Why Gen X and Millennials Need to Get Serious about Estate Planning

For many Gen X and millennials, estate planning feels like something to worry about for retirees with sprawling properties and trust funds, not someone in their 30s or 40s who’s just hitting their stride. Yet every day without a plan in place is a gamble with your legacy, your loved ones’ financial security, and the wealth you’ve worked so hard to build.

The reality is that estate planning services aren’t just for older investors — they’re for anyone interested in protecting what matters most. Especially for those with growing assets or who are expecting an inheritance, starting early means you: 

• Maintain control over who makes critical decisions if you’re incapacitated
• Control your healthcare directives
• Choose the guardians who will care for your children
• Minimize the tax burden on wealth transfers
• Protect your business interests
• Plan for your assets to go to the people or causes you actually care about (not distant relatives determined by state law)
• Better safeguard your digital legacy and cryptocurrency holdings

The good news? Taking action now is simpler than you think. Avidian Wealth Solutions partners with high-earning Gen X and Millennial clients to create comprehensive estate plans that aim to evolve with their lives. Schedule a conversation with one of our advisors today.

At what age should you do estate planning?

The short answer? As soon as you have assets worth protecting or people who depend on you. If you own property, have retirement accounts, run a business, earn a significant income, or have anyone in your life you’d want to inherit your belongings, you need an estate plan. 

The idea that estate planning is reserved for your sixties or seventies is outdated and increasingly risky for young people coming into generational wealth. Life is unpredictable, and serious illness, accidents, or unexpected death don’t check your birth certificate first. The youngest entrepreneurs building seven-figure companies, professionals climbing the corporate ladder, and couples starting families all share one thing in common: they need legal protection now, not decades from now.

Consider this: you should have estate planning documents if you’ve experienced a major life event, like: 

• Getting married
• Buying your first home
• Having children
• Starting a business
• Receiving a promotion with substantial equity compensation
• Expecting an inheritance

With the Great Wealth Transfer underway — an estimated $84 trillion to $124 trillion passing from Baby Boomers to younger generations over the next two decades — Gen X and Millennials are both receiving inherited wealth and building their own substantial estates that need protection. 

Even if you’re single with no kids, the moment you’d prefer your life partner, best friend, or favorite charity to inherit your assets instead of your estranged uncle in another state, you need a plan. The best time to create an estate plan was yesterday — the second best time is today. Waiting until you’re “older” or “wealthier” only increases the risk that your wishes won’t be honored and your loved ones will face unnecessary hardship.

Why should millennials and Gen Z have a basic estate plan? (at minimum)

To maintain control over critical decisions during incapacitation

Without a durable power of attorney, a court — not you — decides who manages your finances if you’re suddenly unable to do so yourself. Imagine being in a coma after a car accident while a judge appoints someone to access your bank accounts, manage your investment portfolio, or make decisions about investing in AI stocks you’ve been carefully building. 

Even worse, if family members disagree about who should be in charge, they could end up in a lengthy court battle that drains your estate and leaves bills unpaid. A basic estate plan lets you designate a trusted person now — whether that’s a spouse, parent, sibling, or financial advisor — to step in immediately and manage your affairs exactly as you would want, from paying your mortgage to running your business operations.

To direct your own healthcare through advance directives

A healthcare proxy and living will inform medical professionals of your wishes so decisions are not guided by their standard protocols or a family member’s emotional decision when you can’t speak for yourself. This should answer questions such as:

• Do you want to be kept on life support indefinitely, or would you prefer comfort care?
• Should doctors perform every possible intervention, or respect your desire for a natural death?
• Do you want to be an organ donor, and if so, which organs and tissues?
• Who should be allowed to visit you in the hospital if family members disagree about access?
• Would you want artificial nutrition and hydration if you’re in a persistent vegetative state?
• Are there any religious or spiritual practices that should guide your care?

Without these documents, hospitals default to aggressive treatment, and family members may face agonizing decisions without knowing what you truly wanted. 

Younger adults often assume they’re too healthy to need these documents, but accidents, sudden illnesses, and complications from routine surgeries happen every day. Your healthcare directive removes the burden from loved ones so that your values guide your medical care, whether you’re 32 or 82.

To provide for your children if the unthinkable happens

If you have minor children and both parents die without naming guardians, a judge will decide who raises them — and the court’s choice may horrify you. The system prioritizes biological relatives, meaning your kids could end up with that unstable family member you haven’t spoken to in years, or bouncing between relatives who are fighting for custody. 

A will lets you name the guardians you trust to raise your children with your values, whether that’s your best friend who shares your parenting philosophy, your sister who lives in the great school district, or your parents who have the time and resources to offer stability. 

Beyond naming guardians, estate planning for millennials can include revocable living trusts or irrevocable trusts that protect the money you’re leaving for your children’s care. These trusts prevent a lump sum from being handed to an 18-year-old who isn’t ready to manage it, instead allowing a trustee to distribute funds for education funding, healthcare, and living expenses over time, with full inheritance at whatever age you determine they’ll be mature enough to handle it responsibly.

To minimize estate and inheritance tax burdens

Strategic estate planning now can help save your heirs hundreds of thousands — or even millions — in unnecessary taxes later. While many younger people assume estate taxes only affect the ultra-wealthy, tax laws change constantly. For example, the current federal estate tax exemption ($13.61 million per individual in 2024) is set to rise to $16,100 per individual in 2026 unless Congress acts. 

If you’re building wealth through business ownership, stock options, real estate investments, or expecting a substantial inheritance, you could easily cross future tax thresholds. Proper planning through tools like irrevocable life insurance trusts (ILITs), grantor retained annuity trusts (GRATs)*, charitable remainder trusts, gifting strategies, and strategic asset titling may help reduce your taxable estate. 

Revocable living trusts can also help minimize probate, which might save time and money while keeping your estate private. The earlier you start, the more options you typically have — waiting until you’re already ultra-wealthy means potentially missing years of tax-advantaged wealth transfer opportunities that trusts offer.

*Learn more about the difference between GRATs and IDGT trusts

To safeguard business ownership and continuity

If you own a business — whether you’re a solo entrepreneur, startup founder, or partner in a firm — what happens to that enterprise if you die or become incapacitated? Without a succession plan, your business could be frozen, sold off hastily at a fraction of its value, or torn apart by disputes between your heirs and business partners. 

Buy-sell agreements, operating agreements with succession provisions, and revocable or irrevocable trusts designed to hold business interests can help plan so that your company continues operating smoothly or is transferred according to your wishes rather than defaulting to state law. 

Business trusts can also provide potential asset protection benefits from creditors and lawsuits, maintain privacy about ownership structure, and facilitate smooth transitions to heirs or key employees over time. This is especially critical for millennials building businesses in their 30s and 40s — your company may be your most valuable asset, and protecting it may require specific estate planning tools that go far beyond a simple will.

To direct your assets to your chosen beneficiaries

Die without a will or trust, and state intestacy laws — not you — decide who inherits everything you’ve built. These laws typically prioritize spouses and blood relatives in a rigid order, which means your unmarried life partner gets nothing, your stepchildren you’ve raised for years receive zero, your best friend who supported you through everything is excluded, and that charity you’re passionate about won’t see a dime. Instead, estranged family members you haven’t spoken to in decades could inherit your entire estate. 

While a basic will costs a few hundred dollars and requests that your assets go where you want, a revocable living trust offers even more control and privacy. Assets in a trust will generally avoid probate entirely, meaning they pass to beneficiaries faster, with mitigated taxes, and without public court records revealing your financial details. 

Trusts also allow you to set conditions on inheritances — such as distributing funds over time, requiring beneficiaries to reach certain ages or milestones, or protecting assets from beneficiaries’ creditors or divorcing spouses. This is especially important for those who want to support causes they care about rather than enriching distant relatives they’ve never met.

To protect digital assets and cryptocurrency holdings

Your digital life — social media accounts, cloud storage, cryptocurrency wallets, NFTs, online businesses, and digital intellectual property — often represents significant financial and sentimental value, yet some traditional estate plans may completely ignore these assets. 

Without proper planning, your heirs may never access your cryptocurrency because they don’t have your private keys, your digital photos could be permanently lost when cloud storage accounts close, and thousands of dollars in online assets could simply vanish. Worse, some platforms delete accounts after a period of inactivity, and terms of service often prohibit sharing passwords — even with executors. 

A modern estate plan can include a digital asset inventory, clear instructions for accessing accounts, and legal authority for your executor or trustee to manage these holdings. For millennials who may have more wealth in Bitcoin than in their savings accounts, or who run businesses entirely online, protecting digital assets through both wills and trusts isn’t optional — it’s often essential to planning to preserve your full estate value.

What to consider when estate planning in your 20s, 30s, or 40s

Estate planning in your younger decades looks different than planning in retirement because your life is still rapidly evolving. Your goals for estate planning should reflect not just where you are today, but anticipate the major changes likely to come in your career, family structure, and financial situation over the next several decades.

• Flexibility and revisability: Choose estate planning tools that can easily adapt as your life changes. Revocable living trusts, updatable wills, and beneficiary designations should be reviewed every 3–5 years or after major life events like marriage, divorce, births, job changes, or significant asset acquisitions.
• Guardian nominations if you have or plan to have children: Even if you’re just thinking about wanting a family, begin identifying potential guardians now and have those conversations early so there are no surprises.
• Digital-native assets: Unlike older generations, your wealth may be heavily concentrated in cryptocurrency, stock options, digital businesses, or intellectual property that requires specialized planning and technical instructions for access.
• Blended or non-traditional families: If you’re in a relationship but not married, have children from previous relationships, or have chosen family members you want to protect, default laws won’t serve you — explicit estate planning is essential.
• Student loan debt and other liabilities: Consider how your debts will be handled after death and whether life insurance is needed to prevent your estate from being consumed by liabilities, leaving nothing for heirs.
• Career trajectory and equity compensation: If you’re receiving stock options, RSUs, or building equity in a startup, you need specialized planning for these assets that may become extremely valuable but have complex tax and transfer rules.
• Future inheritance expectations: If you’re likely to inherit substantial wealth from parents or grandparents, coordinate your planning with theirs to optimize tax strategies and plan for smooth wealth transfer across generations.
• Healthcare proxies for modern medical scenarios: Your advance directives can address contemporary issues like fertility preservation, genetic testing decisions, and whether you want experimental treatments or clinical trial participation if facing serious illness.

The beauty of starting estate planning young is that you have time to build a sophisticated, tax-efficient structure that grows with you. A basic plan established in your 20s can evolve into a comprehensive trust-based estate by your 40s, with each update building on the foundation you’ve already created. 

Don’t let the complexity paralyze you — start with the essentials and refine as your wealth and family situation develop.

Take control of your legacy before life makes the decision for you

Whether you’re climbing the corporate ladder, building a business, investing in emerging assets, or preparing to receive generational wealth, Avidian Wealth Solutions partners with Gen X and millennials just like you to help create comprehensive estate plans tailored to your unique situation and goals.

Serving clients throughout Houston, Austin, Sugar Land, and The Woodlands, Avidian Wealth Solutions integrates financial planning, estate-planning coordination, and personalized guidance so that your estate plan can evolve as your life and wealth grow. Our team understands the specific challenges facing younger high-net-worth individuals — from protecting digital assets and equity compensation to planning for blended families and maximizing tax efficiency during the Great Wealth Transfer.

Don’t wait until it’s too late to protect what matters most. Schedule a conversation with our estate planning advisors today.

More Helpful Articles by Avidian: 

• What is a Hurdle Rate in Retirement Planning?
• When to Reevaluate Your Portfolio Investment Entity Structure
• How to Plan Your Wealth Around Higher Interest Rates
• The Hidden Tax Risks of Executive Compensation Packages
• Should I Take Social Security Early?

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