In the recent past I had the opportunity to attend multi-generational family meetings with financially successful families. Prior to ever attending a family meeting, I had discussed with the Legacy Capitals team what happens at the meetings; however, experiencing it for myself was eye-opening. To draw a parallel, it was like listening to someone talk about how much they enjoyed chocolate ice cream to tasting it for myself…and it was so much better to experience it!

At each meeting, there was the opportunity to learn about each family’s wealth creation journey, watch them engage in meaningful conversations about their values, family heritage, and philanthropy, and establish governance guidelines to help their family and financial assets flourish across the generations. Though each family meeting agenda was different than the other, I found that what was the same was a deep concern for their family’s well-being—seeing each family member flourish, in addition to their financial capital—and the peace they found in having a trusted partner like Legacy Capitals provide a safe and productive context to talk about topics usually kept in silence or eventually addressed through an estate plan after the fact.

I remember at one of the family meetings, the patriarch quoted Alexander Hamilton:

“Legacy. What is a legacy? It’s planting seeds in a garden you never get to see.”

This quote depicted the purpose of not only that particular family meeting, but each family meeting I have been a part of since. The legacy of these financially successful families is not only defined by their wealth, but by the values they instill in their children and the seeds they plant everyday, although they may never see them come to their full fruition—in other words, they have a multi-generational vision.

For the Financial Advisors who have earned the trust to preserve and grow their client-families’ money and do not yet offer family meetings, I encourage you to do so. Your client-families will be deeply appreciative, and you will experience a level of satisfaction that you will never know just by hearing about the value of them—like enjoying the experience of eating chocolate ice cream, not just hearing how delicious it tastes.