What’s Your Purpose in Retirement?
Retirement can be an exciting milestone. It’s also a major lifestyle change. Oftentimes, your daily workday tasks (professionally or if you run your own business) will likely no longer exist. Transitioning into retirement for some is an easy process. Perhaps their profession is not their absolute passion, and they always had other pursuits and hobbies they are ready to explore once exiting from their day job. But for others, their profession or business is their passion. They put all their…
Utilizing a NING Trust as Part of a Business Exit Strategy
The commonly stated goals of exit planning for a business owner is to exit their business on their terms, for the highest possible value (Or their desired value), in the most tax efficient manner. It takes time to implement the process to accommodate those objectives. When a business owner rushes to sell their business, many things can be overlooked including how to set up the exiting transaction in a way that minimizes taxation.
Preparing for an Unexpected Fatal Illness
Alright, I could think of many other topics to discuss with you that are more positive than this one, but this subject is an important one. We all may face a serious illness at one point or another in our life, and certainly our life will end eventually.
Handling Sudden Wealth: A Guide to Protecting, Managing and Utilizing Sudden Wealth
If you are a person that has just had the experience of a “sudden wealth” event, congratulations and be careful. The experience of sudden wealth, whether it is a sizable inheritance, a legal settlement, a business-related windfall, or a lottery win, is a life changer. It can be a blessing or a curse depending on how well you prepare yourself emotionally and financially. Sudden wealth requires careful consideration and planning.
Family Legacy Development: The Anatomy and Importance of Family Meetings
The expected wealth transfer from the baby boomer generation to the millennial generation is expected to be massive. According to a 2019 article from the “Business Insider”, the Great Wealth Transfer will see an estimated $68 trillion passed down from boomers over the next 30 years.
Begin the Journey of Developing a Family Legacy with a Family Retreat
In my previous article, “Preserving Family Wealth is a Generational Effort,” I mentioned that “Wealth equals capital, which equals potential (Wealth = Capital = Potential).” In other words, a healthier way to view family wealth, is to view it as capital that can be applied in a way that maximizes the well-being, purpose, love, productivity, family unity, and the positive impact the family can have on the community and causes that are near and dear to them. These attributes are capitalized on when a Family Legacy focuses on the three forms of family wealth (or capital), which are financial capital, human capital, and intellectual capital.
Preserving Family Wealth is a Generational Effort
Wealth within a family can be a double edged sword. It can serve as an incredible resource to benefit its family members, but it can also be destructive and divisive. Destructive in the sense that if not properly tended to and respected, wealth can destroy the purpose and outcomes of individual family members, and divisive in the sense that it can damage the bond between family members and cause a splintering of the family.
Asking Powerful Questions
Asking questions is a powerful way to lead yourself to deep understanding. Asking questions helps lead to personal breakthroughs. Asking questions is an important tool for effective listening, learning, understanding, gaining clarity and a useful tool to help develop a personal vision for yourself.
Creating an “Ethical Will” As Part of Your Family Legacy Development
Many affluent individuals and families are becoming more and more familiar with the concept of passing on wishes and instructions to loved ones in the form of a written document or a video recording. Several years ago, a movie titled “The Ultimate Gift,” was based on this concept, where James Garner was the character who had passed away, communicated his instructions and requirements on a video tape to the youngest family heir. It was a very effective tool in the…

Steven E. Zeller
Steven Zeller is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional, Accredited Investment Fiduciary®, Certified Exit Planner, practicing Wealth Advisor, and serves clients nationwide. He has over 24 years of experience within his profession. READ MORE
What Steve Writes About

I write about the latest thoughts and topics that impact high net worth families, individuals, and business owners. The building and sustainability of family wealth and a business is an exciting journey, and I have a passion to help them along the way to grow and thrive.
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