621: Young People Getting Wills is Increasing by 300%, says UK Law Firm

SPEAKER_1 (0:01)

Welcome to Modern Mindset, the show that picks the brains of the world's leading minds to help you unlock yours. Decoding the beliefs and strategies of global experts to give you an updated mindset to make the most of modern life.

Rory McGowan (0:20)

This is Modern Mindset, the show that picks the brains of the world's leading minds to help you unlock yours. My name is Rory McGowan, and today I'm catching back up with Helen Claydon, an award-winning chief legal officer at Simpler Law, to talk about the rising number of young people having their wills written, why this could be, and why some young people still avoid getting it done.

Helen, it's nice to have you back on the show.

Helen Claydon (0:45)

It's great to be here. Nice to see you, Rory.

Rory McGowan (0:48)

Thank you very much. Now, yeah, I've baffled by this new data because young people getting their wills written, it's not something that you would normally put together. So what is this new trend, Helen, and how big is this?

Helen Claydon (1:04)

So we've been obviously writing wills for quite a long time. We do thousands of wills for people all over the UK every year. And over the last 10 years, we've definitely seen an increase in younger people. So we're talking about those that are under the age of 34, who are coming to us to have their wills written. And that increase has been around 300%.

So it's been quite significant, really. I have to say that younger people do still make up a very small amount of the clients that we deal with. So what we'd really like to do is highlight the importance of it and hopefully encourage more people to think about getting their will written and getting their estate planning in place.

Rory McGowan (1:45)

Well, yes, no, of course, Helen. I'm glad that you pick up on the fact that a 300% increase might not necessarily mean massive numbers.

But in terms of these young people who are coming to you guys to get their wills written, what are the most cited reasons that they give? Because again, you wouldn't associate this group of people, this demographic, to have this as a priority in their minds.

Helen Claydon (2:09)

Yeah, exactly. It's definitely a significant trend and it's really great to see as well. We're really pleased that younger people are taking more control over their estates. I think some of the influences on why we're seeing these rising figures is perhaps the fact that there are now easily accessible services and they are more affordable. So instead of having to make an appointment with a solicitor and going and sitting in a solicitor's office, perhaps feeling a bit strange about the jargon that's used and thinking that it might be complicated, there are now services like our own where we can actually do the consultation completely over the telephone.

And we make it more straightforward for people to be able to discuss their estate planning. So I think that's had a huge influence. I think as well the increase in social media activity and the fact that news is so much more accessible, that people are hearing more stories about what can actually go wrong. And they're then making a conscious decision to take control of their estate planning. And I think that's a really great thing.

I also think one of the conversations we had before about the increase in cohabiting couples, I think that has led to a lot more people getting their estate planning in place. Because a lot of people don't realize that if somebody dies without a will, and they are not married to their partner, that that partner can't receive anything from their estate. So I think some of the high-profile cases like, for example, I know today, it's been two years since Liam Payne's tragic death, and he died without a will in place. And I think the publicity surrounding that has really had an impact on the younger generation.

Rory McGowan (3:54)

Well, actually, yeah, no, you make a fantastic point there. Gosh, has it already been two years?

SPEAKER_1 (4:00)

It's two years today.

Helen Claydon (4:01)

Yes, yeah.

Rory McGowan (4:03)

Wow.

Yeah, you talk a lot about estate planning there, Helen. And my first thought as somebody who's representing team young person here today is the fact that my estate wouldn't be that massive to leave behind. I don't own a lot of stuff to actually put into a will and say, you can have this and you can have that. So from your perspective, is writing wills for younger people easier? Does it cost less because we've not got as much stuff?