Create Your Legacy Part 1

In this three-part series, we will discover legacy: what it is, how to create it and how to implement it. Follow the entire series in future Spirit magazines.

It is astounding how many people have never arranged a will, denying in death what they affirmed in life. In life most Americans give to support their families, church, communities and even global initiatives. Yet they fail to arrange any gifts for their charitable causes they support and even fail to plan for their families in a meaningful way. This has resulted in over $49 billion dollars, largely funded by unclaimed assets in individual’s estates, sitting in state’s unclaimed fund accounts today. These dollars will eventually, if not claimed, be transferred to the states permanently. Now if just 56 percent (the percentage of American’s who give to charity annually) was instead purposefully directed, that would save $27.4 billion from the government. If these individuals had just given 10 percent to charity, that would have provided over $2.7 billion to our nation’s charities.

We all have been blessed in different ways, whether through time, talents or resources. It is how we use these gifts that define us and define our legacy. For Jack and Barb it was their “lifelong practice to give, save, spend.” You can learn a lot about a person by their words, but to quote Abraham Lincoln “Actions speak louder than words.” For them they really lived out their faith and putting God’s WILL in their Will.

WHAT IS YOUR LEGACY?

This may seem to be a simple enough question, but to anyone who has contemplated the totality of his or her life and lifetime, the response can be daunting. Legacy is a word filled with a depth of meaning. Webster’s definition is “something that is handed down or remains from a previous generation or time” and

“money or property that is left to someone in a will.”

One way our parents and grandparents created legacies was by simply practicing the values and traditions that their ancestors practiced for generations. In some instances, they also left financial legacies to their families and charities. So, legacies are created by living by a certain set of values, raising our families a certain way, practicing our faith or religious rituals or traditions and more tangibly through estate planning with bequests to loved ones and charities.

DISCOVERING YOUR LEGACY

Discovering your legacy is a process of learning and understanding the fullness and richness of your passion. This usually starts with “big picture” ideas and feelings about the legacies you want to leave. As you start to craft the details of your dreams and the resources to be used to implement those wishes, legal complexities can arise, and logistical obstacles and challenges may emerge. Navigating these details allows you to adjust as you continue the journey to “discovering your legacy.” Likely, this discovery leads you to realize your love and desire for persons you care about, their lives and relationships and the causes and potential solutions to larger social issues including the laws of the land that set the boundaries for your planning process.

Legacy planning is an important process that allows families to pass their values along with their valuables onto those they care deeply about

To learn more about discovering your legacy and how you can support those you care about, regardless the size of your estate, contact Gloria Hurwitz, Vice President of Advancement at 740.751.8702 or ghurwitz@uchinc.org. United Church Homes offers its friends a complimentary and confidential, values-based planning service provided by Thompson & Associates.