If you are a young adult who is the beneficiary of a trust, a mentor can help you build a life that is yours: work you chose, a routine that holds and decisions you can explain, so that the money supports your plans instead of standing in for them. At Blackburn Mentoring you work one-on-one with the same mentor every week, by video anywhere in the United States or in person in Los Angeles. You are the client. Nothing goes to your trustee, your family or anyone else without your written consent.
What being a beneficiary can feel like
People rarely talk about it, so it is worth saying plainly. Being a trust beneficiary can bring real advantages and some specific pressures:
- Someone else holds part of your decisions. A trustee may decide when and why money is distributed, and it can feel like asking permission to live your own life.
- Conditions you did not write. Some trusts tie distributions to things like finishing a degree or earning income. That can motivate, or it can make school and work feel like hoops instead of choices.
- Assumptions from other people. Friends, colleagues and partners may assume you do not need to try, or that everything is handled for you.
- No urgency. When rent is never the emergency, it is easy to drift for a year or three without noticing. Our guide on finding direction when you do not need to work goes deeper on this.
What you work on with a mentor
- Direction: narrowing too many options to one next step you actually want, whether that is a degree, a job, a craft or a venture.
- Work: resumes, applications, interviews and the first months of a job where nobody knows your family.
- Routine: sleep, schedule and follow-through when nobody is requiring them.
- Money habits: a budget you keep and decisions you can explain. Your mentor does not give financial, investment, tax or legal advice, and does not need to know what is in your trust.
- Big decisions: moving, a relationship, starting something, leaving something. A mentor helps you think it through before you commit.
If a distribution is coming up, our free trust distribution readiness checklist helps you see what is already strong and where to start.
Working with your trustee as an adult
Many beneficiaries only talk to their trustee when they need something. A mentor can help you change that pattern, without ever speaking for you:
- Prepare for a meeting: what you want to ask, what you are planning and how you will explain it.
- Write a short plan for a request (what it is for, what it costs, what happens next) before you send it.
- Know which questions are legal ones. Questions about what the trust says, what you are entitled to know or how a decision was made belong with the trustee and, if you need it, your own attorney. A mentor will not interpret your trust.
Privacy, and who hears what
Your sessions are about you. If a trustee, a parent or an adviser suggested mentoring, they still do not hear anything from us unless you give written consent, and even then only engagement level (for example, that sessions are happening as planned). We do not send detailed reports. We do not verify trust conditions or certify anything for distributions.
If you are under 18, a parent or guardian is involved from the start and receives progress updates, as with all our high school clients.
What mentoring is not
It is not therapy, and it is not financial planning. If you are dealing with anxiety, depression or anything affecting your safety or health, a licensed professional is the right first call; in a crisis, call or text 988. Blackburn Clinical Services, our sister practice, offers therapy and psychiatry and explains how a beneficiary can start care. Mentoring can run alongside that support. If you are working out how to tell people about your situation, or how to handle being treated differently, those are good things to bring to a mentor.
If your distribution arrives at a set age, see getting ready for a trust distribution at 18, 21 or 25.
Related
- Finding direction when you do not need to work
- Joining the family business: a checklist
- Mentoring for young adults
- Next generation mentoring
- For trust officers and professional trustees
Common questions
My trustee suggested a mentor. Do I have to do it?
No. Mentoring only works when you want it. You can book a free intro call, ask questions and decide.
Will my mentor report to my trustee or my family?
No, not without your written consent. Even with consent, we share engagement level only, such as whether sessions are happening as planned, never detailed reports.
Does my mentor need to know about my trust?
No. You share what you want to. Mentors do not need trust documents, amounts or terms, and do not interpret them.
Can my mentor help me ask my trustee for a distribution?
A mentor can help you plan and explain what you want to do with your life, which often makes conversations with a trustee clearer. A mentor will not advocate with your trustee or advise on what the trust allows.
Can we meet in person?
Yes, in Los Angeles. Everywhere else in the United States, sessions are by video at times that fit your schedule.
Get started
Curious whether a mentor would help? Start with a short, no pressure conversation. Call (888) 305 5422, email contact@blackburnmentoring.com or book a free 20 minute intro call. Mentoring is by video anywhere in the United States and in person in Los Angeles.
Free, by video, 20 minutes, with a member of our team. Weekdays 9 to 5 Pacific.