Towne Wealth Management

Dan Babiy, Vice President, Towne Wealth Management
Financial Advisor, RJFS
252-381-7175

As part of an ongoing series in TowneToday, the professionals located at Towne Wealth Management are pleased to provide informative articles on a variety of wealth strategy topics. In this issue, Dan Babiy, Vice President, Towne Wealth Management and Financial Advisor, RJFS explains how your legacy can be valued by more than money.

Your Lasting Value

Create a legacy that conveys more than money. Intentional and strategic gifting can provide an opportunity for you to make meaningful connections with your heirs. This generational connection is a way for you to impart your passions, values, and interests with those closest to you. Talking to your heirs about your legacy plan ensures open communication pathways for you to share your beliefs and dreams for the future of your loved ones.  

Spark the conversation

Sharing your desires with your family in a reflective way can help prevent communication breakdowns while also conveying your passions, values, and interests. Your decision-making goals can be conveyed while you sit down at family gatherings. Reveal your philanthropic and personal choices in a way that relates to your life stories, celebrates your passions, and lets them know how each is important in your life. You have the ability to bestow your memory in so many creative ways. Consider also writing down your stories for generations to treasure. The time investment will be worth it to ensure your legacy is so much more than the tangible items you’ll leave behind. You have the power to leave people with warm memories and a glimpse into your life’s treasured moments. 

Inspire through philanthropy 

Making this conversation a family affair can offer an opportunity for you to connect with your children, grandchildren, and loved ones. With a shared purpose, your family can embrace your passion for leaving a charitable legacy and preserving assets for future generations. Consistently sharing your pastimes with your family can positively influence how they think about you, and your loved ones will come to appreciate your pursuits. Perhaps they will join you in volunteering at your favorite charity and embrace your passion in their own giving ways. Donor-advised funds and private foundations can be effective vehicles for this type of endeavor. Charitable remainder trusts (CRTs) can also help if you wish to give assets to charity to leave a smaller inheritance. 

Stimulate questions about trusts

Intentional and strategic gifting can help remove the guessing game of where your assets might end up, while allowing you to direct how and when your assets are distributed after you pass. For individuals with relatively young heirs, age provisions that spell out trust income to beneficiaries only when they’ve reached certain ages can be beneficial. A common threshold for distribution is reaching age 25 or 30. Trusts are another option that may allow you to transfer money tax-free to your children, grandchildren or great-grandchildren. 

Ignite a professional’s perspective

Your financial advisor can play a role in educating you and your family about inheritances and the important principles of wealth management. Conversations with tax and legal professionals can provide you with insight and guidance on how to best put together a legacy that helps you and others for years to come. Creating a lasting legacy is neither easy nor impossible – the difficulty lies in the details. It will take thoughtfulness, creativity, and organization. Finding the tools and resources that will benefit your family and situation can help make the difference that passes down your value in a way that celebrates your life.  

The Raymond James financial advisors at Towne Wealth Management, along with your tax and legal professionals, are the best sources for legacy planning and your future goals – information that’s personalized to your unique financial plan. Please contact any of our financial advisors with questions about how to gift assets in a way that will align with your legacy plan.

Insights & Perspectives