Creating Intergenerational Wealth With An Estate Plan

The common adage is that you cannot take your possessions with you when you are gone. While it is true that you will not need your property and finances after your death, you can set up an estate plan and make provisions to ensure that your wealth will be passed down from one generation to the next within your family, creating or preserving intergenerational wealth. Estate planning can help you ensure that your future generations will have a solid financial foundation and financial security. Effective estate planning will help you to make informed decisions about creating and maintaining generational wealth and ensuring the efficient transfer of assets to your beneficiaries. To discuss your estate plans in Florida or Minnesota, consider contacting an experienced estate planning attorney at Roulet Law Firm, P.A., by calling our Venice, Florida office at (941) 909-4644 or our Minnetonka, Minnesota office at (763) 420-5087 to schedule a consultation.

What Is Intergenerational Wealth?

Intergenerational wealth refers to the transfer of financial resources, real estate, personal property, businesses, investments, and other tangible and intangible assets from one generation to the next. The concept of this type of wealth involves the accumulation of assets and financial resources over multiple generations and, through estate planning, securing the passage of that wealth to future generations to ensure greater prosperity and security for the family over time.

How Much Money Is Needed To Build Generational Wealth?

Wealth is subjective. Therefore, there is no specific dollar amount indicating that a person has built generational wealth. Intergenerational wealth is achieved when a person has accumulated a sufficient amount of money and assets to pass down to his or her children, grandchildren, and beyond.

Building Intergenerational Wealth

Building intergenerational wealth is a crucial part of creating a lasting legacy. Some of the strategies that may help you create wealth that can span the generations and ensure your family’s financial security for decades or centuries to come include the following:

Set goals. Set realistic but ambitious financial goals for yourself and your family. By setting clear objectives and writing down your goals, you not only create an actionable plan but also provide motivation to achieve them.
Start investing. For many people, investing is one of the most effective ways to build generational wealth. Depending on your objectives and risk preference, you can invest in retirement accounts, equities, stocks, bonds, property, or other investment options.
Do not just build. Preserve. While building generational wealth is important, preserving what you have already built is just as, if not more, critical. This can be done by creating and sticking to a budget and by establishing an estate plan to safeguard your assets and create a formal record of your wishes.

An experienced estate planning attorney from Roulet Law Firm, P.A., may be able to help you implement the necessary estate planning strategies to preserve your wealth, provide for your loved ones, and even reduce their tax liabilities.

Using an Estate Plan To Pass Down Generational Wealth

With a well-constructed estate plan, you can preserve your wealth and legacy for future generations. Estate planning can be used in several ways to ensure that a person’s wealth will be passed from one generation to the next within the family according to his or her wishes. The following are the three most important steps:

Write a Last Will and Testament (will). In a will, you can outline specific instructions for distributing your assets to your family members. When writing a will, ensure that the document is drafted and executed in compliance with the laws of your state. The requirements may differ from one state to another. In both Florida (Fla. Stat. § 732.502) and Minnesota (Minn. Stat. § 524.2-502), the law requires that the will be in writing, signed by the testator, and signed and witnessed by two additional people.
Set up a trust. A trust can be an effective estate planning tool for protecting intergenerational wealth because it allows a person to minimize federal and state tax obligations, avoid probate, and control how his or her assets will be distributed, among other benefits.
Make beneficiary designations. Determining beneficiaries for retirement and financial accounts can help with generational wealth planning. By making beneficiary designations, a person can ensure that his or her assets go to chosen beneficiaries rather than court-mandated heirs.

The Challenges of Building Intergenerational Wealth

Building generational wealth is a delicate matter that requires a long-term strategy, unwavering dedication, and attention to detail. This journey can be filled with many potential pitfalls and challenges, including:

Probate — Many estates have to go through probate before they can be settled and the assets distributed. Probate can be lengthy and costly. When the probate process is complicated and long, it can take away from the beneficiaries’ total inheritance.
Estate and inheritance taxes — Estate and inheritance taxes vary from one state to another. Florida has no estate or inheritance tax. However, although Minnesota does not have an inheritance tax, the state imposes an estate tax at a rate of between 12 and 16 percent. A certain amount of the estate can be exempted from taxation by federal law. According to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the federal estate tax exemption in 2023 is $12.92 million.
Family conflict — The distribution of assets and financial resources may cause or escalate family rivalries. Those conflicts often turn into legal battles that may end up costing a person’s heirs tens of thousands of dollars, an undesirable expense when a person is attempting to preserve wealth for his or her family.
Poor planning — When it comes to protecting generational wealth, short-sighted planning is a person’s worst enemy. When creating an estate plan, many people think about their children and grandchildren to pass down their intergenerational wealth. However, a person should have more than his or her children and grandchildren in mind if the overall goal is to provide financial security for future generations. This type of planning will most likely require a strategic approach and forward thinking.

Build and Preserve Generational Wealth With an Estate Planning Attorney Today

Estate planning plays a pivotal role in building and preserving intergenerational wealth. With a well-structured estate plan, you can have complete control over what happens to your assets and financial resources after you are gone. If you are looking to create a solid plan that will support your legacy for future generations within your family, consider contacting an experienced estate planning attorney from Roulet Law Firm, P.A., by calling our Minnetonka, Minnesota office at (763) 420-5087 or our Venice, Florida office at (941) 909-4644.

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