Seven out of ten Brits do not include their digital legacy in their wills, a new study by St James’s Place has found.
Digital legacy, which encompasses electronic data such as social networks, online accounts, and cloud storage, can be included in wills by nominating someone to manage accounts in the event of a death.
Currently 43% of clients have their financial planners take care of their digital legacy.
Over 80% of clients have been advised to consider their digital legacy by financial planners, according to St James’s Place, but still half of clients have not connected a family member to their financial services, which could create issues for accessing digital legacies after one’s passing.
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A relatively new element within will planning, most clients have found that gaining assistance from a financial planner has alleviated some of the difficulty around digital legacies.
Some 80% of clients said they found it helpful to discuss that element of their will with a planner, and 80% also said they found the discussion made the process “less daunting”.
Eddie Grant, director at St James’s Place, said: “Thinking about legacy planning can be daunting, and tackling this alone can make an already difficult process even more isolating.
“As the world’s digital footprint grows – with notable spikes in digital uptake following the dot.com boom and the pandemic – managing one’s digital legacy becomes an increasingly important part of this process, but is often overlooked.
“It’s important that clients connect their financial planner or accountant with their loved ones or trusted individuals, so they can contact them in the event of your death or incapacitation as this is one of the non-financial benefits of advice.
“Often, we see many people fail to pass over details of their planners, which unfortunately adds an additional layer of distress during an already difficult time.
“As our research has shown, financial planners can help to not only alleviate some this burden, but also offer food for thought, and highlight areas of your digital legacy which you may not have considered having to pass on.
“Having an expert there to walk clients through digital legacy plans can be a considerable help, for individuals and their loved ones.”
