In this “Expats guide to legacy planning”, you can read more about the key issues you may face and how to respond to the challenges by utilizing some of the best technologies for safely managing your legacy.
Living a life as an expat often includes signing a number of agreements, using plenty of online platforms and tools, opening bank accounts in multiple banks and countries, buying property, and much more. Owning a wealth of assets is an aspiration of many, but it can cause long term issues for your loved ones, if you as an expat don’t consider creating a comprehensive legacy plan. Take the bank accounts as an example, a decade long investments could be lost just because people didn’t create a legacy plan and their heirs didn’t know the accounts existed or where to look for them. In fact, there are $80 billion in unclaimed assets in the US alone! So, it is only with a great legacy plan that you as an expatriate can ensure your loved ones are properly taken care of. A good legacy plan will give you a peace of mind that your loved ones are taken care of and that none of your hard earned assets will end up in the unclaimed assets pot.
Key Expats Legacy Planning Issues to Consider
Keep All Legacy Planning Documents for Expats Safe
Although compiling a detailed legacy plan is highly-recommendable for everyone, keeping a good record of all important legacy documents is especially important for expats, whose affairs are often spread across multiple locations. The legacy documents that one would want to include in the legacy plan are different for each and every one of us, but in general these are the documents you’d want to include so that you and your family can have peace of mind.
- Will
- Living Will
- Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare and Finances
- Property Deeds
- Marriage and Birth Certificates
- Social Security Cards
- Copies of Passports and Visas
- Medical Record
- Insurance Policies
How to keep your legacy documents safe?
It can be quite challenging to find secure storage for these documents, but luckily we have created Stornest where all of these documents can be securely stored and shared with the designated beneficiaries but only when the time comes. All you need to do is create an account with Stornest and start uploading your documents and assigning beneficiaries for each of them. We have the most sophisticated infrastructure using the most advanced encryption technology called Zero Knowledge Proof (ZKP) which means that no government, hacker, or a member of Stornest can access your confidential information.
Protect Your Digital Assets and Credentials
One of the key reasons to create a detailed legacy plan is to make sure your online accounts on various platforms and apps are properly managed after you pass. For example, you have Bitcoins and you have not shared your wallet credentials with anyone, in case something happens to you, your family will never get them and your Bitcoins will be lost forever. Therefore, protecting all your usernames, passwords, codes and keys that you use across platforms is really essential.
Here is a list of assets you need to take care of:
- Bank accounts
- Cryptocurrency
- Digital Wallets
- Investment Portfolio Apps
- Personal and Business Websites
- Various Business Software and Tools
- Social Media Accounts
How to make sure your digital credentials are in the right hands when you pass?
As with the legacy planning documents, Stornest will help you store your most valuable digital assets and credentials and will release it to the designated beneficiaries in case of your untimely passing or incapacity. Once you prepare a list of all your accounts, credentials, codes and keys, all you need to do is upload it to your Stornest account and assign beneficiaries. To learn how we determine when to release the stored information to the beneficiaries please visit this link.
Pass on Sentimental Inheritance To Your Heirs
Nurturing your family values beyond your journey in this world is one of the biggest dreams of many. Furthermore, as an expat your life may entail a lot of traveling and learning and there must be bags of memories and achievements you want to live long after you are gone. Crafting a family folder with various messages, photos, videos and more is what more and more people are doing nowadays.
These are some of the things that you should include:
- Photos and videos
- Family albums
- Favorite Books, Music, Movies
- Farewell messages and letters
How to share your sentimental inheritance properly with each of your loved ones?
What you can do with your sentimental inheritance is to create a general folder with memories and messages you wish to leave to your family but also you can create individual folders for each of your loved ones with personal letters or messages, images of you two, favorite songs from movies that you have watched together.
Taken all the facts together, the sooner you dive into the planning of your legacy the lower are the risks of your wealth of assets for which you have spent years to earn is gone with you. Nobody wants to think of dying, and we really shouldn’t. But the better our legacy is planned the more relaxed we will be to move towards new achievements. If you are still not convinced that the process is not as daunting as it seems, just try Stornest – we guarantee a pleasant and hassle-free experience.
