What is a Die Tidy?
When you die, someone will need to find your important information and documents quickly. A good solution is to create a Die Tidy file. This is a colourful foolscap box file (for example bright yellow) with the words “Die Tidy” in big letters on the label. It needs to stand out for a reason – to save your relatives turning your home upside down looking for information after you’ve gone! This box file should contain all the important documents that will be needed to deal with your assets and liabilities.
See here for more details of what you should include and why.
Do an Annual Review
Things can get a complicated if there is inheritance tax to pay, so it’s a good idea to do an annual review of your financial position. Each year, at about the same time, add up the values of all your assets and liabilities (such as outstanding loans). Your executor will need to confirm the correct figures at the date of death, but the latest annual review figure will hopefully give them a good idea of you financial position.
Are you one of the 8.3 million?
The UK Office for National Statistics estimates that 8.3 million people in the UK lived alone in 2022. That's 30 of all households in the UK. If you are one of those people, who will know what to do when you die? Even if you have no remaining family, you can always leave a Die Tidy file for someone to pick.
Paperless - what price to save the planet?
Paperless is popular. Less paper, printing and postal deliveries can only help the planet, right? But just stop and think for a moment about who, other than you and organisations you're dealing with, knows of your relationship with them? You may have an app only, online only or paperless bank account with a bank that only ever contacts you by e-mail. If you die, who would even know that account ever existed? Would you lose everything by doing your bit to save the planet?