What is Purple Rain?

It could well be the tears of regret that potential beneficiaries of Prince’s are shedding having missed out on a slice of a $300 million dollar fortune. This kind of shows the importance of having a Last Will and Testament in place. Not everyone will die at 82-1/2 years old (average Australian lifespan) so it’s best not to wait until then to set up your will.

Having grown up with Prince’s music, yet not really following his career, I recently read his biography in Rolling Stone and was blown away at the artistry and creativity of this musical legend. His career was constant from his first days of self-learning piano at the age of 7, guitar at 13, and drums at 14 to his last days, still writing and performing.

Wow, no wonder he had no time to get his affairs in order. Maybe, being so ensconced in his career and creativity, he didn’t have or allow managers or financial advisers around him to insist that he did get his fortune sorted. We may never know why Prince left it all that way, but we must take a lesson from that and ensure we do get our own affairs in order.

A step before setting up your will is to get your finances organised. There is no point leaving your loved ones a mess to sort through, or god forbid fight over. This can be as easy as establishing a simple budget to follow each month, or even enlisting the help of an accountant or financial adviser. If you don’t already have a financial plan, or as we often like to refer it, a “spending plan”, you can start it at any time. That way you can see at a glance, what you are spending, saving and investing (if you get to that stage).

I won’t go into it here but it’s quite easy to avoid the Purple Tears of regret and get yourself sorted and setup financially, for the benefit of your loved ones.

A good start to understanding the savings/spending process is by downloading our Free Your Money Sense e-Book: “6-steps to Financial Security”.