Building Your Lasting Legacy.
Often when I meet with folks they are guided by a couple of principles when it comes to their estate planning. They would like to do right by their families and take care of them should something unexpected happen, but they also have a desire to leave a more broadly reaching and lasting legacy. All too often, however, they believe the two of those things can’t be accomplished together – that they either have to choose one or the other. This is when I have a conversation with them about legacy planning.
Legacy planning is just another way to think of charitable giving. Legacy planning is about giving your estate plan a sense of purpose. And while taking care of one’s family is usually mission #1, you can also use your estate to leverage for positive change in your local community or perhaps on an even larger scale.
Legacy planning allows one to attach a personal purpose to their estate plan and to ensure a lasting legacy that can make a real difference in the lives of others long after you’re gone. You can take care of your family and then, by your efforts, contribute something lasting and positive on a bigger scale. Do you want to contribute to educating first generation college students, to help mothers and children in crisis, to create scholarship opportunities for those who would not be able to attend trade school, to help an animal shelter provide for its adoption programs or feed the homeless? You can use what you’ve built in your lifetime to help your community and you can do this by creating a thoughtful estate plan.
Charitable giving can be accomplished during your life by giving donations but it can also be accomplished through your estate plan by using a variety of gift models. For example, you can make a bequest in your Will or Trust, or you can designate a charity as a beneficiary of a retirement, investment, bank account, or even a life insurance policy. You can create a life estate giving your property to a charitable organization while allowing someone to use the property during their lifetime. You can also create what is called a charitable trust – there are a few types. These allow you to transfer assets to fund trusts and either pay your beneficiaries for a period of time and then transfer the remainder of the trust to the charity; or donate to a charity for a number of years and then the remainder of the trust goes to your beneficiaries after that period of time. These can also be very beneficial when it comes to reducing taxable income for your beneficiaries. And don’t forget things like establishing an endowment. With a gift of this nature, you can provide permanent support to the cause nearest and dearest to your heart. Your endowment gift is invested, it is not spent and each year a distribution is made to your charitable cause. Talk about a gift that keeps on giving.
Treat charitable giving as part of your estate plan, as well as your financial plan. A well-drafted estate plan can be used to build a lasting legacy. It can provide both for your family and the charitable legacy you wish to leave after you’re gone, thus amplifying the impact one life can have on a multitude of others. Your decisions are the monuments you make of your life. So, what do you want to be remembered for? If I can help you create that legacy, I’m here for you.
