Kiplinger.com
By George Pikounis
May 29th, 2024
Worried Your Heirs Will Blow Their Inheritance? Stop Worrying. Start Planning.
90% of inheritances are completely gone by the third generation: People inherit money, then spend it without having a carefully considered plan for doing so. Frequently, that plan needs to start with you, lest your heirs make imprudent decisions that reduce the impact of the estate you worked your entire life to build.
Foundations are key— Successful generational wealth is built on a foundation of careful planning.
If you’re placing the first brick in that foundation, that means it’s up to you to set the rules and parameters for your inheritance. Simply willing all of your assets to your children will put that inheritance on a shaky foundation. Your heirs can now do anything they choose with the assets, leaving you to hope they make wise decisions that build upon the inheritance you’ve left them. However, as we’ve seen, that simply doesn’t happen in the majority of cases.
Instead, making sure your assets are available to your heirs in a more structured manner, designed to erect barriers to unwise financial decisions and prevent wasteful family fighting and excess taxation, will give your generational wealth foundation a much better chance of helping your heirs thrive.
