“Estate Planning” is very process bound. It involves anticipating and structuring the formal tasks and documents needed to leave an inheritance – again, the “leftovers” – to our desired beneficiaries, with as few legal, tax and/or bureaucratic complications as possible, and perhaps with various conditions or at least “hopeful” assurances that our beneficiaries will use that inheritance wisely and efficiently.

Estate Planning is activated at our death and fulfilled by our “executors” and/or “trustees”, and, unfortunately, we, the benefactors, never see the eventual results. It can involve wills, trusts, lawyers, accountants, trustees, executors, and other advisors. These are all very important potential players and considerations, but since I am not a lawyer, they are NOT the subject of this book.

Everyone leaves behind a legacy. It’s made up of everything that people remember about us, memories that can be intangible, tangible or both. For example, I fondly remember the time when Arnold Palmer, standing on a tee at a golf tournament I was attending, affectionately rolled his golf ball to my five-year old son who was standing close by. Much has been said and written about Arnie’s kindness and fan interaction, but to me this was a first-hand encounter with his legacy.

We hope the memories of us are loving and cherished, the result of much personal interaction with the likes of family members and long-time friends. Memories of us can stem from something as small, simple and intangible as a kind word we once said, or as large, significant and tangible as money we bequeath or a treasured heirloom we give as a gift. But they can just as easily be based on perceptions – good, bad, accurate or inaccurate - stemming from interactions or sources as diverse as business relationships, social media rumors or published news reports.   

 

Thus, our legacies consist of things we can control and things we can’t control. While we can certainly control some of the “intangible” aspects of our legacy, we typically don’t “plan” to do so. Instead, they usually just happen, and it is often that spontaneity that makes them all the more memorable. But most of the tangible aspects of our legacy we can and do control, and if we can plan for them properly, we can better assure they will happen the way we want, often regardless of other potentially intervening circumstances.

Consequently, “Legacy Planning” is a different and separate exercise, focused on the tangible side of our legacy. It’s not the “end of life” stuff that is the focus of estate planning. It can be more complicated than estate planning because it is ongoing and multi-faceted. It involves structuring all that we have today to accomplish all that we want and need during our retirement AND leave as much of a valuable inheritance to our beneficiaries as we want and are able. It is activated and fulfilled BEFORE our death, before and during our retirement, and is managed by us, the retirees.  

“Estate planning” and “legacy planning” may be separate considerations, but they are also inexorably linked. They don’t conflict, but rather are complementary. Estate planning produces some of the tools needed to pass on an inheritance most effectively, but legacy planning assures there will be an inheritance to pass on, and that it will be in the most desirable form to pass it on. So, they both must work together.