Are You Aware of Your Hidden Inheritance?
There are two kinds of inheritance we receive and pass on, not one.
We are all well aware of the financial one that fuels the financial and estate planning industry.
This is the inheritance that bequeaths valuables such as money, property, businesses and family heirlooms.
There is a second inheritance that is generatively passed on whether or not it accompanies a financial inheritance.
We begin to receive this inheritance the moment we're born.
We begin to bestow it upon our children the minute they are born.
I'm talking about the emotional inheritance, the sum total of our beliefs, values, stories, life lessons and the family traditions that make up our individual and family story.
More and more traditional financial and estate planners are realizing that emotional inheritance is an important component of family governance structures.
The reason that the majority of the best laid inheritance plans fail is that the heirs aren't prepared emotionally and practically to receive their inheritances.
Many inheritors haven't a clue how to play an informed role in money management.
Moreover, if the family focus is solely placed on valuables versus values, inheritors tend to develop an unhealthy relationship with money - and with themselves.
Emotional difficulties are inherent when worth is defined by what you own and/or control instead of who you are, what you stand for and value.
Emotional inheritance - emotional intelligence - tends to be passed on from one generation to the next.
That's fantastic of parents have a well developed ability to identify, assess and direct the emotions of oneself, of others and groups.
Typically these types of parents teach their children to express a high level of emotional intelligence by modeling it consistently in their own behavior as an adult and as a parent.
Its when an unhealthy emotional intelligence is left unchecked that the ability to receive and efficiently manage financial inheritance is compromised.
Furthermore, without a healthy emotional intelligence issues in the family dynamics and relationships often arise during a generational transfer of wealth.
In addition to a healthy emotional intelligence (which includes a healthy relationship with self and with money) the family that shares and communicates is rich history - its traditions, values, stories, life lessons - is a family that tends to remain more united.
Relationships within the family tend to remain harmonious and compassionate.
The family identity is maintained along with a sense of togetherness.
Family priorities are balanced with support for member needs, producing strong family bonds and freedom for individual self-expression.
Based on my own life experience, my research and the experiences of my clients it is my belief that the 'secret sauce' for the family wealth to thrive from generation to generation (instead of go from shirt-sleeves to shirt-sleeves within three generations or less) is the enrichment and empowerment of the human capital - the non-financial assets that make-up the backbone of the family legacy and the inheritance that is passed on from one generation to the next.
What steps are you and your family taking to insure a healthy and enriched emotional inheritance for yourself, your children and their children? What values are you passing on? Remember children learn much more by how you behave and what you do than by what you preach.
What does your family legacy stand for and value most? These are the questions that must be asked, answered and passed on in order to prepare your children to successfully receive both of their inheritances.
We are all well aware of the financial one that fuels the financial and estate planning industry.
This is the inheritance that bequeaths valuables such as money, property, businesses and family heirlooms.
There is a second inheritance that is generatively passed on whether or not it accompanies a financial inheritance.
We begin to receive this inheritance the moment we're born.
We begin to bestow it upon our children the minute they are born.
I'm talking about the emotional inheritance, the sum total of our beliefs, values, stories, life lessons and the family traditions that make up our individual and family story.
More and more traditional financial and estate planners are realizing that emotional inheritance is an important component of family governance structures.
The reason that the majority of the best laid inheritance plans fail is that the heirs aren't prepared emotionally and practically to receive their inheritances.
Many inheritors haven't a clue how to play an informed role in money management.
Moreover, if the family focus is solely placed on valuables versus values, inheritors tend to develop an unhealthy relationship with money - and with themselves.
Emotional difficulties are inherent when worth is defined by what you own and/or control instead of who you are, what you stand for and value.
Emotional inheritance - emotional intelligence - tends to be passed on from one generation to the next.
That's fantastic of parents have a well developed ability to identify, assess and direct the emotions of oneself, of others and groups.
Typically these types of parents teach their children to express a high level of emotional intelligence by modeling it consistently in their own behavior as an adult and as a parent.
Its when an unhealthy emotional intelligence is left unchecked that the ability to receive and efficiently manage financial inheritance is compromised.
Furthermore, without a healthy emotional intelligence issues in the family dynamics and relationships often arise during a generational transfer of wealth.
In addition to a healthy emotional intelligence (which includes a healthy relationship with self and with money) the family that shares and communicates is rich history - its traditions, values, stories, life lessons - is a family that tends to remain more united.
Relationships within the family tend to remain harmonious and compassionate.
The family identity is maintained along with a sense of togetherness.
Family priorities are balanced with support for member needs, producing strong family bonds and freedom for individual self-expression.
Based on my own life experience, my research and the experiences of my clients it is my belief that the 'secret sauce' for the family wealth to thrive from generation to generation (instead of go from shirt-sleeves to shirt-sleeves within three generations or less) is the enrichment and empowerment of the human capital - the non-financial assets that make-up the backbone of the family legacy and the inheritance that is passed on from one generation to the next.
What steps are you and your family taking to insure a healthy and enriched emotional inheritance for yourself, your children and their children? What values are you passing on? Remember children learn much more by how you behave and what you do than by what you preach.
What does your family legacy stand for and value most? These are the questions that must be asked, answered and passed on in order to prepare your children to successfully receive both of their inheritances.
