“Steady” Ed Headrick, toy maker and perfecter of the Frisbee, requested that his ashes be placed inside a limited run of Frisbees for his family and friends. In a similar vein, Fred Baur, inventor of the Pringles crisp tube stipulated that his cremated ashes had to be stored in, yes, you’ve guessed it one of his tubes.
Not all of us will want to leave behind such unusual requests but having a will should absolutely be an important part of everyone’s financial plans.
Simply put, establishing a legally valid will, and ensuring it remains up to date during your lifetime, is the only way to ensure your assets are distributed as you’d like them to be when you die. For this reason, we encourage everyone over the age of 18 to make one and review it on a regular basis. More often than not, it is a more straightforward process than many people expect.
I’ll show later that it doesn’t always have to be an expensive exercise either, indeed there are ways in which you can draw up a legally valid will through a regulated solicitor for free.
Yet, according to a recent YouGov survey, 60% of UK adults and 77% of co-habiting couples do not have a valid will in place.