Eddie Grant, Director at St. James’s Place, comments on the number of people who omit their digital legacy from their will.

New research from St. James’s Place reveals how people can overlook their digital legacy when it comes to financial planning, and the integral role financial planners and accountants can play in driving awareness around better digital legacy planning.

Despite much of our digital life being hosted online, a staggering seven in ten (71%) people with a will have failed to refer to their digital legacy in it, such as nominating a trusted individual to manage their accounts in the event of their death. Of those who did reference their digital life, nearly one fifth (18%) were prompted to do so by their financial planner /accountant.

Moreover, nearly half (48%) of those with a will have also not connected family members to their financial planner/accountant, meaning loved ones may struggle to track down details of a deceased’s digital life.

Eddie Grant, Director at St. James’s Place, comments:

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.

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. Therefore, 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. 

Full release: Seven in ten Brits fail to reference digital legacy as part of their will

✉️ Jasmine Cutajar, St. James's Place, 07554 332 847 / jasmine.cutajar@sjp.co.uk