Wills, trust funds, life insurance—these are tools used to further plot points in daytime soaps. But, a new (ish) mobile app called Tomorrowaims to educate and encourage millennials (it: me) to finally organize their long-term financial plans.
The gist of the app
The Tomorrow app was released on iOS last year (Android versions coming soon) and in July, announced a $2.6 million funding round. What’s the fuss about? Well, it allows users to create a basic will or trust for free. Users input their basic family data, belongings, assets, and designate executors of the will.
The app then generates a PDF that can be signed and downloaded, along with instructions on how to make it legally binding. Tomorrow also allows users to buy affordable life insurance policies that start at $13/month with payouts of $250,000. And it’s worth noting the app is licensed to sell policies in all 50 states.
When users sign on to the app, they’re asked to list their family members, close friends, and even their pets. They can then input data on any financial accounts, debts, or insurance policies they might have. The app also allows you to list your individual belongings by snapping photos of, say, your car, or your prized vintage record-player. You can also list any property you have and get an automatic value estimation based on information pulled from Zillow.
When listing family members, you can invite family members to download the app. In this way, an app invite is a casual conversation starter on a topic we largely avoid. Users are also offered life insurance through personalized ad targeting by one of the app’s designated partners (it’s how the app hopes to make money).
If you’re hesitant about putting so much crucial banking, personal, and policy information in one place, the app uses the same encryption data banks use. The app’s site says that while it doesn’t sell your data to third parties, it does sell “aggregated, anonymized data” to university researchers.
The end goal
Ultimately, the goal of the Tomorrow app is to encourage a younger generation to have those difficult end-of-life conversations. To be frank, I’m not sure I’ve ever met anyone in my circle of friends who has, at least openly, spoken about having to deal with a will. Or, a trust fund. Or, debated the merits of life insurance. Statistically, I’m not alone. Among millennials ages 18-36, 78 percent don’t have a will, according to a survey from Caring.com.
There are a lot of reasons for why this is likely the case. As part of the post-Great Recession generation, I’m a lot more concerned with other topics. Namely, things like student loan debt, housing costs, and health insurance. But, if I think about my parents, I realize that they themselves had a different experience. There was a lot of confusion, emotional baggage, and financial headaches when their parents died.
I can’t image that having frank and open conversations about death, what to do in case someone you love dies, or in case you die. But I recently downloaded an app to remind me to drink water throughout the day, sooo…you get it.
