5 Estate Planning Tips for Millennials and Members of Gen Z

5 Estate Planning Tips for Millennials and Members of Gen Z

Many millennials, also known as Gen Y, and members of Gen Z, also known as “zoomers,” are reluctant to think about and plan for their own deaths. It’s not surprising; thinking about what will happen after you die isn’t fun. But legal adults, no matter how young or old, need a basic estate plan.

If you’re a millennial, born between 1981 and 1996, or a member of Gen Z, born 1997 or after, as defined by Pew Research, here are five issues you need to think about as you begin your estate planning.  

1. Your health

When you’re young, it’s hard to imagine you’ll ever be seriously ill or injured and be unable to make your own medical decisions. However, accidents and serious illnesses can happen.

When you become a legal adult, someone 18 and above, you might be unaware that your parents no longer automatically have the right to make medical or financial decisions on your behalf should you be unable to make them on your own. If you fail to have a health care power of attorney in place, a court proceeding might be necessary to appoint someone to fill that role. This situation can occur, for example, if you’re in an automobile accident and unconscious. 

If you have questions like “Do I need life insurance, what type, and what does the policy offer?”Money.com has compiled a list of the best Life Insurance companies to help you check and compare your options to protect you financially.

2. Your finances

Another document that’s essential for your care if you become unconscious or too ill to make your own financial decisions is a financial power of attorney. A financial power of attorney allows a person you’ve named to pay bills, take care of your home, manage your accounts, and make other money-related decisions for you. Again, if you fail to have this document, a court proceeding will be necessary to appoint someone to fill this role on your behalf. 

3. Your digital assets

If you’re like many millennials or members of Generation Z, you’ve likely amassed a large number of digital assets. These may include social media accounts, blogs, photographs and videos, financial accounts (like PayPal, Venmo, Bitcoin, or Amazon credits), and email accounts, among many others. Only you know the usernames and passwords to these accounts. If you’re like many people, you haven’t thought about who will be allowed to manage these accounts if you become incapacitated or die.

An estate plan allows you to appoint a person you trust to continue managing these accounts if you’re too ill to do so and enables you to designate a person to inherit these accounts after you die. By planning for the future, you can be your own digital boss and decide who you wish to transfer your digital property to while ensuring no valuable or significant digital property gets lost. 

4. Your pet

You might not have children, but you might have a pet you consider part of your family. According to an article in Forbes, millennials are responsible for adopting more furry companions than any other generation. Therefore, it’s important to consider who would take care of your pet if you were unable.

An estate plan allows you to make arrangements for your pet if you die or are physically unable to care for them yourself. You can name a caregiver for your pet and provide specific instructions for them to care for your pet’s needs. 

5. Your social impact

You might not have many resources yet but might have specific causes or charities you wish to support. An estate plan allows you to accomplish your philanthropic goals regardless of your age or the size of your estate. 

It’s important to remember an estate plan is not just for the rich or elderly. People at every age should put together an estate plan that fits their needs and do a legal checkup and update as their needs change.  

Consult a Seattle Estate Planning Lawyer Today

If you would like to discuss revising your existing estate plan or putting one in place, our Seattle-area lawyers can help. Our estate planning attorneys have extensive experience in this area and can develop an estate plan that works well for you and your family. Call our office today.

For more great content and a little something extra delivered right to your inbox every other week, Subscribe to our newsletter.  

STAY UP TO DATE

Subscribe to our newsletters

 
Subscribe to one or more of our newsletters, delivering meaningful insight on topics that matter to you and your family.
ebl home subscribe image

FURTHER READING

Latest Blog Posts

Everyone who has anyone in their life needs an estate plan, even people who own little or no property.

A common question about legal fees is why they are so high. The following article details what is built into legal fees and explains their cost.

Gifting an estate plan is an act of love because an estate plan goes far beyond material possessions, addressing the emotional, practical, and long-term well-being of your loved ones.

Prenuptial agreements (also known as prenups) can play a pivotal role in safeguarding individual spousal rights in the event of divorce and can also strengthen a marriage.

Valentine’s Day can be tricky for single parents, maybe even you. Unpartnered, at least for the time being, you might not foresee your plans fitting into conventional images of the holiday. But that doesn’t have to be. Valentine’s Day, when you’re single, can be more than a day you need to survive. It can be a day to look forward to.

Collaborative law has evolved into a globally practiced
discipline, extending well beyond the realm of family law, and is used frequently in Seattle divorces.

Classifying January as divorce month could be misleading, given how some of the numbers tell a different story. However, one thing remains clear: January is a great time for a fresh start.

A family law attorney can help with child custody (residential time) by creating or modifying a parenting plan.

Given the importance of the trustee’s role in an estate plan, it is necessary to understand the responsibilities before choosing a trustee or accepting the obligation to become one.

If you and your partner reside in Washington state and are unmarried, you each might qualify for the legal protections availed to you by law by classifying your relationship as a committed intimate relationship.