The WealthWatch: Protecting Your Legacy for Future Generations
Most of us spend our whole lives building wealth, and we want our families and the next generation to benefit. But without planning, it doesn’t work out that way. For example, one study found that most wealth is lost in America within three generations. The biggest concern we hear from clients is, “how will our children (or grandchildren) be spending their inheritance?” It’s not uncommon for an entire inheritance to be spent within a couple of months – which is fast when you consider that these inheritances are often substantial. Sometimes, it’s simply due to reckless spending. But more often, we see it caused by one of three issues: emotion-based decision making, pressure from family and friends, and/or a lack of professional assistance. Let’s look at each of these a little more deeply.
1. Emotion-Based Decision Making
While we can understand grief and emotion in the wake of losing a parent or grandparent, we never make good decisions when we’re making decisions based on our emotions. And sometimes it is the impulse purchases that are the issue – like buying a car, or house, or taking a vacation. But, more often it involves making major life changes, like quitting a job, or sinking an entire inheritance into a new business venture that eventually fails. In the case of starting a new business, people often have a passion for a specific type of business, but don’t have the education or experience with the kind of business that they have always wanted to start or the background to run it properly.
2. Pressure From Family and Friends
We’ve seen many family and friends steer people toward questionable life changes and investments over the years as well. Often uninformed advice – including bad investment advice – comes from well-intentioned friends and family. Or sometimes we see spouses creating pressure to spend. And of course, we’ve all heard stories about family and friends asking for loans and not paying them back.
3. A Lack of Professional Advice
Professionals can provide you with experience and insight because they’ve been through all this many times with a range of situations and clients. They can help provide avenues to help protect your wishes - like provisions in your will or trust that before a child receives their inheritance, they must receive education from financial or tax professionals, or even have a written financial plan in place. In our experience, you need to think about your children as they are, not how you hope they will be. Then, customize your estate plan for the unique needs of each of your children or grandchildren. Clients are often so preoccupied with treating their children equally that they fail to plan for the unique needs of each child. There are many, often complex, strategies that can help protect your legacy, and help set kids and grandkids up for success. But it’s important that you use a team approach – make your plans with both your attorney and advisor working together. As a team, they’ll be able to customize a plan for your family’s success.
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Case studies are intended to illustrate the types of financial issues faced by actual clients. They should not be construed as a testimonial for or endorsement of Lineweaver Wealth Advisors. They do not represent the experience of any advisory client. Each client’s situation is different, and their goals may not always be achieved. Lineweaver Wealth Advisors, LLC, is not engaged in the practice of law or accounting. Tax information provided is general in nature and should not be construed as legal or tax advice. Always consult an attorney or tax professional regarding your specific legal or tax situation. Tax rules and regulations are subject to change at any time.
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