How to Live the Best Legacy Now

When you’re in a hurry, what’s your strategy when you approach a traffic light that turns yellow? You give little thought to a traffic light that’s red or green. You stop or go. Easy enough. But a yellow light is not as easy.

Let’s take a look at the options for a yellow light. Excitedly, you could speed up and gun it while hoping for the best or you could slow down, playing it safe. The decision is either a knee-jerk reaction or a thoughtful response. The former is more thrilling, the latter is more purposeful.

Do you choose thoughtfully based on purpose or do you just react without much thought even when the risk is much higher? As with any decision, the choice you make has consequences - sometimes with life-altering results.

Which choice best describes you?

While traffic lights are simpler than real life, the parallel holds: when your life is at a crossroad and the light turns to caution, what choice do you make?

Beyond the crossroad at Prosperis Partners, we ask a similar but more important question: when life comes at you, do you purposefully make choices or just react?

Life coming at you is what you may call a milestone. We call it a life event. A life event can be you or someone in your family getting married or divorced, adopting or having a baby, or a graduation or maybe your retirement. A life event can also be a liquidity event. You launch a startup or perhaps it’s time to sell a family business.

A liquidity event can also be at the center of estate tax. Are you prepared to pay cash for potential estate tax liability due in 9 months after death?

A life event may also lead to key questions:

Have I shared (and written down) what my partner/spouse and family members mean to me ?

Learn more about a Legacy Letter, click here.

Should I sell my business to a child or grandchild? Are they really prepared to step in and take over for me?

How much money should I give away during my lifetime versus through my estate or legacy?

How will I sort out the concerns of a family member with a special need? This could be a physical special need or a situation like illness, mental health challenges, or addiction.

Sometimes life comes at you like a freight train and takes you by surprise. The best you can do is get out of the way.

If you are unprepared, the only response to any sudden life event is a defensive reaction. The consequences can be devastating. That’s a path to wealth failure and pain for your family.

It’s one of the main reasons 90% of family wealth is gone in three generations.

Preparedness and relevant information are the keys to wise decisions. If you desire Wealth Success, you need to avoid wealth failure.

Intentionality goes a long way The best time to prepare is right now. You could summarize preparation into one word: mindshift.

As you approach any life event or liquidity event, even if you’re not sure of the best next step, at least choose a mindshift towards preparedness.

What is a mindshift? It is simply stepping back and thoughtfully considering what’s important to you. Sometimes the silver lining of a life/liquidity event is the motivation needed to think through next steps purposefully.

Once you are in the right frame of mind, embrace life or liquidity events for what they are - an encounter with reality - because they invite critical questions. They tap on our shoulder, reminding us to think about what is important.

Protecting those who bring you joy should be a part of your objectives as you organize, manage and distribute your wealth.

Preparation is the key to protecting what’s important to you. So it’s critical to consider ALL of your goals and objectives. This is how you can develop a strategy that integrates all of your life goals into the best plan for you.

Next, you need to match all of your financial resources with your objectives. At Prosperis, we call that Family Legacy Planning. And it is the key to building Wealth Success.

It’s also critical to determine the best direction as determined from your current situation - your mindshift should lead you to action.

Allow life events to work for you Most advisors focus on a product - which is just another way for them to make more money.

We offer only a service. Prosperis Partners is focused on the foundational and essential service, Family Capital. Our role is working with you to explore and develop the best solutions and then help you implement your Plan.

Your wealth is more than just money. It’s about you, your family, and family objectives. We call that Family Capital.

Money is an engine that propels you and your family forward. Not the other way around. We focus on helping you accomplish all of your objectives, at the family level and at the individual/generational level. That is the all-inclusive service of Family Legacy Planning.

All of your objectives are included in your Family Legacy Plan and are integrated with all of your financial resources.

You, like most people, already have an estate plan. But does it fit your current thoughts and financial assets. When was the last time you reviewed or evaluated your existing plan based on life events for 2021?

Your estate is your property. Your legacy is your life. Both are worth fighting for. Defining the purpose of your wealth and the related impact on you and your family is foundational.

As you contemplate the best next steps for whatever life event rolls around, it is time to focus on what is really important to you and your family. It may be less thrilling than speeding through life’s yellow lights, but preparedness leads to Wealth Success and a greater opportunity for happiness.

As with any project, the hardest part is getting started. Allow us to help you with that. We would love to help you move forward purposefully.

For more information on the value of Family Legacy Planning, click here.