As business coaches, we often remind business owners that creating a Will is not enough to secure their assets and provide a lasting legacy for their families to last through generations.
Estate planning ensures that assets belong to the chosen beneficiaries. Legacy planning ensures the management of those assets according to the business owner’s stipulations and wishes, such as passing on a business to a child once they turn 18 to continue building generational wealth.
You’ve labored for years to achieve commercial success, so you must plan to get the most financial return and secure your legacy and your family’s future. In this article, I’m going over what considerations and stipulations should be in a legacy plan to create a lasting legacy.
What Should Go Into a Legacy Plan
In your legacy plan – when passing on your business to a family member to establish a family business or a business partner to carry on your mission – you will state the circumstances under which they will own it and why you have chosen them.
For familial successors, you will also state the stipulations to approve the transfer of ownership, such as completing a business leadership training program.
Estate and legacy planning should be cohesive for optimal security and distribution of wealth and assets.
- Business owners should include how, when, and why they’ve chosen to distribute the finances and assets in their estate to specific people or philanthropic causes.
- You should include the creation of a foundation and its importance to you, your family, and the purpose it serves.
- Stat the intention behind setting up a trust or choosing life insurance policies that provide finances to your chosen beneficiaries.
- Business owners should present their mission and values as integral in establishing a lasting legacy within their families and chosen charitable organizations.
- Discuss the importance of generational planning and how your beneficiaries may maintain lasting wealth.
Legacy Planning Overview
Because estate and legacy planning influence one another, you should expect the planning processes to overlap.
- Complete a financial assessment and receive a projection to determine how to achieve a profitable business exit and secure the compensation needed to establish a legacy of wealth.
- Gather information about all of your assets and wealth.
- Creation of a trust.
- Identify any debts and strategize their reduction and elimination.
- Strategize protecting your assets from creditors.
- Minimize tax burdens
- Name your beneficiaries and describe their relationship and significance.
- Review your Will for clarity.
Benefits of Legacy Planning
- Reduce or avoid attending probate courts altogether, protecting your assets and your family’s privacy.
- Strategize generational planning so that generational wealth lasts beyond one or two generations.
- Establish a legacy with the causes you care about by generosity planning – naming charitable organizations or philanthropic organizations as beneficiaries according to your values.
Book with me today to build a personally fulfilling legacy plan.
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Most business owners know the importance of creating a Will – more understand that an estate plan achieves optimal security. However, legacy planning is another component of passing on wealth. Learn how a legacy plan incorporates your personal and business stipulations, philosophy, and values to create a meaningful legacy for generations.