Like it or not, you'll be dead someday. And according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it will likely be unexpected.

Without a plan for where your money and belongings will go, it can take your grieving loved ones months or years to figure out who gets what. Your assets may also end up in the hands of the state if you don't plan ahead.

Thinking about estate planning, or where your assets will go after you pass away, may bring up thoughts of complex legal processes and endless mountains of paperwork. But it doesn't have to be daunting, financial planners say.

"No one really wakes up on a Saturday morning thinking, 'Let's plan for when I die,'" says Ashton Lawrence, a certified financial planner at Mariner Wealth Advisors in South Carolina. But if you think of it as more about making sure your assets, wishes and loved ones are protected, it makes it more palatable, Lawrence says.

Here are two ways to kickstart your estate planning process in five minutes or less.

1. Name or update your beneficiaries in your retirement accounts

"The simplest estate planning step is designating your desired beneficiaries on your retirement accounts," says Austin Marrs, a CFP and senior wealth advisor at TSA Wealth Management in Houston, Texas.

When you open a retirement savings account, such as a 401(k) or individual retirement account, you generally have the option to name a beneficiary, or the person who will receive the value of your holdings in the event of your death.

Typically, the process of naming or updating your beneficiary is easy. So easy, you may have ignored it when you signed up or failed to revisit your list to make sure the right people are on it.

Forgetting to do this is a big mistake, says Andrew Herzog, a CFP and associate wealth manager at The Watchman Group in Plano, Texas. 

If you don't designate a beneficiary for your retirement savings account, the courts get involved in a process known as probate, Herzog says. Probate is used to determine account ownership and who is entitled to receive the funds, and "can be a costly and time-consuming process," he says.

And because beneficiary designations supersede any instructions listed in a will, keeping them up to date is particularly important, experts say.

"If your ex-spouse is listed on the beneficiary designation, your ex-spouse will get the money regardless of what your will says," said Stephen Maggard, a CFP and advisor with Abacus Planning Group in Columbia, South Carolina, told CNBC in 2023.

You can also add a secondary or contingent beneficiary, who will receive your assets in the case that your primary beneficiary is deceased or otherwise unable to receive your retirement account upon your death.

2. Ask your bank for a POD designation form

In the time it takes to run your credit report, you can tell your bank or brokerage exactly who you want your funds and assets to be sent to after you pass away.

This can take one of two forms: a "payable on death," or POD, designation for your checking and savings accounts at a bank, or a "transfer on death," or TOD, designation for stocks, bonds and other securities you own through a brokerage firm.

How is this different from a beneficiary? You can't name a beneficiary to a checking account. POD or TOD designations are used for for bank and brokerage accounts, while a beneficiaries are assigned to retirement savings accounts.

Each bank and brokerage has its own process for designating your POD or TOD designation. Your best first step will be to reach out directly to your bank or brokerage to request the relevant forms.

"TOD is a quick fix to avoid probate on taxable brokerage accounts and bank accounts," says says Rob Schultz, a CFP, financial advisor and senior partner at NWF Advisory Group in Los Angeles, California. Similar to adding beneficiaries to your retirement accounts, these designations can save your loved ones time and effort while sorting out your assets and allow them to bypass the courts, he says.

As with retirement accounts, it's important to keep your wishes up to date to avoid having your money fall into the wrong hands, says Leslie Beck, a CFP and owner and principal of Compass Wealth Management in Rutherford, New Jersey.

"Review annually or in the case of life changes," such as divorce or the death of a parent, she says. "Quick and easy — no lawyers required."

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