Talk about Money & Legacy
In order to keep your families wealth and well being across multiple generations, your family group members will want and need to find common areas in their attitudes about money as well as agree on some aspects of what the family legacy should be.
To enable discussion of these, think about what the goals of the discussion should be for your family.
It may help to list questions you want the discussion to answer. Here are a few suggestions:
- Is there a common legacy this family wants to leave to future generations. If so, what is it?
- How will we identify success in achieving that legacy (what actions will we take to get there)?
- Do we understand each family member and family unit’s money attitude?
- Do the money attitudes allow this family to move towards a generational view of money management?
- Where are the individual members and family units now in the areas of estate planning and investments – what work does the larger family have to do to move towards a generational view of money management?
Before starting the discussion, be clear with your family about what is to be discussed and why. Don’t encourage or expect individual family member’s or units to share information about their own finances. Make sure everyone understands that lectures and demands have no place in the discussion. Prepare members to listen carefully to each other. The goal of this discussion is not to meddle in each others private affairs, but rather to find common ground that the family group can use to begin planning for multiple generations.
