Most people seem to assume they should give an inheritance to their children. No matter what. And equally for all.

Gary North argues that may be a big mistake!

North, I believe, was the first person who challenged me to think about to whom I should give my estate. It was probably 15 or 20 years ago when I read an article in which he said, “Don’t give your money to someone who is going to use it against the very things in which you believe and for which you have dedicated your life.” –Something like that.

Just because he’s your son, doesn’t mean you have to give him an inheritance. Not if you’ve been seeking the Kingdom of God and all he’s interested in is doing the Devil’s work! Read the rest of this entry »

At the Generous Giving conference we attended back in April, they gave us a sheet titled “Journey of Generosity.” It’s intended as a self-diagnostic–Where are you, really, in your journey toward generosity?–and includes three suggested “stages” in the journey: from “Emerging Giver,” through “Maturing Giver,” and, finally, to “Generous Giver.”

On the back of the sheet, then, there is one more category of person, not exactly parallel with any of the first three. This category refers to people who are motivated to help others become Generous Givers: “Giving Champions”–i.e., not people who wow others by how much they give, but, rather, people who are committed to championing the cause of charitable giving. Read the rest of this entry »

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 »

Continuing to think through the potential legitimacy of shifting from a profitable/taxable to a [profitable]/tax-exempt entity, I wrote to J____, our legacy planner.

The matter of board governance lays heavily on Sarita’s and my mind as we consider the possibility of shifting to a 501(c)(3) form. We have observed too many 501(c)(3)s to enter into this lightly. Some concerns: Read the rest of this entry »

Prior to speaking at our church on the 20th, the McWilliamses showed a slightly shortened version of a “Family Story” video you can see at Gail’s website.

I’d say Lydia, their next-to-youngest, was probably about 11 or 12 when she was interviewed for the video. And what she said shook me up.

“I can’t imagine what the world would be without me,” she begins. “The world would probably be missing my . . . ” Read the rest of this entry »

Want to get a basic idea of what information might prove helpful in setting up a good legacy plan? Check out the following draft Family Wealth Letter of Intent.

Our legacy planner, having spent 17 hours interviewing us in detail on the first and second of this month, sent us the following draft “Family Wealth Letter of Intent” [FWLOI] today based on notes taken during our discussion. 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 »

For me, the highlight of our first family legacy planning meeting came relatively late in the day but just before we hammered out a consensus vision statement.

We had all talked a bit about our top values (both “Most” and “Least”). I don’t know that anyone felt that was particularly revelatory. Interesting. But only mildly so.

What blew me away was the next question we talked about (this was not in the Legacy Planning book): “Define what it means to be a ‘Holzmann.’ What defines you as compared to those around you?”

Whew! Talk about putting you (i.e., the family, all of us) on the spot! What would the kids say? Is there anything that we could agree on that more or less “defines” us as a family? Read the rest of this entry »