Turning Your Estate Plan into a Legacy Plan

A financial services executive in North Andover, Massachusetts, Lucas Noble leads Noble Financial Group, LLC, as its owner and CEO. As such, he provides comprehensive fee-based estate and financial planning services to businesses and individuals. Possessing upwards of a decade of financial services experience, Lucas “Luke” Noble of North Andover is familiar with estate planning and legacy planning.

A traditional estate plan can help you avoid estate taxes and protect your assets from creditors. These benefits, among others, may have enticed you to establish such a plan, which would include a last will and testament, revocable trust, living will, and healthcare proxy. However, having an estate plan isn’t always enough. In fact, 70 percent of high-net-worth families lose their wealth by the second generation. To prevent this, you may want to consider setting up a legacy plan.

Fortunately, establishing a legacy plan doesn’t mean that you wasted your time setting up an estate plan. Legacy planning is more ambitious and requires that you select a legacy team comprised of professionals with varying technical expertise -- such as attorneys, accountants, and wealth advisors- - to create a plan that suits your needs and family dynamics.

Beyond this, you must shift to a legacy mindset. Your estate plan serves as a blueprint for your success. You want to understand what you have already established and review your estate plan to determine the point from where you’re starting. You can then lay out your plan for how your assets will be handled after you pass.