What to Sort in Your 40s: A Simple Starter Checklist
The key financial, legal and family planning tasks worth tackling in your 40s before life gets more complicated.
Why your 40s matter
Your 40s are often the busiest, most stretched years of life. Our careers are peaking, kids are growing, parents are ageing, but mortgages still running. It’s exactly because of that “busyness” that this is the best decade to put a few foundations in place. None of this needs to happen overnight. The goal is steady progress, not a weekend of panic.
The essentials to sort
1. A will (or updating an old one) If you don’t have one, this is priority number one, especially with children involved, as a will is where you name guardians. If you do have one, check it still reflects your family and assets; over 40% of UK adults don’t have an up-to-date will.
2. Life insurance and income protection Review whether your cover still matches your mortgage and dependants. Many people take out a policy in their 20s or 30s and never revisit it.
3. Power of Attorney (for yourself) People assume this is only for elderly parents but it’s not. A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) means someone you trust can manage your affairs if you’re suddenly unable to (accident, illness, etc.), at any age.
4. Pension check-up Track down old workplace pensions, check your State Pension forecast on gov.uk, and confirm your nominated beneficiaries are still correct.
5. A “Life Folder” One place — physical or digital — where your important documents, account details and key information live. (See our full Life Folder Checklist guide.)
6. A conversation with your parents Your 40s are often when parents start needing more support. Starting an open conversation now, before a crisis, makes everything easier later. (See Supporting Ageing Parents.)
Quick checklist
Getting things sorted in your 40s should mean you have:
- A will that has been written or reviewed within the past 5 year
- Life Assurance or Income Protection which matches both your current mortgage and your family situation
- Powers of Attorney in place covering both Financial and Health decisions
- Got your Life Folder started
- Had open conversations with parents or grandparents about their plans
Start small
Getting organised is not about doing everything perfectly. It is about making life easier for yourself and the people around you, one step at a time.
What to do next
Read Life Folder Checklist to start organising the documents behind these tasks, or Power of Attorney Explained if that’s the one you’ve been putting off.