Leaving Your Child More Than Money

Paul Sullivan, a New York Times personal finance author, recently wrote about what he wants to pass on to his daughter. He and his wife recently renewed their estate plans, tying in their financial adviser and insurance broker. While it cost them a bit of money and time to get everything in place, Paul thinks that putting their estate plan together was the easy part.

While money is a great thing to receive, fortunes can disappear faster than they can be made, as demonstrated by the Lehman Brothers or Enron. What’s more important is to give your child the ability to live independently with a nuanced view of the world.

Paul wants to impart to his daughter that she is fortunate to have many opportunities that other children do not have, and that she should desire a career that she is passionate about. Paul’s wife wants her daughter to inherit a healthy view of success.

See Paul Sullivan, A Child’s Legacy is More than Money, N.Y. Times, Nov. 4, 2010.

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (WealthCounsel) for bringing this to my attention.