Estate Planning: PortfolioPilot vs Trust & Will

According to Caring.com’s 2024 national study, only 32% of US adults report having a will or living trust. Many people assume estate planning starts and ends with a will. The bigger issue is that real-world transfers often hinge on account titling and beneficiaries, and those decisions live alongside, not inside, a will. For example, transfer-on-death (TOD) and beneficiary designations typically control how certain assets move outside probate (Investor.gov). This article explains where PortfolioPilot (planning and coordination) and Trust & Will (legal document creation) fit, what each can and cannot do, and how investors can combine them thoughtfully.

Key Takeaways

1. Different jobs, complementary roles. Trust & Will focuses on creating legal documents; PortfolioPilot focuses on organizing, tracking, and prompting action across a person’s finances. 
2. Beneficiaries matter as much as wills. Many assets are transferred by beneficiary designation/TOD, which sit outside a will, so ongoing updates are critical.
3. Planning should be dynamic. Portfolios change, accounts move, and laws update; ongoing reminders and portfolio-aware checklists help reduce missed steps.
4. Federal estate tax hits few estates. The IRS sets a multi-million-dollar, inflation-adjusted federal exclusion, and a minority of estates owe federal estate tax (IRS). State rules can differ.
5. Best results come from coordination. Some investors may draft documents with a service like Trust & Will and then use PortfolioPilot to keep beneficiaries, titling, and to-dos current across accounts.

What Trust & Will Provides (and Where It Stops)

Trust & Will is a consumer estate-planning platform that guides people through creating state-specific wills, revocable trusts, and guardianship documents, with optional attorney support in select states. It is built to help people generate valid documents efficiently from an online workflow.

Core strengths

• Document creation: Will packages, revocable living trusts, and related forms with guided questionnaires. 
• Education and templates: Plain-English explanations of terms and choices throughout the drafting process. 
• Convenience: Online updates and storage; options to finalize with notarization consistent with state rules. 

Important boundaries

• Not a financial organizer: Trust & Will does not continuously monitor brokerage, retirement, or crypto accounts for beneficiary gaps.
• Does not manage portfolios or taxes: It focuses on documents, not investment monitoring, fee reviews, or tax-loss harvesting.
• Ongoing upkeep is on the user: Life changes, new accounts, rollovers, or marriages, require revisiting beneficiaries and titles outside the document itself.

So what? A person can leave a well-written will, yet still misdirect retirement assets if the beneficiary form is outdated. The platform helps create documents; it does not automatically keep all accounts aligned.

What PortfolioPilot Provides (and What It Doesn’t)

PortfolioPilot, by Global Predictions, an SEC-registered investment adviser, is built for self-directed investors who want a unified view of their finances and ongoing, data-driven prompts. It does not draft legal documents. Instead, it connects accounts and turns a household’s financial data into checklists, alerts, and personalized planning insights, including estate-planning reminders in context with taxes, fees, and diversification.

Core strengths

• Holistic, ongoing organization: Syncs brokerage, retirement, cash, and other holdings; surfaces estate-related to-dos (e.g. “beneficiary missing/old on account X”). 
• Integrated planning signals: Tie estate tasks to portfolio risks, tax opportunities, and fee findings, not just a static checklist. 
• Event-driven reminders: Prompts to revisit beneficiaries or titling after account changes or new assets. 
• Cost transparency: Flat-fee advisory model for ongoing analysis rather than AUM-based management.

Important boundaries

• No legal drafting: PortfolioPilot does not replace an attorney or a document service; it prepares a person to meet one efficiently. 
• No probate/tax filing: It provides planning context and education, not legal filings or representation. 

So what? Many investors don’t need help writing a will every month; they need help keeping the estate picture current as their finances evolve.

Side-by-Side: How They Address Real-World Estate Tasks

When a household adds or changes accounts

• Trust & Will: Documents remain valid, but beneficiary forms on new accounts must be updated separately. 
• PortfolioPilot: Flags missing or outdated beneficiaries across connected accounts and nudges follow-through.

When life events occur (marriage, divorce, new child)

• Trust & Will: Facilitates editing the will/trust documents.
• PortfolioPilot: Issues reminders to revisit every account’s beneficiary/TOD, not just the will.

When tax questions arise

• Trust & Will: Education around document choices; not a tax-optimization platform. 
• PortfolioPilot: Surfaces portfolio-context insights (e.g., account location, realized gains/losses) to discuss with a tax professional. 

When laws or thresholds change

• Trust & Will: Users can update documents if needed. 
• PortfolioPilot: Provides reminders and portfolio-aware context; notes that the federal estate exclusion is high and inflation-adjusted, while state rules vary.

The comparison is based on publicly available information from each provider’s website as of 11/19/2025. Features, fees, and methodologies may change over time.