In our last email about the Family Legacy Planning work we’re doing at The Blum Firm, we pointed out the sobering statistic that 90% of families fail. The main two causes of failure are (1) lack of communication and trust, and (2) unprepared heirs. Only 10% manage to escape the adage “shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations.” By looking to the successful 10%, what steps can we take to improve the odds our family will be in the 10% column?
After much research, we have determined that the first and foremost contributor to success is to hold regular family meetings. Families need to be intentional about meeting in order to build a healthy connection with each other. Those are the families that build communication and trust. Those meetings also provide a setting to prepare heirs to become responsible inheritors.
I have been preaching this gospel for years, going back to a workshop I co-facilitated years ago in New York. The New York Times covered my work in an article “Looking for Ways to Keep Money From Dividing a Family.” (Link here.) Allow me to share a heartwarming story about that article that just came to my attention.
A prominent executive in Memphis, Tennessee recently died, and a group was going through his possessions. One of them came across that article, now more than six years old, which he had saved among his important papers. On it, he’d written the notation “Family Mtg,” double underlined with a star. It turns out the article inspired him to hold a family meeting. I didn’t know the gentleman, but one of his team members tracked me down to tell me I’d made a difference in the lives of this family. Learning that I made an impact on people I never met inspires me to keep preaching the gospel of conducting regular family meetings. It’s why Family Legacy Planning is an important part of the holistic estate planning we do at The Blum Firm.
We recognize that the hardest step is to plan the first family meeting. In the next email, we’ll focus on some tips to help you plan that first meeting, but here’s the first one: Don’t go it alone. Engage a trusted team of advisors to facilitate the meeting. The Blum Firm would be honored to help guide you through the family legacy process.
Marvin E. Blum
A copy of The New York Times article “Looking for Ways to Keep Money From Dividing a Family,” found among a deceased executive’s important papers with “Family Mtg” written on it, double underlined and with a star.