What Is Legacy Planning?

Legacy planning is more than creating a will. It is about developing an exit plan for the assets someone has spent a lifetime accumulating and deciding how those assets should eventually be distributed.

A clear legacy plan can help families understand what will happen to property, investments, business interests and other assets following death or incapacity. Visual planning tools can also show where assets will flow, making a potentially complicated process easier for the next generation to understand.

Legacy Planning

Legacy planning brings together the financial, personal and practical decisions involved in passing assets to others. This can include estate planning, beneficiaries, trusts, property, investments, business interests and charitable giving.

Effective legacy planning starts well before estate documents are drafted. It gives families an opportunity to discuss intentions, responsibilities and expectations while everyone can participate in the conversation.

For financial advisors, visualising the plan can make these conversations clearer. Instead of leaving family members with a collection of disconnected legal and financial documents, they can see how the different parts of the plan fit together.

Legacy Planner

A legacy planner helps individuals and families organise how their wealth, assets and financial responsibilities should be handled in the future. Depending on the circumstances, this may involve working alongside financial advisors, estate planning attorneys, tax professionals and other specialists.

A good legacy planner does more than document who receives each asset. They help make the overall plan understandable to the people affected by it.

The objective is to create a clear financial roadmap so that when death or disability occurs, family members are not left trying to solve a complicated financial puzzle during an already difficult time.

‍