We understand life is busy, whether you are studying full-time, travelling the world or thriving in your career. Like most of us, the last thing on many young peoples’ minds are what will happen to their assets if they were to pass away suddenly.
And what assets do young people have to be worried about? Aside from personal items, many will be thinking that all they have is some money in the bank, personal items, and maybe, a first home with minimal equity. However, many don’t consider their superannuation fund as a personal asset worth worrying about, but we all should.
Superannuation is one of those assets that many people just set and forget. Your superannuation can be your most valuable asset, particularly as a young person, when, although the balance of actual super you have accrued is minimal, the automatic life insurance attaching to many retail and industry superannuation funds may be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. This will form part of your ‘superannuation death benefit’ should you pass away.
Most superannuation funds allow their members to nominate who will receive their death benefit (accumulated super and life insurance) upon their death. What is often not communicated by the super fund, is that superannuation law only allows a limited category of persons to benefit from your superannuation fund. Those people are a spouse or de facto partner, children or your estate (distributed by your will).
So, what happens if you don’t have a partner or children? Well by putting in place a simple Will, you can nominate your estate by completing a death benefit nomination, and by your will you can then distribute this significant asset to third parties (for example, to parents, siblings, friends or charities).
We also know that whilst you may know and understand that you need a will, you just don’t have the time (or inclination) for multiple appointments with a lawyer during business hours to get it done. We like doing things differently here and have recently developed an online Will service to provide a reliable and accurate will for those with straightforward circumstances who want to prepare a will on their terms. Our Off The Rack will option can be completed anytime and anywhere (ie. on your couch in trackies at 9pm with a glass of wine in-hand) and your document reviewed by a solicitor and then discussed in detail over the phone before being delivered to your inbox! We also have our Tailored will option which combines online preparation with a short appointment with our lawyers to finalise and sign it, and of course, should you want the piece of mind of a fully custom will with detailed advice, our Bespoke will option is also available.
Visit https://cannygroup.com.au/legal/wills-estates/wills-powers-of-attorney-estate-planning/ to find out more or to get your will started, and if you’re not sure which option is right for you, complete the short questionnaire to point you in the right direction.
Powers of Attorney are another vital element of estate planning that are generally overlooked by young people. Download our free Seven Essentials of Estate Planning Guide, or look out for a future bulletin to learn more.