Student Sees Value in Early Planning

The Electric Daisy Carnival, a 3-day, 3-night music festival that drew more than 100,000 people to Las Vegas Speedway last summer, could be viewed as a Woodstock for millennials: a massive gathering of teens and 20-somethings, live bands, psychedelic imagery. Chris Conner takes a more thoughtful, scholarly view. The 32-year-old graduate student in sociology is exploring the Electric Daisy Carnival and similar events to find out how the electronic dance music movement (EDM) is evolving from a small pop subculture into a major corporate enterprise.

"My research highlights the importance of the EDM movement to the economy," Chris explains. "According to a New Yorker article, dance clubs are quickly replacing gaming as a primary source of casino revenue."

Music and his Ph.D. aren't the only things Chris thinks about. Unlike most people his age, he also is making estate plans. Prompted by the death of his mother when he was 24 and his father's passing just three years ago, he found himself dealing with all of the complex legal and emotional issues involved with wills, inheritance — and values.

"Many people helped me through difficult times," he says. "I want whatever assets I might accumulate to help the next generation." The way he is making this happen is through an estate plan that includes gifts to Indiana University-Purdue, where he earned his bachelor's degree, and to University of Las Vegas, Nevada.

"These gifts not only make me feel good," Chris says, "but they also motivate me to save more so that I can increase my estate gifts so that they really make a difference."

For information about making a gift through your estate plan, contact Eric Schimmoeller at 702-895-3641 or plannedgiving@unlv.edu.