Leaving a Legacy: Sustaining Family Unity, Faith, and Wealth

by Dan T. Garrett, Tim Woodroof

Overview

A sobering statistic: For centuries 70 percent of family wealth has dissipated by the second generation, and 90 percent is lost by the third generation. It has nothing to do with taxes, economies, or cultures. It is the failure of families to transfer leadership and values to succeeding generations.

The most important inheritance your children receive from you comes while you are still alive. It is embedded in your everyday life. It is made up of the values you prize and the priorities you practice. This is an inheritance you live and model to your family, friends, and the people who make up your world.

If your priorities during life are your faith, your relationships, and your values, you should maintain those priorities as you develop your legacy. That means making sure the financial inheritance you leave will be regarded as a tool and a resource to support the real inheritance of values your children have already received.

This book will help you put family and faith before fortune as you plan for the future. Doing that increases the chances that your family can thrive in its relationships and still prosper materially for generations. Families who follow the process described in this book will come to a better understanding of their relationship to each other, their community, and to money. Families will learn to communicate more clearly and more honestly about the joys of hard work, shared goals, philanthropy, and finances. They will learn how to communicate, listen to the opinions of others, set family goals, develop family unity, reward individual achievement, and how to make money a tool for achieving family goals for themselves and the kingdom of God.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780891127284
Publisher:	Abilene Christian University Press
Publication date:	02/11/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	228,707
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Dan T. Garrett is a popular speaker and coach for professionals, families, and individuals on matters of stewardship and the preservation of faith, values, and wealth over multiple generations. Recent national audiences include the American Council on Gift Annuities, The Heritage Institute Faith-Based Academy, and the Practical Planned Giving Conference. Dan presently serves as vice chancellor of Abilene Christian University and president of the ACU Foundation. Dan and his wife, Donna, reside in West Texas, and have three married sons and four grandchildren.

Table of Contents

Foreword 11

Acknowledgments 13

Section 1 What Will You Pass On?

Chapter 1 Handing Off the Future (Leaving a Legacy) 17

Chapter 2 The Ninety Percent Rule (The Challenge of Legacy) 25

Chapter 3 Four Questions (Defining Your Legacy) 37

Chapter 4 Building Your Tower (An Intentional Legacy) 47

Chapter 5 Valuables as Vehicles for Values (Teaching Your Legacy) 57

Section 2 A Legacy Process

Chapter 6 Introducing the Legacy Process 73

Chapter 7 Your Guided Discovery 83

Chapter 8 Your Vision Statement 99

Chapter 9 Planning for Legacy 119

Chapter 10 The Family Retreat 131

Section 3 Possessions and People Of Faith

Chapter 11 God's Economy (What God Values) 159

Chapter 12 My Money Is God's Business (The Call to Stewardship) 169

Chapter 13 When Is "Enough" Enough? (Choosing a Standard of Living) 181

Section 4 Appendices

Appendix A Jesus on Possessions and Material Wealth 193

Appendix B Chapter Three Exercises 199

My Heirs 199

My Gifts 200

Who Gets What from Me? 202

My Tools 203

My Motives 205

Appendix C Legacy Planning Assessment 207

Appendix D Chapter Seven Exercises 211

Our Family Tree 211

Our Heritage 212

Our Immediate Family 214

My Faith 215

My Life Lessons 217

My Successes and Setbacks 218

My Mentors 219

My Character 220

Our Money 221

Appendix E Chapter Eight Exercises 225

A Heritage Biography 225

My Autobiography 227

Our Family Story 229

A Checklist for Your Family Vision Statement 230

Appendix F Planning Documents Checklist 233