I was recently asked by a sceptical friend to give a good reason why she should make a Will. I answered that, in fact, I could give her 216 reasons.

216 is the number of beneficiaries who recently inherited a moderately valued estate of £250,000; where some received cheques for as little as £3.76

The 2013 Annual Budget Statement painted a somewhat bleak economic picture, alleviated by a few crowd-pleasing bright spots. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne cut the predicted level of growth in the UK during 2013 from 1.2% to 0.6%.

A recent vote organised by MEP Sven Giegold, named and shamed financial products that consumers felt were the most dangerous consumers and the environment.

One of the culprits was Food speculation funds. This type of investment topped the table for financial products that were most likely to harm the environment.