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How Much Is Enough?

Sep 10, 2024 | Professional Advisors

How Much Is Enough

How much is enough??

That’s a question many parents ask as they structure lifetime gifts and bequests to children in their financial and estate plans. Wealthy clients are sometimes concerned that leaving millions of dollars, or even hundreds of thousands, to their children hoping they will be ‘wise adults who have figured out how to live independently.’

In addition to concerns about fostering entitlement and dependency, many parents are concerned that their children will miss out on the satisfaction of knowing they built wealth on their own. 

The Rees family uses their fund at OCCF to support new and innovative efforts to end generational poverty.

These parents believe that the challenges and struggles along the way will ultimately enrich their children’s lives with intangible benefits that are far greater than the obvious benefits that come with gifts or an inheritance of significant financial resources.

As you work with clients who feel this way, please reach out to the Community Foundation. Every day, our team works with families in this exact situation. We’ll help you evaluate strategies such as:

Involving the next generation in charitable planning through a DAF is a great way to introduce the role of a financial advisor and unite the family in their charitable giving efforts.

RBC Wealth Management

  • Establishing philanthropic components of an estate plan using charitable trusts as a ‘multipurpose estate planning tool’ to provide tax benefits, annual income and establish generational philanthropy.
  • Use of a donor-advised fund at OCCF to help you to create a meaningful relationship between YOU, as an advisor, and your client’s family to increase charitable impact, succession planning for family wealth and family involvement. Many of our donors at OCCF create Legacy Funds with terms of the fund providing that the children step in as successor advisors following the clients’ deaths. As successor advisors to the donor-advised fund, the children can work with OCCF to recommend

grants to favorite charities, support interest areas pre-selected by their parents or both. Many of OCCF’s donors appreciate the structure as it allows their children to stay involved with all of the family’s wealth, work together, keep sibling bonds strong and get involved in the community.

Please reach out to the OCCF team anytime. We look forward to exploring strategies to help your clients meet their financial and tax goals as well as honor their wishes for children to live happy and productive lives.

The team at the Community Foundation is a resource and sounding board as you serve your philanthropic clients. We understand the charitable side of the equation and are happy to serve as a secondary source as you manage the primary relationship with your clients. This newsletter is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting or financial planning advice.

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