When you’re younger, it’s easy to see death as a far-off event. As a result, many young people think that they don’t need an estate plan. But this can be a tragic mistake that carries tremendous implications for your assets and your loved ones. That’s why this week on the blog we wanted to look at some top reasons why young adults shouldn’t procrastinate in creating a holistic estate plan.
Top reasons why young people need estate plans
There are a lot of benefits to the estate planning process. Here are some of the most important as they pertain to younger adults:
- Specifying care for your children: People with children often focus their estate plan on what’s best for their kids. While this certainly includes figuring out asset distribution, it can also entail specifying who will take care of your children if you pass away when they’re still minors. Through an estate plan, you can name the future guardian or guardians of your children, which will prevent any fighting that might occur if you otherwise pass away without clear instruction.
- Planning for a medical emergency: Even though you might be healthy now, everything can change in the blink of an eye. A car accident or the sudden onset of a medical condition can leave you unable to make important decisions for yourself. Under these circumstances, you’ll want someone you trust to make health care and financial decisions in your best interests. You can achieve this by creating a health care directive and a power of attorney as part of your estate plan.
- Handling your digital assets: As time goes on, more portions of our lives have become digitized. You might have money stashed away in cryptocurrency or in online payment systems like Venmo, and you also probably have sentimental assets like pictures and videos that have been uploaded onto various social media platforms. You need to ensure that someone you trust can access these digital assets and appropriately handle them when the time comes. That’s why you’ll want to specifically address these assets in your estate plan.
- Distributing assets: It may not seem like you have many assets, but you probably own things that are important to you. This might include your car, your home, or even your pet. You shouldn’t leave these items without protection. By creating a solid will or using a trust, or some combination of the two, you can ensure that those assets are well taken care of after you’re gone and that your loved ones are adequately supported.
- Considering debts: If you have a lot of debt, you might want to find ways to shield your assets from creditors as much as you can so that more of your assets pass down to your loved ones. An effective estate plan may be able to help you do just that.
Start planning now
As you can see, there are a lot of benefits to estate planning, even when you’re young. Although the process can feel overwhelming, we think you’ll find the process much easier once you educate yourself about the process and learn more about the estate planning tools at your disposal.
Hopefully, then you can make the fully informed decisions that are right for you, your estate, and your loved ones. So, if you want to learn more about the estate planning process and what it can do for you, don’t hesitate to reach out for the resources you need.