Wealth adviser Madaline Creehan says when it comes to estate and legacy planning, it’s not really about money at all. “A legacy,” she notes, “has to do with the values and impressions we leave for our loved ones. It’s about preserving loving relationships.” Creehan, who has been with Buckingham for the past 10 years, says she has seen too many families torn apart by poor estate planning that fails to articulate a person’s values and intentions. People may think they have prepared because they have an official plan, but for it to be really effective and to keep the family together, everyone needs to understand their feelings, the message they want to leave behind,” she says. “It doesn’t matter whether you have 10 dollars or a billion.”
To make this process easier, Buckingham advisers guide their clients through a five-step Wealth Transfer Experience that begins with articulating perspectives. “It’s a mistake to be squeamish about these kinds of conversations because this is where you can have an influence on the next generation and generations to come,” Creehan says. Buckingham provides multi-generational planning so that families remain on the same page in terms of their collective financial futures.
The next step is ‘lifetime planning,’ which involves decisions about things like long-term care. “The longer we live, the more likely we’ll need support. Often, in the absence of incapacity planning, one sibling ends up with most of the burden, and this can cause great resentment,” Creehan explains. Advisers also help clients think about ways to give while still alive—to a meaningful cause, to a child who needs help. “What are ways for us to feel the rewards of giving now?” Creehan asks.
The ‘legacy planning’ stage focuses on the transfer of assets after death. Are funds equally distributed and if not, does everyone understand why? For instance, it might ruffle less feathers to allocate a greater sum to a disabled child, but more feathers if a child simply wasn’t perceived as ‘doing as well.’ Tangible things also are important to think about. “They cause more problems than anyone can ever imagine,” Creehan says. “A precious possession isn’t that precious if it breaks a family apart.” Repeated conversations about everyone’s wants can help avoid squabbles when the time comes to divide up jewelry, artwork and other valuables.
The fourth step—‘communication planning’—concerns just that. Write letters and have family conferences. Remind children the most important thing is for them to maintain loving relationships with each other. “This is right-brain, behavioral stuff,” Creehan says. “Money never has to come into it.”
Creehan notes that in the case of an only child, there are still important considerations. “When a single child is more likely to be the only caretaker, incapacity planning becomes especially important,” she notes. Buckingham also helps clients see that in this case there may be more opportunities either for philanthropic giving, or proffering one’s benefaction to extended family. “One of our goals,” says Creehan, “is helping people understand they are more financially secure—and therefore able to give— than they think. And giving makes life rich,” she says.
The last phase of the Wealth Transfer Experience is ‘action planning,’ setting the stage for collaboration with a client’s extended advisory team—estate attorney, accountant, etc.—to ensure that all plans and documents support the client’s wishes. “By this time, we have helped people understand their family dynamics, sharpened their ideas and shown them that legacy is about so much more than money,” Creehan says.
Pictured: Wealth adviser Madaline Creehan
Photo: Tim Parker Photography
Buckingham Asset Management provides comprehensive wealth management services and multi-generational planning to families, individuals, businesses and nonprofits. Pictured on the cover, from left: Wealth advisers Jim Cornfeld, Madaline Creehan, Wendy Hartman and John Corn. For more information, call 314.725.0455 or visit buckinghamadvisor.com.
