I've noticed that my savviest clients share a couple of traits.
One, they understand the importance of having written plans and protecting what matters most to them.
Two, they understand that their assets include much more than just their home, their life insurance, their vehicles, and their retirement accounts.
They understand that their assets also include their human, their intellectual, and their spiritual assets. It includes who they are, what they think, their values, and their beliefs, and they take the time to capture those assets and pass them along to their children as well.
As a parent, we pass along these assets to our children on a day-to-day basis, often without thinking about it or even realizing it. We share with them the family stories and the family traditions. We talk about how we spent summers when we were children. We share with them what the holidays were like when we were kids.
But what happens to those stories, to those traditions, to your values, and to these important assets if something happens to you?
How do you ensure that your children receive these valuable assets?
In our practice, once the estate plan is completed, and we've taken care of the short term guardians, the long term guardians, made sure there are enough assets to take care of the kids and protect our clients' assets with a will, trust, and comprehensive written plan, we then capture their human, intellectual, and spiritual assets.
We do this through what we call a legacy video.
The legacy video provides you with an opportunity to share memories and messages to your children and grandchildren.
For many of our clients, the opportunity to ensure they capture these valuable assets and pass them along to their children in the event something ever happened to them has been the highlight of the planning process.