryder and set around the holiday period, focuses on the March sisters growing up in Massachusetts during the American Civil war. Expect drama, tears, love and family.
4. Home Alone (1990) – 8 year old Kevin McAllister (Macaulay Culkin) is accidentally left behind when his family takes off for a vacation in France over the holiday season. Whilst initially relishing time by himself, he is later greeted by two would-be burglars whom he eventually manages to outwit with a series of booby traps. Good family fun.
5. Elf (2003) – Will Ferrell stars as a man raised by Santa’s elves at the North Pole and sent to America in search of his true identity. Oddly endearing.
Posted: December 12th, 2010 | Author: admin | Filed under: About retirement - Howard Croft | 1 Comment »
Dear Philippa,
A few weeks ago to the first meeting of the season of the Old Malton Wine Tasting Club. It’s a discreet gathering of, on the whole,discreet residents who fancy a bit of nose-painting with a top dressing of cultural justification. Nothing wrong with that. Last month’s session was laid on by Paul Tate-Smith whose business is in the main wholesale, but with a very handy retail arm, what they call the ”sinister window” in dodgy banks in Bogota. Nothing wrong with that.
Previously Paul presented us with commonly known wines from unusual places. I forget the details. Last night it was unusual varieties from common places. Australia for example. Let me give you a taste, referring of course to my carefully taken contemporaneous notes:
1. Urban Torrontes 2009, Argentina. I noted: Only OK. Aftertaste of TCP – a bit like Elastoplast, but not so chewy. 4/10.
2. Brown Brothers Everton White, 2009, Australia. We were told that this rather sweet wine is the third most popular domestic seller in Australia. My neighbour whispered to me that this was unsurprising given the need to sweeten the sour disposition of Australians. I thought this an uncharitable judgement but could find no evidence-basis on which to challange it. Popular also in Liverpool, this muck. There you go.
3. K-Naia Verdejo Sauvignon Blanc, 2009. I noted: Smells like cat’s pee, with a whiff of elderflower. Aftertaste of badger sett. We were told balsamic notes, ie acidic.
4. Yorkshire Rose, 2009, Westow, North Yorkshire.This came as a surprise to me – I was told by a my clever economist friend that Yorkshire Rose works the evening shift out of the back of Huddersfield railway station, but this turned out to be a pink wine. I don’t like pink wine much but I admire the optimism of people who try to make it this far north. They’ve had some bad summers and struggle a bit; one of our number, clearly sold on global warming, voiced the view that these people are taking a shrewd position based on the assumption that climate change will within ten years put them in a poll position vis-a-vis vine friendly weather. So, not only is warming happening, but it’s happening fast. Coming to a Morrison’s near you (in twenty years) Scottish Shiraz. Extraordinary how this orthodoxy is trotted out without question.
5. Chateau Preuillac Medoc, 2005, France. The most expensive wine (of course – it’s French) at very nearly fouteen quid a bottle. Not good, I thought. I detected some underlying hostility in the group to the French, which I tried to quell with a diplomacy with which I am seldom credited.
6. Montes Selection Cabernet Carmenere, Chile. I love Chilean wine, and this was pretty good. Smooth – or “easy drinking” as the wine buffs sniffily say. Nothing wrong with easy drinking, I say. In fact, I would go further, in view of the achievements of the Chileans in snatching 33 miners from the jaws of death, in an engineering feat more commonly associated with the USA, I think that in tribute we should all buy a case – or a bottle, some people buy by the bottle – of Chilean wine. Even non-wine drinkers – give it to the poor; my address is not hard to find.
7. Hopler Zweigelt 2007, Austria. I had expected a robust Nazi red, but it was weedy with skinny legs. I didn’t know they made wine in Austria. Leather shorts yes – but wine?
The meeting ended with our organiser, a local JP so that’s OK, drawing our attention to Tate-Smith’s sinister window. Do you all know about this, she asked. To which Tate-Smith said, “Well one of you does. Howard’s got his own parking space.” That’s my cover blown.
And there you have it, or rather we did. Five more sessions and it’ll be spring again.
Best wishes
Howard
Posted: December 3rd, 2010 | Author: admin | Filed under: About retirement - Howard Croft | No Comments »
![howard_croft1-150x150[1]](http://blog.thefutureperfectcompany.com/wp-content/uploads/howard_croft1-150x1501.jpg "howard_croft1-150x150[1]")
Dear Philippa,
When I went to university in the early sixties I was given a grant, a City of Hull Major Award as it was grandly called. These awards were means tested; thanks to my father’s modest earnings, I was lucky enough to receive the maximum, which was £300 a year, roughly £5000 in today’s money. There was also an irreducible minimum of £50 a year (£800 today) so even if you were lucky enough to have the Duke of Westminster for a dad, you still got that. There were no student loans, except in America which doesn’t count.
Today’s students would be fainting with envy if they knew about this. But things have changed – at that time only three percent of pupils went to university, now it is about forty. By the time my own children went to university, in the early nineties, grants were being phased out and replaced by loans, the minimum entitlement was long gone, and thanks to what the government viewed as my bloated salary they qualified for nothing other than trivial loans and graduated with debts of a few hundred pounds.
Now more change is coming, much of it incomprehensible. I have always steered clear of anything described as a medley, as in a medley of summer fruits or a medley of tunes – it is a way of getting you to consume stuff you don’t like, such as star fruit and Gilbert & Sullivan, when what you really want is peaches and Mozart. And so it is with the coalition government – we are getting a medley of policies from two conflicting manifestos, and the “reform” of student financing. One unbelievably perverse proposal is to impose a redemption penalty on graduates fortunate enough to get well-paid jobs who pay off their student loans early to avoid many years of indebtedness and interest charges. The government likens this approach and seeks to justify it by comparing it to redemption charges applied to early repayment of certain types of mortgage, ignoring the fact that anyone can avoid such mortgages but you can borrow only from the Student Loan Company, otherwise known as the government. So, you go on paying interest on money you are no longer borrowing. In the interests of fairness.
This lunacy goes further. If Mum and Dad stump up for university fees to avoid the need for borrowing from the Student Loan Company, a “redemption fee” will be applied to them, and they will effectively be charged interest on money never borrowed in the first place. ”Fairness” has replaced “choice” as the new political shibboleth. But what these idiots don’t “get” – the new assertion of understanding by the elite – is that life is not fair, and no government diktat can make it so. I was lucky enough to have good parents who, although themselves poorly educated saw its value and encouraged me. Some of my contemporaries had parents who didn’t give a monkey’s, and that wasn’t “fair”, but what do you do about it – put children with good parents into orphanages, to make it fair? On the other hand, I am measurably short and widely regarded as ugly; in view of the sound research that shows that short unattractive people are less likely to succeed, more likely to figure in the criminal justice system, what to do? Do we engage teams of orthopaedic surgeons to chop a few inches out of the shins of the lofty, persuade plastic surgeons to set about those blessed with physical beauty and render them repugnant? In the interests of fairness? As a stunted hobgoblin, I don’t think so. Some people have an IQ of 87, others 135: not fair. Lobotomies all round?
And who are the loonies pushing this pernicious rubbish? Privately educated elitists whose prospects of Oxbridge were greatly thereby enhanced, compounded with “unfair” genetic endowment, who show no appetite at all for correcting the imbalances that are, albeit marginally, correctable.
Best wishes,
Howard
![Trabasack_Mini_Black[1] - high res](http://blog.thefutureperfectcompany.com/wp-content/uploads/Trabasack_Mini_Black1-high-res1.jpg "Trabasack_Mini_Black[1] - high res")
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