If this describes you, read (or at least skim?) the rest of this post:
- 20-something, or maybe early 30s;
- Single, or maybe coupled but unmarried;
- Have one or more "fur babies" but no kids yet;
- Student debt up to your eyeballs;
- Don't own your home;
- Just getting started in your career (or maybe even still juggling internships);
- Assets have more sentimental value than market value;
- Many "digital assets" (email accounts, social media presence, usernames and passwords for online accounts, etc).
Just because you're young and broke doesn't mean you don't need to plan for the unexpected. In fact, BECAUSE you are young a broke you may have to solve a few problems that people with families and who are more established in their careers don't have to think as much about.
That's why we came up with The Plan - a flexible, customized, simplified, and inexpensive strategy for your generation. It's a way to get started. It can change as your life changes. You may eventually get married, get promoted, buy a house, have 2.5 kids, start a 401k, purchase a life insurance policy, and drive a minivan. If and when any of those things happen, The Plan can grow and adapt. If those things never happen, The Plan will not judge you.
Sooo... What is it?
Essentially, it is a collection of basic legal documents, customized to your particular people, stuff, and priorities. Those documents are:
- A durable power of attorney. This document helps if you are disabled. It allows the people you trust to access and manage your stuff if and when you can't. For you. You can be as general or as specific as you like about how this happens.
- A healthcare power of attorney. This one also helps during disability. It allows the people you trust to make medical decisions for you if and when you can't. Pretty straightforward, but incredibly important. When the right people don't have this document, it's a problem.
- A will <OR> a trust. Both of these help when you die. They say WHO should benefit from your stuff and, in some cases, HOW your stuff should be used.
- A will requires oversight from a court before anything in the will works.
- A trust skips the court and goes straight to work.
Those legal documents, in order to work best, need to embody your personal priorities and values. That requires sharing some details with your attorney over the course of one or two meetings prior to signing everything. In those meetings, here's what we discuss:
- Your people. Who do you trust and care about? These people will be named as those who are meant to benefit from whatever is yours, and/or those who are meant to manage it if something happens to you.
- Your stuff. If you are disabled, or when you die, what do you want to happen with your social media presence? Who do you want to be able to access your Instagram or Facebook or whatever? How do you want those accounts to function if you can't run them? What about email? Do you want anyone to be able to login, download important content, or make contact with people who need to know your condition? Who do you trust to access your bank accounts and pay your bills? Who do you want to receive your record collections or books or thousands upon thousands of digital images or downloaded songs? What about your student loans or credit card debt? How should those be managed or negotiated?
- Your priorities. What do you care most about? What are you most afraid of? Those things can have a profound effect on how you treat your people and your stuff if you become disabled or when you die.
What should you do next?
If you live anywhere in Oklahoma, you should contact us. Either email us through this website or call us. Either way is fine. We'll set up an appointment - either in person or via video chat - that doesn't cost anything to discuss your people, stuff, and priorities. By the end of that conversation, you'll have a clear idea of what you need, how much it will cost, and how you can pay for it (including a low monthly "subscription" option).
So do it. Contact us. Before you leave this website.
