Intergenerational wealth comes up more often now. The people I sit with in their sixties want a comfortable retirement, and they want what they built to last beyond them.
There is a proverb I come back to: “A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children’s children.” I read it two ways: an inheritance of money, and an inheritance of knowledge. The first rarely lasts long without the second.
Intergenerational wealth: money and knowledge
I have watched money arrive without the comprehension to hold it: a family home sold, a portfolio split three ways, and within a few years little left. The children were not foolish; nobody had taught them.
What mentoring looks like near or in retirement
It starts with a conversation, and that conversation costs nothing. I want to know what you hold, what income you need, and what you hope for your family. I also want to know whether I can add value. If I can’t, I’ll say so.
If I can, I put a proposal together, with a written quote, before any work starts. From there:
- Your position, modelled. What you hold today, carried forward, with every alternative beside it: holding, selling down, rearranging, downsizing. Position and Pathways is usually where it begins.
- Goals, not a template. Income you can rely on, the home you want to stay in, and what you want to leave.
- The family in the picture. Where you want it, I model positions around what you hope to pass on. Your solicitor writes the will and your accountant confirms the tax; I don’t plan estates.
- Someone to talk to first. When a headline unsettles you, or someone suggests a sale, we sit down and look at it together before anything moves.
Mentoring for your children
Some parents arrange mentoring for their adult children. They want them cognisant of property, loans and tax before anything is handed on, not after. I teach them the way I teach anyone: with their own numbers, at their own pace.
Who this does not suit
Someone already retired, or about to, with no assets to work with. I can’t change that position, and I won’t charge you to tell you so.
If you want what you built to serve you and the people after you, the first conversation costs nothing.
Nicholas Lockhart
Leaving property to your children →
A second look at a retirement plan that seems to be working →
General information only, drawn from Nicholas’s experience in real estate since 1997. It is education, not personal or financial advice.
Proverb: Proverbs 13:22, King James Version.