What’s really going on?

When various people try to sell me something in life, I try to assess the various agendas going on.

The classic thing within my area of the legal profession, is that my fellow professionals are encouraged to “sell” funeral plans and to encourage clients to put their assets into trusts, either in their lifetime, or in their Wills.

I’m not here to tell anyone what to do or not do. We all have to make decisions based on what’s right for us and our families.

However, what I do know is that when companies try to get me and my firm on board in sending clients their way, they try to incentivise me by telling me how much money I can make by referring people to them.

They have no idea how much of a turn off this is.

I have enough money. Plenty. My reputation and all I stand for, is everything in my professional life.

What I tend to ask myself, is whether I would do something. Until very recently, I would have said I’d never take out a funeral plan. My concerns about the “fund” and how it might be invested and protected, were always batted away with a condescending attitude, which rather discounted the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac scenarios of recent years, not to mention the financial rescue of Morgan Stanley.

I now realise that the benefits of deciding the details of a funeral, can be more important to folk than the financial reasons for taking out a plan. People tell me how much it relieved their burden, to know that choosing coffins, cars and hymns, was not to be squeezed in between their grief. It’s a personal choice, but it’s not something that I can assist with.

What about lifetime trusts? I’ve been told quite forcibly that I should be offering them. And the next sentence tends to be about money and what a fool I am for not getting involved.

I used to wait until the breaks at face to face events, and if there was an opportunity, I would then get into a conversation with other lawyers about lifetime trusts. They’d be off, some telling me that every client of theirs needs one, and might I at least offer them to all my clients.

Then I’d ask the seemingly innocent question. The obvious one. That you’d think they’d see coming a mile off.

“Have you got one?” and almost all, were open books and immediately had very awkward body language, and the bottom line was, no, none of them had this complicated, expensive fees inducing, lifetime trust… even though it was apparently the right thing for all their clients!

I recall one guy who was slick. Maybe he did see my question coming. And he rattled off having a mortgage as making it impossible for him and his family to make use of this incredible facility which all his clients should have.

I definitely like a simple life. I love to enjoy everything I do professionally.

There are people I refer clients to, where there’s a need for more complex tax planning, and I know a friendly and professional funeral director round the corner from my office who I know supports clients I send their way, as though they’re family.

If you want to know what my agenda is, I’m all about sharing what I believe are essential messages. The one about marriage cancelling Wills. The insight that fixed legal fees can free you to speak with your lawyer as a person, rather than as a fee earning machine. And the message around taking action in a managed way, rather than leaving your family to sort things out without Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs) or a Will.

What are you waiting for?

If you’d like to chat through your agenda with Jane, please make contact by email at Jane@jcwillsandprobate.co.uk or by telephone on 01727 840 240 and we can share ideas.