Written by: Dennis Stack
For decades, Wealth Managers, Estate Planners, and Succession Planners have tried to solve a troubling reality:
Most generational wealth transfers fail by the third generation.
Not because of poor investments. Not because of inadequate legal planning.
They fail because the values, vision, and work ethic that created the wealth were never successfully passed on.
“Succession Planning cannot succeed if the family fails.”
Most advisors work diligently to help families preserve and transfer financial assets. Yet far fewer address the preservation of the family narrative itself:
Who we are. Where we came from. What we stand for.
In generations past, these lessons were naturally passed down through close family interaction. Children learned through stories, observation, and time spent with parents, grandparents, and extended family.
Today, much of that continuity has disappeared.
Families are more geographically dispersed. Multiple generations spend less time together. Social media, entertainment, peer influence, and modern culture increasingly shape identity and self-worth.
As a result, many families lose not only continuity—but connection.
In 2001, Emory University psychologists Robyn Fivush and Marshall Duke created a 20-question “Do You Know?” study examining how families pass history from one generation to the next.
Children who knew more about their family history demonstrated:
- higher self-esteem
- stronger emotional resilience
- greater self-confidence
- fewer behavioral problems
But perhaps the most important discovery was this:
The process of telling the stories mattered as much as the stories themselves.
Stories bind generations together.
It is unrealistic to expect future generations to embrace and preserve family values, traditions, and beliefs if they were never taught what those values were.
This is where Family Legacy Planning becomes essential.
The goal of Legacy Planning is to help families discover, define, preserve, and share their Family Narrative—shifting perspective from “me” to “we.”
Done properly, Legacy Planning not only strengthens families, it can also differentiate advisors in meaningful ways.
Legacy Planners of America (LPofA) was created to help establish Family Legacy Planning as a professional discipline alongside Financial Planning and Estate Planning.
Members who complete the training earn the designation of Chartered Legacy Planner (ChLP) and gain access to practical frameworks, content, and family-friendly DIY legacy planning tools.
Because financial plans don’t transfer relationships…
Connection does.
Related: Contractor License Bonds: Financial Responsibilities and Requirements