Hubler For Business Families
  • Home
  • About
    • Tom Hubler
    • News & Press
  • Services
    • Succession Planning
    • Ownership Planning
    • Management and Leadership Planning
    • Business Planning
    • Family Planning
    • Family Renewal Retreat
  • Speaking
  • Book
  • Resources
    • Free Assessment
    • Case Studies
    • Vision for Success
    • Blog
  • Contact
  • Home
  • About
    • Tom Hubler
    • News & Press
  • Services
    • Succession Planning
    • Ownership Planning
    • Management and Leadership Planning
    • Business Planning
    • Family Planning
    • Family Renewal Retreat
  • Speaking
  • Book
  • Resources
    • Free Assessment
    • Case Studies
    • Vision for Success
    • Blog
  • Contact

Making Your Mark: Leaving a Lasting Legacy

2/27/2018

2 Comments

 
Picture
One of the most fundamental human goals is to live a life that won’t be forgotten. From the works of William Shakespeare to modern film like Inception and Coco, humanity has always loved exploring what it means to leave your legacy. For a great many people, the easiest way to create a lasting legacy is through your family. Even the simple act of creating a family unit is a method of preserving your memory, but there can be so much more involved in leaving a concrete, appreciable legacy for yourself through the generations. Insurance company Allianz put out a survey of how Americans are passing their legacies onto younger generations, and formalized four “pillars” of inheritance:
​
1) Values and Life Lessons

2) Instructions and Final Wishes

3) Personal Possessions of Emotional Value

4) Financial Assets and Real Estate
From the results of the survey, the baby boomers and their children agreed that the non-financial aspects of inheritance are ten times more important than the financial aspects. The group also agreed that they believe they are having the important conversations about inheritance; however, they actually are not. It's important that both parties know and understand the overall plan and objectives of the legacy to be passed to succeeding generations, therefore having these conversations is imperative.

Your Legacy: A Firm Foundation for your Family Business

Leaving a lasting legacy through these pillars may be a nearly universal human desire and one of the main purposes for starting a family, but it can be a unique challenge for those that run businesses with their family members. When your life, your possessions, your stories, and your assets are all wrapped up within a business, these pillars begin to blend and further muddy the already murky waters of inheritance and legacy building.

One of the biggest considerations in dealing with a business legacy is that the next generation must uniquely respect your values, life lessons, and instructions in order to secure the financial aspect of your inheritance. For example, the matriarch of one family started her own business, and rather than allowing her personal wealth to build, continued to always reinvest into her business. With little-to-no fluid assets to leave to her children, she instead chose to involve them in her company, turning it into a family business a decade after its inception. By working alongside her children, she was able to instill in them her values for running a business, her desires for the future of the business, and a sense of ownership and pride in keeping the business afloat. Rather than leaving her children a rather meager financial inheritance, she instead built her children into her business succession plan, leaving them not only with the keys to a successful business, but also the knowledge and tools to keep it thriving.

This strategy, of course, necessitated thorough communication with her children. With each of them she had a heart-to-heart, explaining that she would do her best to leave an inheritance upon her passing, but that the nature of the business meant she could only promise so much. She spoke with them about their desires and about respecting their autonomy, but also instilling in them the opportunity that would come with joining the business. In the end, both children signed on, in part because the positions they were offered matched their interests. These communications and respectful considerations are as much a part of her lasting legacy as the business she built.

With all these intertwining concerns (and more), it can be hard to know where to begin to build a legacy within your family business. Open communication, frank and thorough discussion, and practical considerations for both familiar inheritance and business succession are needed to make sure that your legacy is left as a strong foundation, not a burdensome mess. For advice on opening up these discussions and more solutions to the problems unique to family businesses, contact Hubler for Business Families today to set up a free orientation meeting with Thomas Hubler, the expert on family business planning.
2 Comments
John Carston link
9/15/2022 09:47:33 pm

I found it interesting when you said that a never forgotten life is one of the best ways to leave here. I remember when my father told me that he was planning to start planning for all of his assets, and he asked if I had any idea what would be the best option to consider. You did a great job of explaining the importance of planning, I'll be sure to consult a legacy planning service as they can help provide information about their service procedure.

Reply
legacy planning advisors link
5/12/2023 03:45:47 am

Thanks for delivering such an exciting post. I hope to see more great posts like this in the future and keep the good work going on.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Most read blogs

    Categories

    All
    Business Planning
    Case Studies
    Family Planning
    Featured In
    Management And Leadership
    Most Read Articles
    Ownership Planning
    Succession Planning
    Twin Cities Business

    RSS Feed

    FREE Resources

    Family Renewal Retreat™

    SCHEDULE YOUR FREE ORIENTATION MEETING.

    Take this risk-free first step in ensuring the continued success of your family business now. There is no charge for the orientation meeting other than out-of-pocket expenses for travel. 

    TOM HUBLER WILL GIVE YOU A FREE ORIENTATION.

    Does your family business need help with succession planning, conflict resolution, management or other issues? If so, we'll arrange a one-on-one orientation meeting with you and Tom Hubler to help you explore the possibilities of working with us. If you choose, your family and business associates can also attend. Here, in a relaxed environment, you can talk about:
    • Key family business issues
    • Plans necessary for the success of your family-owned business
    • Possibilities and expectations
    • Terms of the relationship

About

Hubler for Business Families helps family businesses manage the boundary between their business/financial concerns and family relationships.

LEARN MORE

Services

Succession Planning
​Management and Leadership Planning
Ownership Planning
Business Planning
Family Planning
Family Renewal Retreat
Speaking

Platinum Group

​​Hubler for Business Families and Platinum Group are merging to meet the unique challenges of family owned businesses.

​LEARN MORE

Resources

Picture
Case Studies
​Vision for Success
​Other Resources
Site Map
​The Soul of Family Business

SHOP The Soul Of Family Businesses
Free Assessment
​© COPYRIGHT HUBLER FOR BUSINESS FAMILIES 2022. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
​
WEBSITE DESIGNED BY: SKOL MARKETING