Build Your Living Legacy While You Educate The Next Generation Early in your children’s lives, you can share your values, family history, and insights through light-hearted conversation and stories centered on the beliefs and decisions that shaped your successes, failures, and your vision for the future.
There isn’t much grandparents won’t do for their grandchildren. As financial advisors we are often asked, “How can I help my grandchildren after I’m gone? Can I build a legacy for them that will remind them of me and provide them additional security?”
When you attain a level of financial security where you feel the freedom to devote resources to causes and organizations that you value, it’s worthwhile to take time to think, dream, and plan before you give. Reflecting on your underlying motivations to give can lead to more effective and focused philanthropy and ensure that you work toward achieving your desired legacy.
People sometimes think they should stop or reduce their charitable giving when they retire. There are many things to take into account when developing your retirement lifestyle plan. Among those considerations, you may take pride in helping organizations and causes near and dear to your heart, and want to continue your charitable giving throughout retirement.
Generosity is a mindset and a way of life. It’s about far more than just giving money, and it is a great tool to teach younger generations about legacy. Growing up, my father and I never really discussed being generous, but he showed me in so many small ways that it has become his living legacy―and now, I am making it my life’s work to share the message. It seems that lessons learned best are lessons pra
Today’s culture tells us we need a lot of money to live a happy and successful life. Sure, having enough money to meet our basic needs increases happiness, but more money won’t turn an unhappy life into a happy one. Consider that the United States is nearly three times as rich today as it was in 1970, but according to most surveys, Americans were just as happy then as they are now.
Legacy planning can be a win-win for everyone—it strengthens relationships and allows a person’s values to accompany the wealth he or she passes on to heirs or gives to charity. In this way, legacy planning is much more than a business transaction, and reaches beyond mere tax savings. We believe there are at least three basic, yet distinct steps in legacy planning:
Entrepreneurs have vision, understand risk and reward, and are good at decision-making. Why is it then that many don’t understand the importance of planning for their legacy or having an estate plan? As an entrepreneur myself, I view estate and legacy planning like a business plan for life―a road map to long-term success and peace of mind. There’s no escape from death and taxes, so we might as well plan for
Although corporate stock inversions have come under fire lately, U.S. based multinational companies continue to announce inversion plans. In an inversion transaction, the shareholders of the U.S. Corporation must exchange their shares for shares of the foreign parent corporation. Although the stock inversion transaction qualifies as a tax-free reorganization that imposes no tax on the U.S. Corporation, this exchange