The theme this week on the One Minute Retirement Tip podcast is: Why Do Family Fortunes Disappear?

If you are a 1st generation, self-made millionaire, how does it make you feel knowing that all of the wealth that you worked hard to earn, save, and grow will be gone after your grandkids? Though you may think your family is different, the probability that it will happen is overwhelming...90% of wealth in the United States is gone by the 3rd generation.

I’ve been spending this week talking about the many reasons why that is, and why it takes so much work and intentionality to pass along values that will create a mindset of stewards in your children and grandchildren, so today I want to explore the question: “If you know that it will likely be gone in 3 generations, how do you want to pass on wealth to your children and grandchildren? To what extent do you want to do that and are you 100% sure that they will be better off as a result? 

Many parents split their assets evenly among their children, and the more proactive try to do so in a way that minimizes taxes, but that’s the extent of it 99% of the time, even with multi-millionaires. 

If you are not 100% confident that your children would be better off for receiving their inheritance and will act like stewards, ensuring that the assets aren’t squandered by your grandchildren, you may want to ask yourself if there is something more meaningful and lasting that can be done with your wealth to improve the lives of more people, or if your estate plan is in need of some changes. 

I don’t have the answers to this. But I do know that I don’t want my children to be on easy-street and not know the value of hard work and delayed gratification, so it will be ever-evolving how I address my estate plan and how I pass along wealth (assuming there is something there to pass along), and I will always remain open to strong restrictions on access to wealth and possibly no inheritance at all if I think it will do more harm than good to one or all of my children.

That’s it for today. Thanks for listening! My name is Ashley Micciche and this is the One Minute Retirement Tip. 

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Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance