Sarita took careful notes of what occurred at yesterday’s family meeting. I’m not going to walk through all the details. But I think a summary might be helpful. We actually covered a lot of territory. But what has happened in the last 24 hours since the meeting is perhaps the most surprising–shocking–result of all.

Now where will we head? Read the rest of this entry »

I mentioned all the information we’re having to gather for G____.

Today I had to send him an addendum.

• Concerning Life Insurance policies
• Company Name
• Insured
• Policy #
• Owner
• Primary Beneficiary
• Secondary Beneficary
• Type
• Face Amount
• Premium Amount
• Cash Policy Amount Value
• Agent
• Information about each and every one of our children:
• Name
• Marriage status and date
• Nickname
• Birth date
• Home Address
• Home Telephone
• County of Residence
• Spouse’s Name
• (Grand)children’s names and dates of birth
• Any special needs (for children or their progeny) of which any we are aware at this time.
• Any other dependents?
• Professional Advisors’ names and full contact information (including CPA, attorney(s), financial advisors, stock broker(s), life insurance agent(s), banker(s), trust officer(s), etc.)

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

Yipes!

We’re not talking light work, here, when we put together a legacy plan! G____ wants pretty much everything related to our financial and legal situation: Read the rest of this entry »

Despite my stiff letter Monday evening, S____ and G____ responded well and Sarita and I have decided to go forward with the first level, diagnostic and goal-clarifying services. (See also this additional goal-clarifying service. It wasn’t available in quite this form when we went through the program in February 2007, but it gives you a good idea of the kind of clarity one might hope to acquire. –JAH, 5/5/08)

As G____ explained, we are under no obligation to keep going forward with additional or subsequent services if we are unhappy with the results of the first round.

(My problem–and I stated this clearly: I don’t see the value of the diagnostic if we aren’t going to move forward toward actually planning something! –Still, G___ said, we should feel no pressure.)

So, under those terms, we have agreed to move forward.

G___ will be our legacy planner . . . with the aid of T___, whom he mentioned in our first meeting.

Our investment advisor has been pressing me for several months not only to do legacy planning, but to hire a professional advisor to help run us through a structured legacy planning process. Yesterday, during our regularly scheduled monthly performance review meeting, he “surprised” me a bit by inviting the legacy planner in to share just a bit about his approach.

Yipes! He wouldn’t say exactly what his fees are, but he gave me an idea. It’s a lot of money. Several thousand dollars to start. And then, I get the idea, more later. Read the rest of this entry »