Note: This is a speech given at my McGill Toastmasters club and repurposed for this blog.

Have you ever thought about your own death?

Sooner or later we are all going to die.

Would you like your death to be a representation of how you have lived your whole life?

The day that you die, how would you like your friends and family to gather to celebrate your life?

Have you ever thought about your own burial? What will happen to your body?

Like most of you, I never thought about my own death.

I mean, I am never going to die. You are never going to die. We will live eternally, right?

Wrong! The truth is that one day we will all die.

Why did I start thinking about my death?

So, how did I arrive at this topic? Why did I start thinking about my own death?

About 6 years ago, I wanted to invest some money in real estate. The thing is that I didn’t have much money. So I asked my friends and family to lend me some money and.

They never doubted my ability to pay them back. Their only comment was:

What happens if you get hit by a truck and die tomorrow? How will we get our money back?

It was at that moment that I realized that I could die at any moment and that I would be leaving too many unfinished businesses. I had to take a look at my preparedness for death. I didn’t even have burial insurance. I didn’t want to be a burden to my family and the kindest thing I could do for them was to make plans for my own death so that they could focus on celebrating my life.

Writing my will every year

Since 2012 I have been writing my will every year. I do it during the month of January, which is a dead month (no pun intended). And every year I add a bit more detail.

My will is a set of instructions on how to get rid of my real estate, how to sell my stocks, how to pay my debts, and how to distribute whatever is left among my family and friends. It’s an amazing experience to think about my own death. Every year, I think about how I would live my life if this was my last year. And every year, I get a bit closer to that vision of the ideal life.

Writing my will every year is also an important way to know that whatever happens to me, my family, and my loved ones are protected – both financially and legally. In fact, if you have some capital to subdivide or properties, it is crucial that you find out what happens to it all once you are dead. In the case of properties, an estate planning attorney can help you understand the implications of not deciding on this before your death.

Taking action to have a worry-free death

Every year, I take some kind of action so that there will be less paperwork involved.

For example, a few days ago, I closed my Airbnb property (read next blog post coming in a few days)

next year, I am planning to sell my real estate.

If I sell my real estate, I will also pay all my debts. This action will eliminate a lot of stress. No property disposal, no debts to pay. The only thing left to do will be to sell all my stocks in the stock market and that can be done in less than one hour.

What about the ceremony?

I was so impressed with the way Cheryl organized the 20th anniversary McGill party that I am hiring her to be the event planner.

I want a big party. There will be delicious vegan food and plenty of alcohol. All my readers and listeners are invited.

I want Cheryl and Elli to play and sing a rap song for me.

I want my friends to do a salsa demo.

And I want Anna Paula to mix exotic Brazilian drinks and to play the piano.

How to dispose of my body

I want to donate all my useful organs. I don’t smoke and I jog, so I think I have good lungs. I want to donate my heart, my liver, my eyes, whatever can be useful to someone else, why not? I don’t need it anymore.

After all the useful organs have been taken, then I want to donate the leftover to science. If medical students and scientists can benefit somehow from examining my body, why not? I will be able to help out even after my death.

By this point, my burial is free. These organizations will assume all the expenses related to the burial.

Save money and the environment at the time of death

All my life I have been frugal.

I don’t want an ordinary burial. I want pine or a cardboard coffin. there are some available on Amazon.

I want my body to decompose naturally, not six feet under but 3 feet under so that it can decompose nature and serve nature.

Have you ever thought about your own death? How can you save a lot of stress for your family? How to be frugal on your last day? how to save the environment.

Share your opinion in the comments.

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