Financial Assets are the assets most people are familiar with from traditional estate planning. They are those tangible assets like money, stocks, retirement plans, trusts, personal and real property, and businesses that insure financial independence, provide for family legacy, and enrich political and social involvement. But Financial Assets rarely survive the third generation because our society places emphasis on the wrong assets. We get so caught up in the money game. On top of that, we don’t have a system that focuses on the capture and enrichment of our Core and Experience Assets. Financial Assets are the means, not the end, when it comes to moving all of our assets to . . . and through . . . future generations.
The following questions will get you thinking about your Financial Assets, and how to identify them.
- Were you particularly poor or wealthy growing up? How did that make you feel?
- What attributes allowed your parents to accumulate their wealth or lack of wealth?
- Who or what has most shaped your ideas about financial wealth?
- How did you first learn to manage your money?
- How has your management of money changed?
- How have you invested your money? What types of investments have provided you with the best return? How did you make the decisions to invest?
- What happens if your investment performance fails to meet your expectations?
- Do you consider yourself “financially secure?” What does this mean for you?
- What do you think is the most important thing money can give you? What can’t it give you?
- How do you decide how to manage your money, and use it for different purposes?
- What type of advice regarding your finances do you seek?
- If money were no object, what is the one thing you would most like to do or purchase?
- What are your financial goals for the future?
- How prepared will your children/grandchildren be to wisely handle Financial Assets?
