Key Takeaway: Creating and preserving generational wealth is an incredible way to leave a financial legacy that provides financial security, opens opportunities, and more.
With the Olympics in Paris coming up this summer, we’ll see a number of relay races. If you’ve watched them before you know just how important the handoff is. Dropping the baton can be devastating to your team’s success.
Turns out that’s a pretty good analogy when it comes to creating and protecting generational wealth, especially for business owners.
What Is Generational Wealth?
Generational wealth is the assets passed down from one generation of a family to the next. This includes things like cash, investments, real estate, and even businesses.
Generational wealth is based on the principles of accumulation and preservation. It’s about creating a financial legacy that benefits not just you but also your children, their children, and so on.
How Do You Create and Protect Generational Wealth?
Generate Income
Whether you own a business or work in one, your income is a POWERFUL tool… if you use it correctly.
We all have choices when it comes to how we give, save, and live. Using your income to provide for your lifestyle now while saving for the future is an essential part of creating generational wealth.
Invest Strategically
Not only does saving your money matter – but how you save or invest it matters as well.
Are your assets and investments structured in a way that works for your needs and desires?
Are you able to generate the retirement income you need to maintain your lifestyle?
Are you diversified in the right kind of ways (not all diversification is created equal) based on your age, risk score, etc.?
Protect Your Assets
It’s not enough to create wealth. There are too many risks that could disrupt your financial plan IF you don’t account for them.
We frequently talk about:
Tax Risk
Inflation Risk
Withdrawal Rate Risk
Sequence of Returns Risk
Healthcare Risk
And more…
Having a Generational Wealth plan that takes those into account is crucial to help ensure you aren’t unnecessarily wasting assets that could have been better preserved.
Plan Your Estate
Don’t leave your estate to chance. Just like a budget tells your money where to go, your Estate Plan tells everyone where your assets should go. Work with a trusted attorney (we know some) who can work with your financial advisor and other professionals to create a will and/or trust that accomplishes your wishes.
Don’t be afraid to discuss your decisions with your loved ones. Clarity and up-front communication can go a long way toward preventing added heartbreak down the road.
Educate Financially
Teaching financial literacy (how money works and how to make it work for you) and financial responsibility (making wise decisions that will benefit you and others in the long run) are key parts both to creating and preserving generational wealth.
A stunning stat from nearly a decade ago (I’m sure it’s worse now) says that 90% of wealthy families lose their wealth by the third generation… 90%... There’s some education and generational wealth protection that needs to happen.
(Reuters, “A Little Honesty Might Preserve the Family Fortune,” June 17, 2015.)
Why Is Generational Wealth so Important?
Faith is a central part of who I am and how I make decisions. The Bible shares this principle in Proverbs 13:22, “A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children’s children.”
Generational wealth can help provide:
Financial Security and Stability – Your financial legacy can help provide a safety net for future generations in case of economic downturns, unexpected expenses, or other challenges.
Opportunities and Advantages – Generational wealth could help provide better education, healthcare, housing, and other opportunities for personal and professional development. It could help start new businesses or support new innovations.
Philanthropy and Social Impact – The impact of generational wealth can be felt not only by the family members who are part of the legacy but also by the churches, charities, schools, and other groups who benefit from the way we live and give. What opportunities could you help create as a result of the financial legacy you’ve created?
Generational wealth is about the long-term thinking to create a financial legacy that will truly change generations to come. How you think, plan, and prepare for the future will determine what type of generational wealth you will create for yourself and your family.
Don’t wait to have these important conversations. Start today.
Click the button below to book a discovery call today so you can start developing a plan to create and preserve generational wealth.
Keep Scaling!
Steve and Adam
(The father/son duo behind the Scale to Sell podcast)