You work hard to build wealth for your family – generational wealth. You save, invest, and make sacrifices today so your children and grandchildren can have a better tomorrow. But here’s a sobering reality: research shows that 70% of wealthy families lose their wealth by the second generation, and by the third generation, that number jumps to 90%.
That’s not because parents don’t care about their kids. It’s because key pieces of the wealth preservation puzzle are missing.
Building generational wealth isn’t just about accumulating assets or having a strong investment portfolio. True wealth preservation requires a fundamental shift in how you think about inheritance, practical systems that keep your assets accessible and protected, and education that prepares the next generation to be responsible stewards of what you’ve worked so hard to build.
Let’s explore the three essential elements that separate families who build lasting legacies from those who watch their wealth disappear.
The Mindset Shift: From “My Wealth” to “Our Legacy”
The families who successfully maintain prosperity over multiple generations understand something that others miss: wealth is so much more than money. Yes, you can leave your children a million dollars, but if they don’t understand responsibility, financial management, or your family’s values, that money will vanish faster than you can imagine.
Generational wealth lasts when you pass on both tangible and intangible assets. Not just accounts and property, but also the knowledge, traditions, wisdom, and life lessons that make financial wealth sustainable. Your experiences, your values, even your mistakes and failures: these are all part of the inheritance that will shape how your children handle what you leave them.
This requires a complete mindset shift: inheritance isn’t a one-time transfer that happens when you die. It’s an ongoing process of preparation that happens during your lifetime. Instead of keeping financial matters completely private, you need to invite your children into age-appropriate conversations about your values, your goals, and the responsibilities they may inherit one day.
Think of it like teaching your child to drive. You wouldn’t simply hand over the keys without months of practice and guidance. Likewise, don’t hand over wealth without the training and perspective they need to manage it wisely.
When you embrace this broader definition of wealth: one that includes wisdom, values, and preparation: you’re already ahead of most families. But perspective alone isn’t enough. You also need systems that ensure your financial assets are actually protected and available when the time comes.
The Practical Side: Legal and Financial Strategies That Actually Work
Too many people think estate planning is about creating a set of documents. But documents aren’t enough. A will, trust, power of attorney, or healthcare directive can’t pass on everything that’s important to you, and traditional planning often creates more problems than it solves: like months of probate, thousands in legal fees, and painful family conflict during an already emotional time.
That’s why my Life & Legacy Planning® process goes much further. Protecting wealth and passing it on requires comprehensive strategies that work together:
Complete Asset Organization
Your plan begins with a thorough inventory of everything you own: bank accounts, investments, real estate, insurance policies, digital assets, business interests, and personal items of value. Each asset gets titled correctly and integrated into your overall plan so nothing is lost or overlooked when it’s time to pass things on to the people you love.
A Plan That Stays Current
Life doesn’t stand still, and your plan shouldn’t either. Marriages, divorces, births, deaths, job changes, and property acquisitions all require updates to ensure your plan continues to reflect your current life and wishes. Through regular reviews, I help ensure your plan stays current so it works exactly as intended when your family needs it most.
Crystal Clear Guidance for Your Family
A Life & Legacy Plan doesn’t just protect your assets: it protects the people you love from uncertainty and confusion. Your family receives clear guidance about what you own, how to find it, and what to do when the time comes. I help you document where accounts are held, how to access them, and who to contact for help. This clarity prevents the confusion and conflict that too often arise when families are left searching for answers during their time of grief.
Ongoing Support and Trusted Relationships
Legal strategies form the foundation of wealth preservation, but they’re only one part of the equation. My role as your Personal Legacy Lawyer® is to serve as your trusted advisor for life: someone who understands your family, your values, and your goals, and who will be there to guide your loved ones when you no longer can. That ongoing relationship ensures your plan works not just legally, but practically and emotionally, for the people you care about most.
Creating a comprehensive plan and keeping it updated over time is crucial, but for true generational wealth to last, your children also need the tools, guidance, and values to use it wisely.
The Education Piece: Preparing the Next Generation
Even the most thoughtfully crafted estate plan can’t prepare your family to carry your intentions forward. Real success requires education, communication, and participation, so the people you love understand not only what you decided, but why you made those decisions.
That’s why I encourage families to treat planning as an ongoing conversation, not a one-time event. When your family understands your decisions in advance: like why you chose certain beneficiaries, appointed specific people to key roles, or structured inheritances a particular way: they’re far less likely to experience confusion or conflict later. These conversations also provide a precious opportunity to share your values, priorities, and hopes for how your wealth will be used to strengthen relationships, not divide them.
Preserving Your Stories and Wisdom
When you work with me, you’ll also record a Legacy Interview, where you’ll share your stories, values, instructions for your loved ones, and your reasons for the choices you’ve made. Combined with periodic family meetings and regular plan updates, this approach ensures that your loved ones are never left wondering what you wanted or why.
Ultimately, the goal isn’t just to pass on assets, but to create a foundation of trust, understanding, and continuity. When your family is informed and included, they’re empowered to honor your legacy with confidence and clarity.
Thinking Beyond One Generation
The families who keep wealth for generations don’t just plan for their children: they plan for grandchildren and great-grandchildren they may never meet. This often means using structures designed for long-term stewardship:
Lifetime Asset Protection Trusts that can distribute assets over multiple generations, protecting against mismanagement, creditor claims, and divorce settlements while providing ongoing support for education, healthcare, and other important needs.
Family Governance Structures that bring relatives together for ongoing discussions about values, shared resources, and collective decision-making. These structures help maintain family unity and shared purpose across generations.
Charitable Foundations that involve multiple generations in philanthropy, reinforcing shared values and creating opportunities for family members to work together toward common goals.
The key insight is this: the goal isn’t simply to pass down money. It’s to create a structure that helps your family stay connected, supported, and guided by the values that built the wealth in the first place.
When families think beyond just the next generation, they create legacies that can truly last for centuries.
Your Legacy Starts Now
Preserving generational wealth requires more than smart investments or good intentions. It requires intentional planning, ongoing education, and a fundamental shift in how you think about inheritance. Most importantly, it requires taking action while you still have the time and clarity to shape your legacy.
As your Personal Legacy Lawyer®, I help families design Life & Legacy Plans that protect not only your money, but everything that truly matters: your values, your wisdom, and your family’s future stability. My process begins with a Life & Legacy Planning Session, where we’ll clarify your goals, review your family dynamics, and create an inventory of your assets, both financial and intangible. From there, we’ll build a plan that ensures your legacy lasts for generations.
The families who succeed in building generational wealth don’t wait for the “perfect” time or until they’ve accumulated a certain amount. They start now, with whatever they have, because they understand that the real wealth they’re building isn’t just financial: it’s the foundation of knowledge, values, and relationships that will support their family for generations to come.
Ready to protect your wealth and everything it represents? Don’t let your family become part of the 90% who lose their legacy. Visit personallegacylawyer.com to learn more about my Life & Legacy Planning process, or call 855-965-3666 to schedule a complimentary 15-minute discovery call today. Your family’s future is worth that conversation.
