No one likes to think about a time when they won’t be here and conversations around death are certainly some of the hardest we can have… but it seems that we do often contemplate the subject within ourselves, with new research revealing that 26 is the average age that people first start to consider their own death.

The Co-op’s latest survey into death, dying and bereavement has found that the average person will contemplate their own mortality for 55 years, with women more likely than men to ponder the subject.

And while you might well think that spending so much time thinking about death would mean that people put measures in place to plan for the inevitable – but this is only true for 41 per cent of people.

Commenting on the findings, director of funerals with the organisation David Collingwood said: “Our survey shows that whilst mortality is something we often think about, it’s not something we’re willing to open up and talk about.

‘’With over 18 million people uncomfortable talking about death, many of us are having those conversations because we feel they are too difficult to broach or we don’t want to upset people. The reality of it is, if we start to talk more openly about death, dying and bereavement now, it’ll remove some of the emotional burden for our loved ones further down the line.’’

Openly talking about death is certainly difficult, but there are some reasons that spur us on to do so, whether it’s the death of a family member, reaching a milestone age, medical diagnoses, news reports of deaths, the loss of friends, making a will, terrorism, hearing about famous people dying or the death of an acquaintance.

Previous Co-op research on the subject recently revealed that 95 per cent do not have a funeral plan in place, 73 per cent haven’t written a will and 94 per cent say they haven’t nominated a lasting power of attorney.

As a result of this lack of financial planning, four million people have found themselves in financial hardship after a loved one died.

If you haven’t got a will in place as yet, why not make 2019 the year to sort this out? You want to know that the assets you’ve worked hard for your entire life will be handed down to the people you choose in an efficient and tax-effective way – so get in touch with will solicitors Lennon’s to help you get the job done.

Remember that planning for the future isn’t something you do as a one-off – you need to review your plans regularly to take into account major life events like getting married, divorced, having children, buying a house and so on. And it can be tricky to do, so make life easier for yourself by hiring professional will and probate solicitors to lend a helping hand.