The Planning Ahead Tools website is categorised in a way that makes it easy for you to find the information you need quickly and easily. There are a couple of different ways you can navigate through the website.

Navigation

If you hold your cursor over the titles in the white horizontal menu at the top of the page, you will see a drop down list of relevant information. This information is targeted specifically to individuals, health professionals and legal professionals, making it easier for you to find what you're looking for. Just click on the links to go directly to the information you need.

Search

You can use the search tool found on the top right of each page to find information. Just enter the key terms you are looking for, click search and you will be provided with a list of links to relevant information. Click on the links to go directly to the information you need.

Common Questions

To find specific answers to questions that you may have, you can browse through the "Common Questions" pages. There are links back to the relevant content and also videos you can watch.

Signing up to the website is free, easy, and gives you access to tools that will help you to plan ahead, such as "Create My Menu" and "My Plan Builder".

All you need to do is enter your name, email address, and create your own password. Your details will remain confidential and will not be used in any other way.

"Create My Menu" uses a checklist which allows the website to determine the most appropriate set of information for your needs.

All you have to do is select whether you're an individual, health or legal professional and choose the questions from the list that are relevant to you. You can choose as few or as many as you want. When you're finished, simply click the icon at the bottom of the page.

You will then be taken to a new page where you will see the menu you have created on the left hand side of the page. This menu contains the most relevant information for you. You can change your menu at any time by clicking on the check boxes next to the headings to add or remove information.

You can also choose to add information from other areas on the website. If you click on a new topic outside your left hand menu, a box will appear asking whether you want to add this information to your menu. Click "yes" to save this topic to your list, or click "no" if you want to keep browsing without adding the information.

If you want to go back and do the checklist again, click on "Create my menu" - "Selections Checklist" from the top menu or from the Left Hand Menu.

To go back to browsing the whole website and to remove previous selections, click on "Reset menu" at the top of the left hand menu.

Please note that you will need to register and be logged in to access "Create My Menu".

"My Plan Builder" is a tool that has a series of questions to help you to record your thoughts as you learn about planning ahead for your future.

The questions can be found at the bottom of key information pages, so you can answer them as you learn. Or, you can go straight to the plans by clicking on "My Plan Builder" in the top menu, or the tile on the right hand side of the home page.

To answer a question, click on the "answer" icon, type your response in the box and click "save". You can download your responses by clicking on the "Download as PDF" icon. All your answers will be saved to your profile so you can come back at anytime and change them, print them, or attach them to an email.

Please note that you will need to register and be logged in to access "My Plan Builder".

The site contains a print function on every information page just in case you want to read it another time, away from the computer. When you use the "Create My Menu" tool, you also have the option to print all the information that is on your list at once, by clicking on "Print all selections" on the left hand menu.

There are plenty of videos on the website, including topic summaries, interviews with subject matter experts and case studies with people who have gone through some of the processes of planning ahead.

You can watch these videos as you read the information, or if you prefer, go straight to the "Watch Videos" page.

The site provides transcripts for each video in PDF format. Click the link under the video to download the transcript to read on your computer, or print if you prefer hard copies.

The site contains a comprehensive glossary explaining all the key terms used and a page containing great links to written publications and other websites that may interest you. You can find these pages in the top menu, under "Help".

If you have any technical difficulties with the site, you can contact the support team using the online form located under "help" in the top menu. The team will get back to you within the next working day.

However, if you want to talk to someone about planning ahead, you can go to "Useful Contacts", to find phone numbers and addresses for more information about each planning ahead topic.