Wealth of Wisdom

SECTION 3PLANNING THOUGHTFULLY

“Plans are nothing, but planning is everything,” holds a well-worn aphorism. It reflects the nature of reality: Things never turn out just as we expected. To quote a less-hopeful version, “Man plans, and God laughs.” Despite the divine laughter, going through the work of planning helps prepare the mind for whatever fortune throws its way.

Planning is an essential component of managing financial wealth. Typically, that planning takes place under the auspices of various experts: financial planners, estate planners, investment managers, business succession experts, and so on. As a result, many times families feel that their plans are something external to themselves, not something they truly live. Sticking to a plan, or keeping it up to date, can be a real challenge.

The chapters in this section aim to address this challenge by providing exercises and tools in various aspects of planning that readers can easily apply, and reapply, to their own situations.

The section begins with John A. Warnick's guidance on “Expressing Purpose in Your Trusts.” Families with significant wealth typically have a multitude of trust structures in which they hold their assets and transfer those assets to future generations. Far too rarely do they give any thought to the purpose of those structures, with often painful results for beneficiaries. Warnick's exercise gives trust creators a clear path for discerning their purposes and then incorporating those purposes into ...