Individuals with high wealth, whether you’ve built your fortune from the ground up, or carefully stewarded a personal or family legacy into its current position, you have achieved what few manage, and Rigby Financial Group congratulates you!

But you’ve been too busy, perhaps, running your successful business or family office, caring for your family, to sit down and plan what you will do with your wealth.

Here are three basic tips to get you started (we’ll give you a fourth at the end):

Your Goal = Your Choice

The first question a good financial advisor will ask is what money means to you. Sometimes this answer takes further questions to define, but if you’re in Rigby Financial Group’s hands, we will get there, together.

The second question is, what do you want to do with your money? What are your goals for those funds?

For example, you might want to:

• Provide for your children (and perhaps grandchildren) so that they will enjoy financial security as you do,
• Give your children productive opportunities―fund their college, and potential post-graduate education(s), set up your promising young entrepreneur(s) in business, or
• Otherwise, direct your legacy toward your goals for your family’s future.

But at your wealth level, you can do more. Perhaps you’d like to:

• Make one or more substantial gifts to charity part of your legacy,
• Create scholarships for promising students in a field of interest to you, or
• Buy an island to retire to.

Remember, it’s your choice! You hold the reins; you direct the destination. But it’s vital that you identify and define your goals.

Your Plan = the Path to Your Goal

Once you’ve identified your goals for your wealth, the next step is developing the plan which will best realize them all.

What strategies will best further each goal, and how do you harmonize those strategies?

Do you need to set up trusts? Or additional trusts? If so, will you need a:

• Generation Skipping Trust (GST),
• Charitable Remainder Trust (CRT)
• Spousal Lifetime Access Trust (SLAT)
• Donor Advised Fund (DAF)

These are just some examples of types of trusts which could be useful in furthering your goals; there are many different trusts which you may want to explore, together with your estate attorney and your fractional CFO or other trusted financial and tax advisor.

These experts can also tell you whether gifting assets during your lifetime, outside of any trusts you set up, would be an advisable strategy.

There are other considerations when planning your legacy and estate, of course; we will touch on some a little later.

But right now, let’s shine a light on one aspect of this overall strategy, which sometimes gets overlooked:

Enjoy Your Wealth!

Many successful entrepreneurs have amassed or grown their wealth via frugal living, and find it difficult to change that outlook and, those habits

But the plain fact is that your wealth belongs to you.

Of course, you want to protect your legacy, that’s as laudable as it is natural.

You are absolutely entitled to enjoy yourself!

Have you always wanted to:

• Travel? Then do it! Fly first class, stay at the best hotels, dine at Michelin-starred restaurants,
• Buy a boat you’ve dreamed of? Why not, if it’s possible and will make you happy?
• The same goes for that vintage car you’ve longed for since you were a kid. Or a racehorse.
• Curate a collection of your favorite wines? Or even buy a winery?
• Buy that island we mentioned earlier? Or a rose-covered cottage in a small town, for a peaceful retirement?

Once your plans for your legacy and estate are funded, don’t put off enjoying what you have built. You deserve it―and, if you’re married, so does your spouse.

We promised you a fourth tip, and here it is:

Don’t Do This On Your Own!

While you’re great at managing, when it comes to strategically planning your legacy and your own future, it pays off to consult an outside advisor. If you have a fractional CFO like one of  RFG’s, that can be a great place to start―we’ve been working with clients for decades to plan their legacies, estates, retirements, and strategize estates, retirements.

Consider us as you navigator―we are in familiar waters when it comes to financial planning in all its aspects.

You will certainly need the services of your estate and tax attorneys, but your fractional CFO or other trusted tax and financial advisor is still the place to start―we are experts in tax planning, which is integral to estate, legacy, retirement, and indeed, all financial planning.

And we know it all starts and ends with you. Your goals, your plans, and your dreams.

Not only do we know that, we love it – being all about you is what we are all about!

And nothing is more gratifying to us than seeing a client’s enjoyment of their wealth, secure in the knowledge that their legacy as secure as it can be made, your estate is in order, and potential tax consequences minimized.

Please click here to email us directly – Rigby Financial Group’s trusted, expert team are always at your service – that’s what we are here for!

Until next time –

Peace,

 Eric