Helping you achieve your personal vision based upon your individual needs, goals and risk tolerance.

After a lifetime of successful earning, it all comes down to the family legacy you’ll leave behind. How are you preserving yours?

You may have heard the old Chinese adage, “Wealth never survives three generations.” Like many Chinese proverbs, this is as true today as it was a thousand years ago. According to The Williams Group wealth consultancy, 70 percent of wealthy families lose their wealth by the second generation and a stunning 90 percent by the third.

Moreover, many people don’t feel the next generation is prepared to handle their inheritance. “Looking at the numbers, 78 percent feel the next generation is not financially responsible enough to handle inheritance,” says Chris Heilmann, U.S. Trust’s chief fiduciary executive.

At Carver Financial Services Inc., we believe you can enjoy your wealth today while also providing for future generations. As part of our Personal Vision Planning®, our team pays particular attention to preserving your family legacy because, when managed correctly, wealth should help you invest forward — not disintegrate over time.

The most common reasons we fail to pass on our wealth often stem from a lack of meaningful communication, lack of a shared vision, a disregard for intangible wealth assets, and an erosion of trust. Wrapped into these dynamics are family discord and the destructive mentality of entitlement. We can help you overcome these challenges. We believe intergenerational wealth preservation is about more than simply transferring assets. It’s about transferring the values and legacy that accumulated that wealth in the first place. But unhealthy family dynamics often prevent an effective transfer of those assets, values and legacies.

Four Reasons Families Lose Their Legacies and Wealth

Let’s look at four reasons why people lose their family legacy and wealth.

1.  Lack of Meaningful Communication

It’s easy to get swept up in money talk. Engaging in structured, productive dialogue about the components of a lasting family legacy, however, requires more planning and preparation than most people expect. At Carver Financial Services Inc., we encourage conversations about the intangible values of family legacy. We typically guide conversations in our office by inviting multiple generations to the table at one time.

2.  Lack of a Shared Vision

Unless you establish a shared vision for your wealth, it’s likely each family member will spend the money according to his or her own plan. Yet that kind of aimless spending could lead to the deterioration of family legacy and wealth over time.

In our practice, we help each family member understand the purpose of his or her wealth so the family can arrive at decisions together — and protect them together.

3.  Disregard for Intangible Wealth Assets

Most families fail to focus on the intangible assets — such as philanthropy, higher education, community involvement, a perspective of gratitude and impactful life experiences — because they can’t easily measure the contribution of these assets with numbers. At Carver Financial Services, we believe that intangible assets are a key part of your family legacy planning.

4.  Erosion of Trust

When there’s wealth to be shared, there’s often trust to be lost. Communication and transparency are crucial in creating the kind of trust that binds a family together — rather than the secrecy that tears a family apart. While that doesn’t mean you need to disclose everything immediately, these conversations help family members feel like they can trust your plan for the future, so they are much more likely to honor it.

We are happy to work with your entire family without disclosing any personal information you do not want disseminated. These discussions can help communicate what is important to you and get future generations involved in planning for your family’s future.

Start Protecting Your Family’s Legacy and Wealth

If your family is struggling with communication, trust and the transfer of values, our team at Carver Financial Services Inc. can help you start a new dialogue and establish a framework that protects these powerful conversations for generations to come.

Please contact us at (440) 974-0808 or randy.carver@raymondjames.com to discuss your goals and objectives. There is neither a cost nor any obligation. We look forward to helping you preserve your wealth, and your family values, for generations to come.

 

 

 

The information has been obtained from sources considered to be reliable, but we do not guarantee that the foregoing material is accurate or complete. Any opinions are those of Randy Carver and not necessarily those of Raymond James. Expressions of opinion are as of this date and are subject to change without notice. Investing involves risk and you may incur a profit or loss regardless of strategy selected. Links are being provided for information purposes only. Raymond James is not affiliated with and does not endorse, authorize or sponsor any of the listed websites or their respective sponsors. Raymond James is not responsible for the content of any website or the collection or use of information regarding any website’s users and/or members.

Raymond James and its advisors do not offer tax or legal advice. You should discuss any tax or legal matters with the appropriate professional.

 

Randy Carver, CRPC®, CDFA®, is the president and founder of Carver Financial Services, Inc., and is also a registered principal with Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. Carver Financial Services, Inc., was established in 1990 with the vision of making people’s lives better — clients, team and community. With this mission, Carver Financial Services has grown to be one of the largest independent financial services offices in the country, managing $2.3 billion in assets for clients globally, as of March 2023. You can reach Randy directly at randy.carver@raymondjames.com and in the office at (440) 974-0808.