Your financial legacy is about more than the assets you leave behind. Learn how family legacy planning can help you communicate your values, teach financial responsibility and create a meaningful plan for the next generation.
By Plumb Financial
Seriously. Take a moment and think about it.
What do you want your money to accomplish today, tomorrow, 10 years from now, 20 years from now—or even after you’re gone?
For many families, that question is at the heart of legacy planning.
At Plumb Financial we often think of financial planning as numbers: investments, retirement accounts, insurance, taxes and estate documents. But behind all of those decisions is a much more important question:
What matters most to you, and what do you want your wealth to accomplish for the people and causes you care about?
That’s where your “why” comes in.
I hear parents and grandparents say things like:
“I wish my kids understood what to do with the money.”
Or:
“I’m not sure my children will understand the opportunity we’re trying to give them.”
And sometimes the concern isn’t just about leaving money behind. It’s about whether the next generation will understand the values, sacrifices and decisions that helped create that wealth in the first place.
Your children may be adults with children and grandchildren of their own, but in your eyes, they’ll always be your kids.
And when it comes to money, values aren’t necessarily learned through a lecture.
They’re learned through example.
It’s easy to tell someone:
“Don’t spend too much money.”
“Save more.”
“Make better financial decisions.”
But what if instead of simply telling our children what to do, we showed them why we make the decisions we make?
Imagine a family with young children who start a lemonade stand.
Instead of simply teaching them how to make money, ask:
What are we trying to accomplish with this money?
Are they saving for something?
Giving a portion away?
Buying something they’ve wanted?
Learning how a business works?
The lemonade stand becomes more than a way to make a few dollars. It becomes an opportunity to teach the connection between money, choices and goals.
As children become adults, those conversations can evolve.
You might talk about:
The goal isn’t to make every financial decision for them.
It’s to help them understand how to make thoughtful financial decisions of their own.
One of the most powerful things you can share with your family isn’t just what you decided.
It’s why you decided it.
Maybe your family didn’t always have the newest car or the most expensive clothes.
Maybe you chose to spend money on your children’s activities instead.
Perhaps you prioritized:
Those decisions weren’t necessarily about spending more or spending less.
They were about deciding what mattered most.
And sometimes prioritizing what mattered meant making a different choice somewhere else.
Maybe you didn’t go out to dinner because the money was being used for something more important.
That’s an incredibly valuable lesson for the next generation:
Money is a tool. We use it to support the things we value.
Eventually, the conversation may move beyond teaching financial values to deciding what happens to the wealth you’ve accumulated.
That’s where legacy planning becomes especially important.
Ask yourself:
Maybe education is your priority.
You might want to help pay for college or educational opportunities for your grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Maybe charitable giving is important to you.
Perhaps there is a nonprofit or cause you’ve supported throughout your life that you want your family to continue supporting after you’re gone.
Maybe you want to help your children purchase their first home or start a business.
Or perhaps your biggest priority is simply giving your family financial security while helping them become responsible stewards of the wealth you’ve built.
There isn’t a single right answer.
Your legacy should reflect your values.
Estate planning documents can determine who receives your assets.
But documents alone don’t necessarily explain why you made those decisions.
That’s why family conversations can be so valuable.
Imagine your children understanding:
That context can be just as meaningful as the assets themselves.
Your family doesn’t just inherit your money.
They can inherit the values and purpose behind it.
This is where financial planning can help.
Before we start talking about investment accounts, trusts, insurance policies or other financial tools, we need to understand what you’re actually trying to accomplish.
Start with:
What matters to you?
Then:
Where do you want to go?
Then:
What do you want your money to accomplish?
Once we understand those answers, we can begin identifying the tools and strategies that may help you get there.
That might involve working with your financial planner, estate planning attorney, tax professional, insurance professional or other members of your advisory team.
The tools come after the purpose.
If you’re thinking about your family’s financial legacy, consider having a conversation that isn’t centered around numbers.
Instead, ask:
What do we value?
What are we trying to accomplish?
What do we want our money to do for our family?
You don’t have to have all the answers.
And the conversation doesn’t need to be stressful or formal.
It can simply be an opportunity to share your experiences, explain your decisions and begin talking about the future.
Your wealth represents more than the balance in your investment accounts.
It represents years of work, decisions, opportunities, sacrifices and priorities.
The question isn’t simply:
“How much money will I leave behind?”
A more meaningful question may be:
“What will my money accomplish for the people and causes I care about?”
Start there.
Once you know the why, you can begin building the plan around it.
At Plumb Financial, we help families think through their financial goals, wealth transfer strategies and legacy plans so their money can serve a purpose—not just accumulate.
Your financial plan should reflect what matters most to you.
If you’re ready to start the conversation about your family’s legacy, let’s talk.
Starting your first investment account can feel overwhelming.
Questions like:
Where do I start?
What should I invest in?
How much should I contribute?
Am I doing this correctly?
are completely normal.
The good news is you do not need to have everything figured out to begin building wealth.
Now here is the real question:
Can your business actually function without you?
At Plumb Financial, we work with many business owners who have built successful companies—but often, the business still depends entirely on them to operate every day.
If every decision flows through you, your clients only want to work with you, and the business cannot run when you step away, then you may not truly own a business yet.
You may own a job.
One of the biggest concerns many retirees have is taxes.
After years of saving into retirement accounts, many people are surprised to learn that taxes can still play a major role in retirement income planning.
One strategy that may help reduce taxes later in life is a Roth conversion.