Creating Your Legacy Part 2

CREATE YOUR LEGACY PART 2

This is the second installment of a three part series on What is our legacy and how do we discover it.

PLANNING YOUR LEGACY

This is the process of creating a formal plan for your net worth through your estate. It’s important

to start with your values and

objectives. Ask yourself: “Do I want to perpetuate the values that I’ve held dear during my lifetime? How do I want to be remembered? What impact have I made, either with my family, other loved ones, friends, my business or philanthropically? Can I continue to make an impact through my estate plan?”

In planning your legacy for children, think about what your goals and objectives are for them.

Do you want them to enjoy their inheritance, and yet still be productive? Often times, parents pass assets to their children over time through a trust to assure professional asset management. Is there a family tradition you want to continue after you are gone? One donor wanted to create a trust to fund a cruise every year for her children and grandchildren, because she had done that annually for them for many years. One left a fund for a family reunion each year to ensure the entire family never lost touch. These were traditions they wanted to perpetuate.

Do you want your estate to impact not only your children’s lives, but also social causes that

are important to you? A gift through your estate plan is one of the most affordable (when you don’t need the money and you can’t take it with you!) anyone can make. Many individuals will leave a gift of approximately twenty times an annual gift to permanently endow that gift. A bequest of $20,000, at an annual distribution rate of 5%, could permanently fund an annual gift of $1,000 after your lifetime. Your gift can “live forever” and create a lasting legacy.

To get a copy of part one of this series, please contact Gloria Hurwitz, Vice President of Advancement at ghurwitz@uchinc.org or 740.751.8702. In the next edition of Spirit Magazine, we will conclude this series with a discussion on how to implement your legacy.

Gloria Hurwitz

United Church Homes is making available to its friends and stakeholders a complimentary valuesbased estate planning process designed to help individuals and couples think through their legacy to create a comprehensive estate plan.

For more information, contact Gloria Hurwitz, Vice President of Advancement , at ghurwitz@uchinc.org or 740.751.8702.