"No amount of external validation can force an unhappy person to be happy. By the same token, if you choose to follow your own path, and create your own criteria for happiness, no amount of external adversity can "force" you to become unhappy." ~ Sheree Bykofsky - "Me Five Years From Now"
I thought about where we should begin our discussion on Legacy Planning and I determined that a quick introduction to the Four Building Blocks was the best way to go. Here they are:
#1 - Personal Mission Statement - guides your daily and major life decisions;
#2 - Strategic Life Plan - puts purpose and direction with quantifiable goals and objectives tied to your personal mission;
#3 - Personal Legacy Statement - captures the most valued life lessons and experiences for future generations benefit; and,
#4 - Family Mission Statement - steers the family toward a unified course and mission capitalizing on the strength, richness and diversity of the whole as opposed to the one.
These are the four basic building blocks. I will come back to each in detail at a later point in time, stay tuned...
L.I.F.E.,
Don West, Jr.
Contrary to popular belief, Legacy & Estate Planning isn't just for millionaires - it's for anyone who cares about what happens to their assets after they pass or who desires to leave a record for future generations to be able to access.
That said, Legacy & Estate Planning is particularly important for people in a number of basic life situations:
Married Couples: Each spouse must have a separate will. Joint wills can create legal issues if you both pass within a few weeks or months of each other.
Divorced Couples: Make sure your assets go to the "right" people, especially if you'd prefer that they not go to your former spouse's new partner and his or her children. To protect your own children, you may need to establish a trust.
Business Owners: Create a succession plan that specifies what should happen to your business, or your equity in the business, if you become incapacitated or pass away. Be sure that the business has enough cash on hand to survive the transition to new ownership.
Future Millionaires: Currently, the estate tax provides an exemption for estates valued at $2 million or less (it will rise to $3.5 million in 2009). This exemption has historically been $1 million and will most likely revert to that level in the year 2011. As a general guideline, if your estate currently totals $1 million or more - or has a strong prospect of exceeding $1 million in value during your lifetime - you should establish trusts to protect assets you may have beyond the $1 million benchmark.
(Special note: Many people are not aware that life insurance proceeds are included in your taxable gross estate and should be included when calculating potential estate tax liabilities.)
Professional Athletes: The unique demands and rewards of excelling as a professional athlete create unique needs and opportunities for both estate and legacy planning. Most sports stars understand the necessity to protect their hard earned dollars, but often fail to receive proper advice and counsel from those charged with directing their affairs. From issues of caring for your family and loved ones to handling the affairs of off-the-field ventures and charitable foundations require the consultation of expert counsel.
Entertainers & Artists: Those who hold valuable intellectual property rights, (copyrights, trademarks, etc.), or derive income from royalty payments need to consider special plans to deal with these unique issues.
SOURCE:
We offer many thanks to the talented hand of Robert Weber whose work was originally published in The New Yorker August 16, 1999.
Legacy and estate planning can be combined to guide and direct future generations while also helping you preserve your hard-earned assets and ensure that they go where you want them to go after you pass on.
By purposefully plotting your generational impact you can save your family and heirs considerable time, expense and potential grief by eliminating uncertainty about inheritance.
In the legacy planning process a you are given an opportunity to teach and offer hard-earned life experiences that helped shape your life and guide your destiny. The old saying, “If you give a person a fish you feed them for a day, but if you teach a person to fish they can eat for a lifetime,” is a common theme drawn upon daily by many successful clients who worry about the well being and preparedness of their future generations.
Seventy percent of Americans do not have a will. Unless you would like to donate your estate to Uncle Sam, it is time to join the thirty percent who do. Though writing a will may not be fun to think about, a little foresight now will save your heirs and loved ones enormous hassles down the road. In this series on legacy and estate planning you will learn to:
Warren Buffet has drawn much attention and praise for his comments regarding his own children’s inheritance, “"The perfect amount of money to leave children is enough money so that they would feel they could do anything, but not so much that they could do nothing."
This attitude has been embraced by young professionals and baby boomers alike as well as the middle class. Only by planning your estate now can you be sure that all your wishes will be known and respected when you pass away.
Many people have begun to seek a greater purpose to their lives and their generational impact into the future.
This realization has led to a shift in recent times where both wealthy and Middle Class Americans are more and more shifting away from providing their children with as much of an inheritance as possible, and focusing on establishing the meaning of their life's work and its resulting wealth and passing on values as well as assets.
Below is an excellent New York Times article on the subject:
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