How do middle-age and older adults currently define “leaving a legacy”? This was the central question of a recent study that examined the attitudes, hopes, and concerns of baby boomers and their elders (Allianz American Legacies Pulse Survey, 2012).
A key finding was that these two generations view legacies as being much more than wealth. In fact, the transfer of wealth is now seen as just one of four components that comprise a successful legacy plan:
- Values and life lessons
- Instructions and wishes to be fulfilled
- Personal possessions of emotional value
- Financial assets and real estate
Indeed, a majority of the respondents in the American Legacies survey indicated that they were uncomfortable discussing the one-dimensional topic of inheritance, but embraced the idea of leaving a legacy because it captures all facets of an individual’s life including family history, life stories, values, and wishes. And, while a majority of both boomers and elders view personal items as being important to keeping family history alive, there is a mutual understanding that legacy encompasses much more than material possessions.
Therefore, as you think about your own legacy, it is far more important to pay attention to how you will be remembered than the size of the inheritance that you leave or the significance of personal items you bequeath. Instead, your legacy will be mostly defined by the level of clarity you acquire regarding your true values, and how well your life reflects those values on a daily basis.
Susan Turnbull, an expert on defining and creating a legacy, wrote the following:
Personal values lie at the core of what is important to you, even if it’s hard to define or articulate those values. They are born of defining influences and experiences – and demonstrated every day in the way you live your life.
In particular, you communicate what is important to you in the ways you choose to spend both your time and your money. In Life Matters, authors Roger and Rebecca Merrill emphasize that both are important resources and both are languages of value, “They are highly interrelated, and the way we spend both communicates what’s important in our lives.”
Time–
There is no doubt that time is one of the most precious limited resources we have. However, when there is incongruence between what we value most and the way we spend our time, the result is inner conflict and a lingering sense of dissatisfaction.
In your own life, you will discover that the clearer your values become, the easier it is to make decisions about how to spend your time. In other words, when you have clarified what is most important to you, then you can drop additional demands that don’t fit that criterion. The truth is that saying “no” more often will allow you to say “yes” to what is most meaningful and satisfying to you.
In Mastering the Art of Self-Renewal, Frederic Hudson wrote:
When you have a dream and a plan working together in the construction of a life chapter, you have a ‘mission,’ a circumscribed purpose that defines your use of time and space for the duration of this particular life chapter. People with a mission know where they want to go.
As you set life goals based on your values, you too will create a sense of mission. Along with a well-defined mission comes enthusiasm for what you want to accomplish and commitment to the tasks that lie ahead. In addition, as you continually make room in your life for what is most important to you, you will strengthen your legacy of values.
Money–
The first step to defining your life goals is to clarify what is most important to you. This is a time to listen to your own heart and to focus on what you value most in life. Whatever you identify will become the foundation for making important life decisions. The next step is to think about the role that money can play in helping you to achieve each life goal:
- Will sufficient financial resources give you more options for realizing your goals?
- Will economic security give you more freedom to focus your time and attention on what is most important to you?
- Will financial well-being allow you to pursue activities that give your life a sense of meaning and purpose?
Answering these questions will help you to understand how your money is integrated into all areas of your life, not as an end in itself, but rather as an instrument for creating the life you want and the legacy you want to leave.
