Coronavirus Pandemic Encourages Estate Planning
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How has the coronavirus pandemic changed who is thinking about estate planning?
Here's your Money Briefing for Wednesday, March 25th. I'm J.R. Whalen for The Wall Street Journal. As the coronavirus has spread, it's become clear that people of nearly all ages are susceptible. And that's caused many people to think about their family's future and getting their estate in order long before they might normally start the process.
So people would delay this because it just wasn't any fun and it was time consuming. And people thought, you know, this is something that will happen to me when I'm older. I don't have to worry about this now.
That's Wall Street Journal reporter Julie Jargon. Coming up, she'll explain how apps and online services are making the process of estate planning easier.
Estate planning is a reality we all face, usually later in life as we plan for the future of our family and our assets. But the coronavirus pandemic has inspired more people, young and old, to start getting their affairs in order now.
Why are younger people suddenly searching for wills and advanced directives?
Julie Jargon writes the Family and Tech column for The Wall Street Journal, and she joins us to discuss. So, Julie, how has the pandemic jump-started people's thoughts about planning for the future and things like drawing up a will?
So I've noticed in recent days, doctors and nurses have been tweeting about wanting to get advanced health care directives, which are living wills, power of attorney for health care decisions, because they know that their work might expose them to the coronavirus. I've also noticed that the search term getting a will has spiked sharply in the last week or so, according to Google Trends. So people are talking about this. They're becoming more aware of the need to get their estates in order, unfortunately, because of the times that we're living in right now.
Now, the pandemic and the health risks have added urgency. But what typically makes people delay, you know, getting their ducks in a row?
People put this to the bottom of their to-do list because it's typically been a cumbersome and sometimes costly process to get wills made and to get life insurance. In the past, you had to go to a lawyer to get a will drafted.
What practical barriers previously kept people from completing wills and life insurance?
You had to meet with an insurance carrier and get medical tests. It could take weeks sometimes to get approved for insurance. life insurance policies. So people would delay this because it just wasn't any fun and it was time consuming. And people thought, you know, this is something that will happen to me when I'm older. I don't have to worry about this now.
How do digital life-insurance options avoid medical exams and speed up coverage?
But when they do begin the process, oftentimes it involves a trip to the lawyer's office. But, you know, with most people now required to stay home, that's pretty much out of the question.
That is out of the question for many people now, unless you can do things over the phone or with DocuSign, that kind of thing. But there are a variety of different apps that are allowing people, and these existed before the pandemic, of course, but these apps now allow people to obtain wills and life insurance from the convenience of their phone. There's one called Fabric. It's both a website and an app. It allows people to create wills, obtain instant life insurance quotes, and then go on to get the policies, and also to organize all of their financial information in one place.
Which apps and online services let you create wills and buy life insurance from home?
There's another app called Tomorrow, which also has wills and life insurance, as well as some simple estate planning where you can create a trust so that you can designate how you want to leave your money to your children and when you want them to have access to your funds if something should happen to you. And there's another one called Ladder that also provides life insurance instant quotes, almost instant quotes for life insurance.
And regardless of somebody's age, planning their estate is an important part of taking care of their family.
You know, for people that have multiple properties and complicated investments, certainly it doesn't take the place of having a lawyer and a professional to help you, you know, walk you through that. But when we're talking about these apps, the target market is really younger families, people who might own a home.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
How has the coronavirus pandemic changed who is thinking about estate planning?
0:05–1:05
2
Why are younger people suddenly searching for wills and advanced directives?
1:05–2:13
3
What practical barriers previously kept people from completing wills and life insurance?
2:13–2:33
4
How do digital life-insurance options avoid medical exams and speed up coverage?
2:33–3:18
5
Which apps and online services let you create wills and buy life insurance from home?
3:18–4:15
6
When should you still consult a lawyer instead of using an app for estate planning?
4:15–5:59
Speakers
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