Giving Compass' Take:
- Here are strategies to help navigate complex family wealth planning for the future, especially when addressing wealth transfers.
- What can family giving strategies teach individual donors?
- Read more about family philanthropy here.
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For many wealthy families, passing down financial assets invokes more anxiety and fear than a sense of accomplishment or relief. And for good reason: Very often, transferring familial wealth can lead to its destruction.
The easiest way to avoid that fate is by confronting the challenges of family wealth planning head-on. That way, wealthy families can allow their children to manage their inheritance responsibly and, hopefully, in a way that reflects and reinforces their values for generations to come.
The key to solving the challenges associated with transferring wealth is mainly behavioral. Indeed, while many children of wealthy parents have the skills to manage wealth, inheriting a large amount of money tends to change how even the most well-intentioned people act.
Granted, shouldering that responsibility can be a wake-up call for some, giving them a sense of purpose and making them more productive citizens. However, something entirely different happens for others: They become more entitled, arrogant and materialistic. And that’s when the problems begin.
Inheriting a large sum of money will likely impact a person's lifestyle, behavior and relationships in one way or another. That's why transferring wealth is so difficult. In fact, familial wealth often ends up being lost by second-generation recipients. Unfortunately, the odds of disrupting this pattern are close to zero in the absence of adequate preparation.
Family wealth planning can be incredibly complex and stress-inducing, so it's no surprise that many wealthy families either continuously delay the process or struggle to know where to start. However, if families are intentional and have an unwavering commitment to getting things right, they can transfer wealth to the next generation—and the one after that.
Read the full article about family wealth planning by Rory O'Hara at Forbes.