Securing Your Legacy: 4 Ways to Prepare for Death

You never know what’s going to happen. #RealLife

The reality of the COVID-19 pandemic, is forcing everyone to confront their own mortality head on. The virus acts quickly and suddenly, while family members are left to make tough decisions about their loved ones’ care. Even outside the context of the pandemic, it is important to prepare for death -- and we’re not even talking about the grief or loss, but the actual paperwork and logistics that need to be taken care of.

Here’s a simple truth: If your loved ones are confident about what you wanted – because you talked about it or wrote it down – they will be able to process their grief without the insecurity of doubt. There will be no lingering questions hanging over them about whether they made the right decisions by you. If you do all the work up front, the loss won’t be lightened, but your loved ones won’t be left to scramble or argue. Instead, they’ll be able to focus on remembering you and celebrating your legacy.

We don’t want you to scramble either. So we’ve put together a list of 4 steps you can take now to prepare for death, ensuring your legacy is protected and passed on exactly as you planned it.

1. Get a Life Insurance Policy

Just as you would protect against illness by getting health insurance, or guard against an accident with car insurance, life insurance is designed to provide a payment of a certain amount to your beneficiaries when you die. If you have people who depend on you financially – kids or elderly relatives, for instance – it’s smart to make sure they’ll have resources if you die, so that their financial lives are not upended in the midst of their grieving period.

Generally, there are two kinds of life insurance policies: term and whole life. Term life insurance ensures that if you were to die within the years of the term – let’s say 20 years – then your beneficiaries would receive a payment. A whole life policy provides this payment at any point in your life, so long as you are paying into the policy. There are pros and cons to both.

Term policies tend to be less expensive, which makes them affordable for younger people especially. They can be great if you are expecting to have dependents within the years of the policy. That way, you can begin to pay a low monthly premium (because you are young and healthy) in preparation for your life down the road. The downside to a term policy is that you will have to continuously buy new policies moving forward. So the older you get, the more your health declines, and the higher the premiums get. Still, term polices can provide peace of mind. For instance, you can pay less than $20 a month into a $250,000 as a 30-year-old. Sounds like a good deal to us.

Whole life policies are more expensive, so your monthly premium will be higher. The benefit of signing up for a whole life policy when you’re younger is that you’ve basically signed onto that price for the rest of your life. Signing up any later than now would result in a higher monthly premium. You never know what’s going to happen health-wise. It might make sense for you to sign up for the whole life policy now, so you don’t have to do it again down the road when your health has declined.

2. Prepare Your Will

A will is a legal document that clearly defines how you would like your possessions and assets to be divided when you die – whether that be to people, organizations, or sold off. Basically, everything you want done with your stuff when you’re gone – that can go here. The benefit to having a will is that the people who love you aren’t left scrambling with your things when you die. It not only provides them a clear directive – legally binding even – but it prevents them from fighting with each other, softens any hurt feelings, and leaves any seeds of doubt about what you would have wanted out of the equation.

It used to be really expensive to create a will. Since it is a legal document, you had to hire a lawyer to draw it up, which could really get costly. Now there’s dozens of resources online you can use to create a legal will, as well as templates you can follow. Even if you might want to create something more in depth down the road, starting with a simple will can ensure those around you know what to do when the time comes. You can always update it as you go (in fact, you really should!).

3. Talk About Life, the Funeral, and Your Obituary

One of the best – and least grim – ways to prepare for death now is by talking about what you think about life. Talk with your loved ones about what it means to be alive – whether that’s your ability to make decisions, your mobility, or a certain state of mental or physical heath. Discuss with your friends and family what you enjoy most about being alive and what you wouldn’t want to live without. These conversations will provide knowledge to your loved ones in the event that something happens to you.

This doesn’t have to be a sad conversation, though. You should imagine how you want to be remembered both in your loved ones’ memories and in your obituary. Talk about what your funeral is going to look like. Don’t want a funeral? What about a celebration of life? Who do you want there? What kind of music do you want played? What will the menu be? Do you want your family to go all out, or do you want a modest, less expensive ceremony?

In processing these questions with your friends and family, you will even learn more about your own wishes. Maybe you’ll discover something new about yourself. Most importantly, you and the people in your life will have peace of mind having had those conversations.

4. Build a Legacy You’re Proud Of

Maybe you’ve wondered what people would say about you when you’re gone, or what your obituary would say. Maybe you’ve envisioned yourself as leaving behind a legacy you’re proud of. Now is the time to live that life, make those connections, and build that legacy while you’re still alive.

Have you been dreaming about becoming a business owner, a teacher, a writer? How close are you to achieving that dream? If the current state of the world has taught us anything, it’s that we must take life by the reigns and follow our passions. We have an obligation to the next generation to leave something for them. But we also have an obligation to ourselves. At the end of your life, don’t you want to look back at your life and be proud? Don’t you want to be able to say to yourself, “I lived the life I wanted to.” Envision yourself at that stage of life and build something. Do it for you.

If you need someplace to start, download the free Legacy Builder Audit to help you focus on improving your financial health and building wealth. And be sure to check the Black Girl Fly episodes below to learn more about preparing for death, purchasing insurance, and building your legacy.

• Preparing for Death (Part 1) and (Part 2): We talk about how we want to be remembered and how to make sure our legacies are protected when we die. We promise this conversation is not totally depressing!

• Let’s Talk About Insurance: The good, the bad, and the ugly about insurance. Bottom line: we’re very happy to have it. Find out why.

• Cast a Vision. Make it Plain: This episode is all about visualizing your goals and making them happen. Want to be proud of the life you’ve lived? Listen in and get inspired.