In business you’re told to find a niche and fill it: define clearly what you’re all about, and focus on that one thing. I believe it should be similar when it comes to charity.

I met today with a guy who has given several million dollars to a number of charitable causes over the past 25 years or so. He told me his story. Maybe one day I’ll share it here.

But in the midst of all the other fascinating things he told me, one thing stuck out above all else: he knows his charitable niche. Read the rest of this entry »

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What is the right size inheritance to give to your children?

I was first confronted with this question many years ago by an article in which the author asked if it made any sense to fund a child who has decided to rebel against everything you have ever stood for. –Should you give them an equal inheritance to that which you give your other children who are more deeply committed to the causes and values that you espouse?

It wasn’t that I had such a child, nor that I even had any wealth to pass to our children. But it got me thinking.

More recently, especially as our estate’s value has grown, I’ve been confronted by other questions. For example: Should the kids inherit everything you can give them? Read the rest of this entry »

How do you help your family members write personal resumés that will help your family account for all of its “human and intellectual capital”? Here’s one model.

[If you haven't read my preceding post about Family wealth, unique abilities, and personal resumés, I think you'll want to read it. It explains the basic idea of the "human and intellectual capital" resumé that "includes everything the particular family member believes her or his best friend might know."]

Read the rest of this entry »

As I noted last time, James Hughes says that a family’s wealth is contained, first and foremost, in its human and intellectual capital. Certainly sounds high-minded. But what difference might that make in practice? And how do you account for such wealth or capital? Read the rest of this entry »

I read two books while on vacation the last couple of weeks: Preparing Heirs: Five Steps to a Successful Transition of Family Wealth and Values by Roy Williams and Vic Preisser, and Family Wealth: How Family Members and Their Advisers Preserve Human, Intellectual, and Financial Assets for Generations, by James E. Hughes, Jr.

Preparing Heirs goes into depth about the research behind a number one of our advisors mentioned to us: in a study of 3,250 families with significant financial assets, 70% of them failed to transfer their assets successfully to the next generation. What does that mean? They either lost all their money, or they found that the money destroyed family relationships. It blew the family apart in the inheriting generation.

When I read Preparing Heirs, I thought it provided some good insights, especially into the causes of failure. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve already read Jay Link’s Family Wealth Counseling.

He’s issued a clarion call to pay attention not only to the financial aspects of an estate plan or legacy plan, but, I would say, he calls our attention even more to the social and spiritual/emotional issues related to one’s . . . lifetime legacy.

I chose those last two words carefully.

I think we aren’t normally challenged to think in terms of our lives when it comes to estate planning. We are led to think in terms of death, dying, and what happens after our lives are over.

Link, by contrast, calls us to Read the rest of this entry »

G____ sent me some notes he took during our meeting on Monday. Mostly, they are brief words or phrases. But they help give a sense of where Sarita and I are coming from. –Of course, we said far more in response to the questions than what is embodied in the few words. But it’s interesting to me to think, even, what the meaning is of these key questions and the few words from our responses that G____ recorded.

I’m afraid his brief notes (together with my spare “explanatory” additions) really don’t do justice, but I sense I should report “even” this little bit of data because it gives an idea of the kind of analysis that I think is going to (eventually, I hope!) lead to a much better long-term estate or legacy plan than we have now or that we would get if we never did this kind of work. . . .

1- What Should The Legacy Be? Our views on characteristics that the Holzmann legacy should embody . . .

Our kids should be . . .

• Solidly married
• Believers
• Doing work they enjoy
• Engaged in significant work
• Enjoying strong relationships one with another

2- Phrases That Speak to Us. Concepts and thoughts that we believe somewhat define principles which we embrace . . .

• [We're all about . . .] Influencing hearts & minds
• [We want . . . and we want our kids to be involved in . . . ] Work that makes a difference
• [We are . . .] Passionate about work and life
• [We believe in . . .] Work as a calling/stewardship
• [We believe in . . .] Education [as] inspiring/enabling to fulfill Christian “calling”
• [We want to be . . .] Purposeful/Strategic [in all we do]
• [We seek . . .] Perspective via inquiry and consensus
• [We value being . . .] Connected as a family

3- Money: Our views and attitudes about it and towards it . . .

• [We don't look to it for status and high price does not equate to "best quality" . . . as we learned through years of purchasing] “No Name” Brand merchandise
• [Money is a . . .] Tool
• [We can use money to . . .] Measure
• Money isn’t important (Happy vs. Unhappy)
• Money has rules
• Money is/can be a tool for good
• “Stuff” doesn’t matter [compared to relationships]
• [You have to keep a good perspective on the differential] Value of money vs. time

[Fundamental "rules" by which we've lived our life together, when it comes to money:]

• Save 10%, Give 10%, Spend the rest with joy
• Pay tithe

4- Vision: How would we like to accomplish our vision . . .

• Philanthropy
• Businesses

5- Values: Those concepts and principles we see as core, meaningful and defining to us and our family . . .

Most Valued
John	Sarita
Openness	Passionate Work
Passion	Charitable
Integrity	Family Connection
Created to make a difference
Relationship with God
Education/Intelligence
Questioning/Inquiry
Justice
Consensus/Collegiality
Less Valued
John	Sarita
Approval
Financial Security
Recognition/Acknowledgement
Personal Power	Solitude

Sarita and I had a meeting today–all day, 8 am till about 4:30 pm, with a working lunch in between!–with G____, our legacy planner, and T____, a man who, it turns out, is a fourth-generation heir of a very large family fortune. T____ turned my mind a bit–or, actually, a lot–concerning the idea of “giving everything away” as much as possible (rather than possibly passing a [financial] legacy along to our kids).

In essence, he argued for the idea that money in a future generation’s hands can be used for good. And we should encourage them to use it for good.

Perhaps the most inspiring comment had to do with enabling our kids to do significant work whether or not they were paid decent wages to do it. Thus, as he said, Read the rest of this entry »