What do you know about estate planning in your 20s?

Perhaps you recently graduated from a South Carolina university or expect to graduate soon. Either way, you may not think too much about retiring or estate planning. Now is the ideal time to pave the path to securing your legacy.

U.S. News & World Report explores estate planning for the younger generation. Starting asset distribution now saves you time later on.

Naming beneficiaries

Depending on your next job after graduating college, your employer may offer life insurance or a retirement account. Both require listing a beneficiary who receives the death benefit or account assets. Young people should have an idea of whom they want to name as a beneficiary, so they do not give up their decision-making power.

Choosing decision-makers

As we age, we gain more agency and must make decisions once left in a parent’s or guardian’s hands. For estate planning, young people should name a health care proxy and durable power of attorney to make medical and financial decisions for them if they become incapacitated or unable to communicate their wishes.

Drafting a will

Touching back on giving up decision-making power, without a legal will, deciding who receives a deceased person’s assets becomes a court’s responsibility. Someone unmarried but in a long-term relationship may want a significant other to receive her or his assets upon death, not mom and dad or someone else. Drafting a will better ensures money and personal property go to the desired individuals.

Recent college graduates do not have to check every box on the estate planning checklist. Tending to the basics sooner rather than later could better ensure peace of mind, less confusion and less estate planning to tend to in later years.