Why DIY Wills aren’t for winners

When Elvis Presley ordered a steak he demanded that it be chopped into bite-sized pieces and then put back together to look like a whole steak.

Why?  Because he was a busy person who preferred to have it done for him, and he believed (justifiably) that the chef in the kitchen had access to professional carving knives that would make sharper cleaner cuts than Elvis could achieve for himself.

The ‘King’ recognised the efficiency of employing a specialist to do something better than he could do for himself.

You remember the famous words “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for life!”

Well in theory that sounds great – but fishing is an exercise in patience. It can take many hours of waiting for the fish to take the bait, and that assumes you have the right location, bait and equipment.

Then the fish can slip the hook or break the line. It could be the wrong sort of fish. Or it could be too small to keep. Or the sharks could come and steal your catch (remember The Old Man and the Sea?)

In most cases, when people want a fish they want it fast and easy. They don’t want to spend lots of time learning a new skill, or work out where to go, or buy rods and reels, lures and floats, nets and scalers. All they really want is to have the fish handed to them, already scaled and filleted and cut up in bite sized pieces, ready to eat just as Elvis did!

For so many busy people who are time-poor, this is the fundamental principle that has led to the success of many businesses like Jim’s Mowing, H&R Block Tax Professionals and Hire a Hubby.

Sure, you can try to mow your own lawn, prepare your own tax return, and do your own odd-jobs.  But will you do it as well as a professional who does ONLY that particular job, day-in and day-out? Will your amateur (bodgy) effort end up creating (hidden) problems that will only come to light much later? Do you want to invest the time and money to acquire the correct equipment and skills to do this?

And is it a good use of your time, to learn the skills necessary to do a good job that will last the tests of time, or would it be better if you stuck to what you do well, and hire professionals to do the things you aren’t an expert in?

You know, this is a sign of the times.

Once upon a time, if you found a Treasure Map leading to buried treasure, the average punter would arm themselves with a pick and shovel, visit a grocery store to stock up on tinned food and they would head off into the great unknown, thinking that they knew what they were doing.

How many of them do you reckon struck it rich?  How many didn’t even survive the experience? Did they have the necessary skills to camp, hunt, navigate and mine effectively and efficiently? Did they even take the time to learn any of those skills before wandering into the unforgiving mountains?

As time went by though, some of the hopeful treasure-seekers started to work-out that the people selling the map, pick, shovel, mule and food stores all tended to make a lot more money (and for less effort) than the eager-eyed hopefuls making holes in the world.

As Clint Eastwood might say – they had to ask themselves a question: Did they really want to hunt treasure, or did they want to get rich?

The smarter people became more efficient, and played to their strengths. They worked smarter, not harder. And the ones who changed tactics – and found other ways to get rich – became successful.

Instead of trying to do everything for themselves, they discovered that it was a better use of their resources (time, energy, money) if they hired specialist professionals to do some of the more important jobs for them.

Not only is it done for them – and done right – but it typically gets done a lot faster than the DIYers who often keep putting things off until all their dominoes are lined up just right.

So … are you going to be a ‘bush-lawyer’ and dabble-in estate planning on a DIY basis, even though you haven’t studied the law in this area, haven’t kept up with changes in the law and recent Court decisions?

Maybe you’ve got a Will-kit, and maybe you’ve read a couple of articles on the internet, and you think you’ll have a go to DIY the most important legal document in your life. But do you realise that the laws about Wills vary from State to State in Australia, and they also change from time to time? Most of the information on the internet is from other countries (especially America) which is not applicable in Australian States, and it tends to be very out of date.

If those mistakes weren’t enough, you should also consider that a Will alone is not the only document you need for an estate plan. Without an Advance Care Directive, power of attorney, trust, or guardianship you may not be providing for your family as you intend.

Contact the oldest law firm on South Australia – Genders and Partners, established 1848 – to learn more about retirement planning, superannuation, estate-planning and estate-administration  solutions, by visiting our website today and schedule a free no obligation telephone consultation to find out how we can help you and yours.

Remember – any mistakes you make in your Will won’t become apparent until after you’re dead, and it’s too late for you to fix them. Get proper advice, and do it right.

It is also vitally important that you keep your Will and estate plan up to date – it is not a set-and-forget exercise.

To learn how to protect yourself, your family and your assets, by creating a professionally-made estate plan, claim your FREE 15 minute Telephone Consultation

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