People today are living their lives online, but many estate plans fail to make provisions for that.
Photographs that are typically stored on social media websites are vulnerable, Edelman said, as many social media websites will shutter an account once they find out a user has died.
“You have to incorporate into the estate plan the transference of digital assets,” Edelman said. “Have you talked about this with your clients? If you haven’t, you’re negligent.”
Advisors are also failing to anticipate how rapidly changing technology could upend clients’ portfolios, Edelman said.
By 2025, 40 percent of today’s Fortune 500 companies will not exist, he predicted. Kodak is one example of how that happens. The company went bankrupt in 2012, the same year Instagram was sold to Facebook for $1 billion.
“This is disruption,” Edelman said. “Disruption destroys companies.”
Advisors and investors need to ask themselves if they are investing in the companies of the past or those of the future that are working in areas such as big data, robotics, 3D printing and blockchain technology, Edelman said.
“What is the advice you’re giving your clients?” Edelman asked. “Is it based on the world they are truly going to live in? That is the advice you need to be focusing on.”
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