Ideas for leaving my money

[Bouleversee]

I am in no doubt that medical charities are the way to go. I am leaving in my Will enough to bring my IHT charge down to 36% on the chargeable amount by doing that. No animals and I am not convinced in the least by some local charity(s) They tend to be run in my experience by the Chairman or his sidekick for his personal interests, and of course he will change. That is my argument to myself anyway about leaving money to the likes of an institutional medical charity such as Diabetes UK and Myeloma UK, two with whom I have a particular interest, but there are many others.

Dod

As Bojo's latest plan re social care excludes the so-called hotel costs element, we still can't know how much of our wealth will be consumed by total care costs if one has a protracted illness or disability. My parents were both in care institutions of increasing dependency for 16 years, the only residents paying for themselves and paying more than local authorities paid for the others. Consequently, having started comfortably off they left very little and my poor father's last years were made worse by worrying that he was going to run out of money. How can one know in advance what one can afford to leave to charity? Could the executors vary the will, with the consent of the beneficiaries after the 2nd death, when there is a better idea of what is to be the value of the estate, and at that point include charitable bequests?

If it is not too O/T, could I also ask whether executors and other family members can lend their own money, assuming they have sufficient between them, to pay the IHT due in order to get probate to avoid having to borrow from a bank? Apart from NS&I certificates and Premium Bonds, are there any other investments/savings which will pay out directly to the Probate Office? With property prices going up, tax allowances being frozen and little opportunity to spend anything, the amount of IHT due is going to be more than bargained for in some cases but the lottery of care costs remains an unknown quantity.
.

[scrumpyjack]

If it is not too O/T, could I also ask whether executors and other family members can lend their own money, assuming they have sufficient between them, to pay the IHT due in order to get probate to avoid having to borrow from a bank? Apart from NS&I certificates and Premium Bonds, are there any other investments/savings which will pay out directly to the Probate Office? With property prices going up, tax allowances being frozen and little opportunity to spend anything, the amount of IHT due is going to be more than bargained for in some cases but the lottery of care costs remains an unknown quantity.
.

Yes and I have paid the IHT before probate to avoid finance costs. Also most banks will pay directly before probate to fund IHT. There is a specific IHT form as I recall. Once you have the IHT reference number you can request the bank to pay with that IHT ref number.

[SimonS]

We need to lose something like 4 to 5 billion people in under a decade.

You go first

AiY

No kids, Cancer and worked in China not so long ago and in weapons development over the last 40 years. I've been doing my bit in quiet ways and you probably would not want me to go out with a bang. Or not the kind that I' worked with, at least.

But the politicians' answer that we must increase our population so that they can continue to point to increasing GNP as a measure of success is not , foreseeably, sustainable. Building 350 000 houses , but importing a net population that requires 350,001 houses to build them isn't really a solution.

[AsleepInYorkshire]

We need to lose something like 4 to 5 billion people in under a decade.

You go first

AiY

No kids, Cancer and worked in China not so long ago and in weapons development over the last 40 years. I've been doing my bit in quiet ways and you probably would not want me to go out with a bang. Or not the kind that I' worked with, at least.

But the politicians' answer that we must increase our population so that they can continue to point to increasing GNP as a measure of success is not , foreseeably, sustainable. Building 350 000 houses , but importing a net population that requires 350,001 houses to build them isn't really a solution.

What charity would you recommend the OP donates to? Clearly not anything connected with politics. I get that bit. If you're struggling with the OP's question you can ask the audience or phone a friend

AiY

[Bouleversee]

If it is not too O/T, could I also ask whether executors and other family members can lend their own money, assuming they have sufficient between them, to pay the IHT due in order to get probate to avoid having to borrow from a bank? Apart from NS&I certificates and Premium Bonds, are there any other investments/savings which will pay out directly to the Probate Office? With property prices going up, tax allowances being frozen and little opportunity to spend anything, the amount of IHT due is going to be more than bargained for in some cases but the lottery of care costs remains an unknown quantity.
.

Yes and I have paid the IHT before probate to avoid finance costs. Also most banks will pay directly before probate to fund IHT. There is a specific IHT form as I recall. Once you have the IHT reference number you can request the bank to pay with that IHT ref number.

Thanks. I don't have much cash in the bank and most of my shares are in ISAs. I must find out whether execs. are allowed to sell shares and platforms will release cash for IHT as do banks.

[scrumpyjack]

If it is not too O/T, could I also ask whether executors and other family members can lend their own money, assuming they have sufficient between them, to pay the IHT due in order to get probate to avoid having to borrow from a bank? Apart from NS&I certificates and Premium Bonds, are there any other investments/savings which will pay out directly to the Probate Office? With property prices going up, tax allowances being frozen and little opportunity to spend anything, the amount of IHT due is going to be more than bargained for in some cases but the lottery of care costs remains an unknown quantity.
.

Yes and I have paid the IHT before probate to avoid finance costs. Also most banks will pay directly before probate to fund IHT. There is a specific IHT form as I recall. Once you have the IHT reference number you can request the bank to pay with that IHT ref number.

Thanks. I don't have much cash in the bank and most of my shares are in ISAs. I must find out whether execs. are allowed to sell shares and platforms will release cash for IHT as do banks.

Hargreaves Lansdown will sell shares to pay IHT and funeral expenses except from SIPPS

"Yes, we can issue a Declaration and Indemnity form to your executor to cover these costs from your estate once we have received an original or certified copy of the death certificate.

The ‘Declaration and Indemnity form’ can be used to sell assets for any of these three reasons:

To be held as cash / avoid market risk
To be used for funeral expenses
To be used for Inheritance Tax
Please note, any funeral expenses are paid directly to the funeral directors and any inheritance tax payments are made directly to HMRC. We will not make any payments directly to the executors until we have received sight of the Grant of Probate (or equivalent). Be aware that tax rules can and do change."

[Bouleversee]

Many thanks. I'm not with HL but will check that my platforms do the same. I've printed that out and will put with my will.

[zico]

Thanks for all the varied replies and suggestions.

I agree population growth is a big issue for the world, and the greater the population growth, the greater the suffering for the world's poorest. However, if I want to address that, I'll support women's education charities in 3rd world countries, as better education for women has been shown to reduce birth rates.

Something like this looks like it would fit the bill.

https://www.careinternational.org.uk/fi ... ting-girls

Of course, I'm sure that one or more people working for this charity has committed criminal acts, but I don't believe that should invalidate the whole charity. I often see the "one bad apple means the whole tree is tainted" argument, but it only ever seems to apply to charities, and never to government, political parties, companies or religious groups.

Just my personal view, but I'm strongly opposed to donating to UK medical charities, because I believe health care and research should be funded by taxation, and private charities simply replace what should be government spending.

[Dod101]

Thanks for all the varied replies and suggestions.

I agree population growth is a big issue for the world, and the greater the population growth, the greater the suffering for the world's poorest. However, if I want to address that, I'll support women's education charities in 3rd world countries, as better education for women has been shown to reduce birth rates.

Something like this looks like it would fit the bill.

https://www.careinternational.org.uk/fi ... ting-girls

Of course, I'm sure that one or more people working for this charity has committed criminal acts, but I don't believe that should invalidate the whole charity. I often see the "one bad apple means the whole tree is tainted" argument, but it only ever seems to apply to charities, and never to government, political parties, companies or religious groups.

Just my personal view, but I'm strongly opposed to donating to UK medical charities, because I believe health care and research should be funded by taxation, and private charities simply replace what should be government spending.

Well I hope you never have occasion to need charities like Diabetes UK or Myeloma UK, or Marie Curie (not sure if Marie Curie could be regarded as a medical charity but the other two very much are). No amount of government money will pick up what they do to help patients or their carers. Clearly how you donate your money is entirely up to you but were it not for these charities the world would be much the poorer and that goes for private funding for research from charities such as the Welcome Trust and plenty of much smaller ones as well. I cannot tell you how to donate of course but I fancy you may change your mind in the event of a devastating medical condition in your immediate family. If you have had such experience well of course I withdraw that comment.

Dod

[zico]

Well I hope you never have occasion to need charities like Diabetes UK or Myeloma UK, or Marie Curie (not sure if Marie Curie could be regarded as a medical charity but the other two very much are). No amount of government money will pick up what they do to help patients or their carers. Clearly how you donate your money is entirely up to you but were it not for these charities the world would be much the poorer and that goes for private funding for research from charities such as the Welcome Trust and plenty of much smaller ones as well. I cannot tell you how to donate of course but I fancy you may change your mind in the event of a devastating medical condition in your immediate family. If you have had such experience well of course I withdraw that comment.

Dod

The work of these charities is surely enabled by the provision of money from somewhere - how does it make any difference whether they get money from government or from individual (or company) donations?

[Lootman]

Just my personal view, but I'm strongly opposed to donating to UK medical charities, because I believe health care and research should be funded by taxation, and private charities simply replace what should be government spending.

But surely any money you donate to a UK medical charity is over and above what the government puts in? It is not as if the government looks to see how many private and corporate donations there are and then reduces the funding accordingly.

Your donation simply allows that clinic or charity to spend more, invest more, and provide more care and services etc.

[Dod101]

Well I hope you never have occasion to need charities like Diabetes UK or Myeloma UK, or Marie Curie (not sure if Marie Curie could be regarded as a medical charity but the other two very much are). No amount of government money will pick up what they do to help patients or their carers. Clearly how you donate your money is entirely up to you but were it not for these charities the world would be much the poorer and that goes for private funding for research from charities such as the Welcome Trust and plenty of much smaller ones as well. I cannot tell you how to donate of course but I fancy you may change your mind in the event of a devastating medical condition in your immediate family. If you have had such experience well of course I withdraw that comment.

Dod

The work of these charities is surely enabled by the provision of money from somewhere - how does it make any difference whether they get money from government or from individual (or company) donations?

Loot man has covered the main points, but I am philosophically opposed anyway to expecting the government to do everything. You can say that they have discovered a magic money tree throughout Covid but in fact they do not have unlimited resources. Look at how apparently under resourced the NHS is never mind new research. My use of the word apparently is because no amount of funds would adequately resource the NHS. In itself it has an unlimited appetite for more money. The direct answer to your question is it does not matter, but the fact is that research will not get it from government in adequate quantities and individual donations will always help expand the resources. How many would give extra money to government? No one I guess but they will give to a charity with which they can personally identify. I would guess that yu have no personal experience of the charities I mention. For instance, Marie Curie provide nurses at no charge to sit overnight with a patient in order to give the main carer (usually I guess the spouse) to get an undisturbed night's sleep. Government is not going to do that. Myeloma UK have dedicated nurses on the end of a telephone to give advice, reassurance and so on and their time seems unlimited. Government will not do that.

Dod

[SimonS]

You go first

AiY

What charity would you recommend the OP donates to? Clearly not anything connected with politics. I get that bit. If you're struggling with the OP's question you can ask the audience or phone a friend

AiY

Dignitas!

[Bouleversee]

What charity would you recommend the OP donates to? Clearly not anything connected with politics. I get that bit. If you're struggling with the OP's question you can ask the audience or phone a friend

AiY

Dignitas!

Is Dignitas a charity?

[AsleepInYorkshire]

Dignitas!

I'm not sure you really want to answer the opening posters question. Dignitas is not a charity. It is a non profit organisation that charges for its services, although it does make exception in cases of hardship.

However, if you feel the need to continue discussing world population and the need to reduce it can I suggest you open a thread on CaN to discuss it there?

Have a great day

AiY

[SimonS]

Dignitas!

I'm not sure you really want to answer the opening posters question.

I'm not sure you read the OP' question

"so any suggestions about where to leave our money when we're gone? Would consider overseas (non-Afghanistan) charities, humans not animals."

They don't specify that it has to be a charity, that was someone else's suggestion in a later post allied to the idea that charities do good and can be evaluated. Here the OP only suggests that they are open to suggestions including overseas charities.

[quote="AsleepInYorkshire"

Dignitas is not a charity. It is a non profit organisation that charges for its services, although it does make exception in cases of hardship.

iY[/quote]

So what?
www.dignitas.lu/en-gb/spenden/
Dignitas is a young Association, depending on donations, no matter how small they might be, from generous people. Everyone who would like to support a good cause and help improving our projects, can make a donation to our bank account: BCEE - LU84 0019 3755 6156 4000 (Dignitas a.s.b.l.)

You can donate to Dignitas so that people can die with dignity. Having seen five parents die in distinctly undignified circumstances including having to fight the NHS to enforce a DNR (They resuscitated him on five separate occasions against his declared will; " because it was so easy and we could" as one doctor proudly told me before I reported him and the hospital to the GMC for gross misconduct).

www.dignitas.lu/en-gb/spenden/
"If you want to see your money be invested into a certain project, please add a note on your transaction or let us on another way of communication."

Alas, they don't do click and collect!

Have lots of fun

[Dod101]

"so any suggestions about where to leave our money when we're gone? Would consider overseas (non-Afghanistan) charities, humans not animals."

That suggests to me that the OP is looking at charities, those that support humans, not animals. The OP will obviously correct me if I am wrong. As AiY said, Dignitas is not a charity, certainly not registered in the UK as one, as far as I know.

Dod

[BhotiPila]

If you want to contribute to really changing lives of some of the most disadvantaged people on the planet, people you will never meet:
https://www.facingafrica.org/
Highly skilled volunteer British and Irish surgeons, anaesthetists and nurses giving their own time. Humbling.

No connection whatever. Met the organiser a couple of times several years ago . . . . .

BP