Fortune Watch

Dying without leaving a will is a bad idea.

If you haven’t made a will, then you have made a mistake, everything you own will be shared out according to the law instead of in accordance with your wishes. This could mean your estate passes to someone you hadn’t intended – or that someone you want to pass things on to ends up with nothing. For example, if you’re not married and not in a civil partnership, your partner is not legally entitled to anything when you die. If you’re married, your husband or wife might inherit most or all of your estate and your children might not get anything.  All of this can be avoided if you make a will, setting out your wishes.

Oh, and if you needed any more persuading, if you do die without having left a will, all your assets are likely to be frozen until the estate is sorted out, which can mean hardship for your loved ones in the meantime. And it’s much more expensive to use the courts to reconcile an estate, so there’ll be less left over for your family too. It really is a ‘no brainer.’

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Financial planning is the process of identifying the monetary goals of an individual after considering different factors like his risk profile, life priorities, current lifestyle, etc… It is a process that can present before an individual, an organization or even a nation details about their current monetary position and the adjustments that are to be done to their pattern of spending in such a way that they can effectively meet their financial objectives.

Financial advisors are so uncomfortable speaking about life insurance that more than half, 56 percent, simply don’t do it, according to a recent survey by Saybrus Partners Inc.

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Further, almost one-fifth (18%) said they were “uncomfortable” or “very uncomfortable” recommending life insurance policies to their clients. Just a third (34%) of the financial advisors surveyed said they were “very comfortable” recommending life insurance to their clients.

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Everyone I know is sick of this recession, and sick of hearing about this recession. For one, the media’s attention to the global financial situation is depressing. But as many have pointed out, we are in this situation because of our own devices. On the individual level, poor financial and debt management, have exacerbated outside factors such as the housing market collapse and high rates of unemployment. For others, indiscriminate consumer debt has led to a number of individual crises. But in such a climate, there is a lot that can be learned. While it would have benefited everyone to know this several years ago, here are twelve personal financial lessons that can and should be learned during this recession.

Learn How to Plan Ahead

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It’s no secret that poor planning contributed to why so many people are currently in untenable financial situations. Don’t Panic. Figure out where you are at, where you want to be and put in place a realistic plan for getting there. The majority of businesses without plans in place before they start operations do not succeed. So if you are serious about creating a way to get ahead, or even just caught up, this step could not be more necessary. Unique circumstances will come up and cause you to stray from your plans temporarily, but structure is necessary in order to monitor your progress, and stay focused.

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