Leaving Your Lasting Legacy

How to ensure your values—and not just your assets live on.

When most people hear the word legacy, they think about financial assets being passed down after death. But a true legacy is much more than numbers on a balance sheet. It’s the stories, values, opportunities, and intentional planning that continue guiding your family long after you’re gone.

Legacy planning isn’t just about reducing taxes or organizing documents it’s about directing the impact of everything you’ve worked a lifetime to build.

Today, let’s walk through what a meaningful legacy really looks like and how to begin shaping yours.

1. A Legacy Starts With Meaning

Before estate documents or beneficiary forms, ask:

What do you want your wealth to accomplish?

For some people, the answer may be:

Providing financial comfort for children
Funding education for grandchildren
Supporting a charitable cause
Passing down a business
Leaving a family property to future generations
Ensuring a spouse is financially secure

For others, legacy means:

Passing down beliefs or traditions
Teaching responsibility
Encouraging stewardship and generosity

Your legacy is what you choose to emphasize.

And that clarity drives every planning decision that follows.

2. Structuring Your Financial Legacy

Financial legacy planning typically includes:

✔ A Will

Outlines who receives what—and avoids state-directed distribution.

✔ Beneficiary Designations

On retirement accounts, life insurance, bank accounts, annuities, etc.

These often supersede a will.

✔ Trusts

Trusts allow you to:

Control timing of distributions
Protect assets from creditors
Provide for special needs beneficiaries
Guide spending behavior
Support minor children

✔ Gifting Strategies

This may include:

Annual tax-free gifting
Funding 529 plans
Gifting appreciated investments
Charitable giving techniques

When structured properly, gifts can reduce future estate taxes and increase impact.

3. The Legacy Most People Forget: Guidance

Even when assets are transferred correctly, families often feel overwhelmed.

One of the most valuable pieces of a legacy is a simple written document called a Letter of Instruction.

It may include:

Final wishes
Passwords or digital account access
Where important documents are located
Guidance for children
Charitable intent
Instructions for family heirlooms

It doesn’t replace legal documents it enhances them.

And years later, it becomes something loved ones truly appreciate.

4. Creating a Legacy of Values

Consider passing along more than financial assets.

Some families create:

Family mission statements
Written stories or recorded messages
Ethical wills
Annual gifting traditions
Scholarship funds
Charitable endowments

Why? Because money can run out—but principles tend to multiply.

Children who understand why resources were left to them often treat the inheritance with more purpose and care.

5. Your Legacy Begins While You’re Here

Legacy planning is not reserved for the end of life.

Some powerful things you can do today:

Gift experiences instead of just assets
Bring family into charitable decisions
Teach budgeting, saving, giving, and stewardship
Share your personal financial journey
Explain lessons you learned over your lifetime

A written estate plan protects your family later.

Active involvement shapes them now.

6. Legacy Planning Brings Peace

Here’s what clients often say once they finish legacy planning:

"I feel relieved."
"I know my spouse will be okay."
"I know they’ll know what to do."
"I wish I had done this earlier."

Planning reduces confusion. It reduces conflict. It reduces stress.

And it creates confidence not just for you, but for those who love you.

Reach out today your legacy deserves thoughtful design.