Making a Will

Don't know what it is, something in the air or what but I'm continuing with the theme of getting some order into my life. First the decision to organise my pension provision and now I'm planning to write a proper will.

It's one of those things that's been nagging away at the back of my mind ever since I bought the house (five years ago). It's a big asset and needs to be properly passed on to whoever in the sad event of my shuffling off this mortal coil.

My arrangements will be very easy as I want most of my assets and belongings to pass to Lesley apart from some cash to my brother, sister, nephew and nieces but without a proper will that'll never happen without a lot of hassle. Dealing with the devastation of losing me in the prime of life will be bad enough :) without having to fight off the taxman at the same time. There's some nice, short, easy to understand blurb about wills on Channel4's website (though listing some ways you can die unexpectedly is a tad OTT).

When one thinks of the grief and inconvenience your loved ones could suffer, making a will is incredibly straightforward and cheap. Yet, according to the Law Society, 35% of people in England and Wales over 65 have no will; only half of those from 45 to 65 have one, and less than 13% of those under 45.

Now, do I go the whole hog and arrange a meeting with the solicitor or do I just create my own using one of the many online sites available? To be honest, my requirements will not be that complicated so I may just take the cheapo online route and keep more cash in my estate ;) I'll keep you posted.

Category:

• Personal
• Will

Pensions

Wake up there, if you're like me the very mention of the P word and the room begins to swim around and you fall into a deep slumber. I'm getting on a bit now and I really can't ignore this any more.

My pension arrangements are a bit of a mess due to past circumstances. I opened my first personal pension when I was about 24. Two years later and I went to University and the pension was frozen, a state it remains in to this day. I get the yearly statements and my eyes glaze over at the sheer rip off a pension scheme is. The only people who really benefit are the so called Fund "Managers" (remember, I hate anybody with Manager in their job title) and the Government who claw huge amounts of tax back when you finally retire.

When I started at my current employer I opened a new pension with, a different provider, to take benefit of generous company contributions. I contributed 0% to the pension. Then, we were taken over and were forced to open another pension in the company approved Group Pension Scheme. So, I froze the second pension as well. The company continue to contribute to the new one but I still refuse to drop any personal money into the bottomless pit.

I want to get the two frozen pensions back into play but I'm reticent of transferring them into the active scheme. I want control, day to day, week to week. Enough of this "Management" charge nonsense based not on their performance but on the value of your fund.

So, I'm currently researching the possibility of opening an online Sipp (Self Invested Pension Plan). Low charges and all the decisions are up to me. Invest in funds from a list of literally hundreds, individual shares, cash, Gilts, Investment Funds, property etc. The time was this was only for people with large pots but the advent of online Sipps has opened up this market to mere mortals (that's everybody apart from Civil Servants).

Next step is to research which online Sipp is best for me, contact the providers of the two frozen schemes and begin the process of transferring the money to the new account. Then let the fun begin, buy, buy, buy... bye bye. As usual, I'll post any progress on the blog.

Category:

• Personal
• Money
• Pension

Health Update 48

So, my health?... hmm. Unfortunately my plan to watch the World Cup and keep fit/lose weight hit the buffers when my back started to complain. Nothing major, just a few twinges but enough for me to stop the 5km on the exercise bike before a match. Those of you who know me will know I'm a martyr to my back and I'm not prepared to do anything for it to flair up and cause endless pain for months or even years to come. To be honest I was doing far too much (20km in a day) so I'll maybe try a single 5km a day for a while and monitor the effect on back pain.

Lesley, working in a school, brought home a lovely virus which proceeded to infect me at lighting speed. Headache, sore throat, temperature, coughing, snot running freely down the back of my throat, disturbed sleep; the full works. Perfect for the summer.

Apart from the above and the ME/CFS and the NASH I'm in perfect health ;)

Category:

• Health
• NASH
• Weight

Bright Idea Update 1

True to my word I did a total of 10km on the exercise bike before settling down to watch Holland v Serbia & Montenegro.

The first 5km was completed in 10m 40s, felt like death, "glowing" like a pig, gasping for air, guzzling water and walking like John Wayne for half an hour afterwards. Took a break for an hour and read the Sunday Times (which I walked along to the shop for) and then did a second stint.

The second 5km took slightly longer at 11m 10s but I recovered much more quickly this time. Well chuffed.

Next up I need to do another 5km before the Mexico v Iran match kicks off at 5pm followed by another 5km before the Angola v Portugal game beginning at 8pm.

Plus, I'm still in deficit to the tune of 4 matches from Friday/Saturday so need to do an extra 20km by the end of Tuesday. Can I keep this up? I'm determined to give it a go.

Update: Being a user of all things Google I created a spreadsheet, to track my 5km exercise idea, using their latest test (Google Spreadsheets) to come out of their labs. You need an invitation from Google to get to try but hopefully you can view the output here.

Category:

• Health
• Weight

Bright Idea

Concerned as to the effect of a month long overdose of laying on the sofa/bed, eating ice lollies, pop corn and pizzas while watching the football I came to an agreement with myself. For every game of football I watch I'd do 5km on the exercise bike.

Now, the plan was to do each 5km before I actually settled down to watch a game, but arriving home yesterday afternoon just before it all kicked off my plan went a bit pear shaped. Unfortunately I'm half-way through watching the 5th match and I've still yet to actually get on the bike. Very poor.

I solemnly promise to have done at least 10km before the sixth game kicks off tomorrow afternoon and make the backlog up by Tuesday (or you can kick my arse).

Category:

• Health
• Weight

World Cup 2006 Day 1 and 2

Off we go, marvelous. Nipped home from work early to catch the build up to the opening game but missed the opening ceremony. Great first game, typical result for the Germans lots of goals and a ball which moved in the air like those balls you used to get when I was a lad (orange and black) from petrol stations for about 50p.

As for the England game, hmmmm. I watched it on the projector and the picture wasn't half bad from BBC1 Freeview. The sound though was crap. I don't know if it was the stadium, the microphones, sound mixing or the fans' fault but there was feck all atmosphere from the crowd coming through the speakers (contrast it with the T&T v Sweden game and it was like a wake).

Regarding England's chances of lifting the trophy... they're nil. Same old same old. No passion or vision from the players and the coach. Sven's team talk, tactics and substitutions... all pish. Hanging on to a 1:0 lead will be impossible in the second round onwards unless they start playing some free flowing football and go to win games in some sort of style.

On to ITV for T&T v Sweden (reputation of pish picture quality for live football) and yup, on Freeview it was unwatchable with massive blocking and pixelisation. Watched it on the normal telly through SKY and I could at least make out the player's faces. Great result for T&T, down to 10 men for half the match, keeper injured in the warm-up, and no Marvelous Marvin. Sadly, it means a win for England on Thursday and they'll win the group before a week has even passed.

At the moment, depending on the draw, I'd predict a Germany v Brazil final.

Category:

• Sport
• Football
• World+Cup