Estate Planning – An Opportunity to Craft Family Values and Create a Family Legacy

Guest Writer: : Lisa A. K. Kirchenbauer, CFP, RLP

With over 20 years of management and investment advisory experience in the financial services industry, Lisa Kirchenbauer has been a Certified Financial Planner® since 1990. She is one of a very small number of advisors who has achieved the Registered Life Planner® Designation from The Kinder Institute as well as serving as an affiliated advisor with The Sudden Money Institute. She resides in Arlington, Virginia with her husband and 10 year old and twin 4 year old sons. Visit her Web Site at http://www.kfmcfinancial.com/

Recently, my husband and I began updating our estate planning after 10 years. Since crafting the first set of documents, much has changed. We have gained two more children (for a total of 3). I have my own business and have also undergone a lot of training and work in financial life planning. Finally, I have recently finished reading an excellent book on this topic: “Wealth in Families” by Charles Collier. This has become an opportunity for me to personally consider our family’s values, especially with respect to money, and to design our legacy for the future. I’ve also renewed my focus on these issues with my clients.

In many cases, traditional estate planning takes you down a path where all you consider are names and numbers:

• Who will be the guardian of my children?
• Who will be the trustee of my trust?
• How much money should be distributed to whom and when?

And yet, this is a wonderful opportunity to consider the following more meaningful issues:

• What is money for in my life? Is it a means or an end?
• What are my hopes and dreams for my children?
• What kind of impact, contribution or legacy do I want to leave in my family and community?
• What are worthwhile uses of money? (travel, education, philanthropy, etc.)

Many times, as we contemplate the wealth our heirs may inherit, we are overwhelmed by the potential impact. We can easily make less than thoughtful decisions due to our own, sometimes incomplete views about, and fragile relationship with, money. To take a specific example, I had clients, who upon realizing that their children stand to become millionaires by inheritance, began to consider giving away their money or spending it prior to death to prevent the money from “ruining” their children. What’s the underlying belief here--that money is bad. But is it? Perhaps, with proper communication of values and a belief in supporting our heirs in finding their life purpose, in conjunction with teaching them how to become productive members of society, family wealth becomes a positive and powerful force in their lives.

In short, estate planning can go far beyond just protecting the family and directing how wealth will be distributed. It can also become an opportunity for you to think about the impact and value of money in your life and how you want to communicate fundamental values and craft a future legacy for you and your family.