Earlier this month, we hosted another in our series of Inside the Tent events for clients and friends. This time the topic was personal: Net worth. Self worth. What values will you pass on?
How do we make sure our money doesn’t mess up our family?
How much financial support should we give our kids?
How do we create a sense of generosity and not entitlement?
Many of our clients are justifiably concerned for the future welfare of their children. Some are torn between letting children find their own way and accepting that it is, and will likely continue to be, tougher for our kids than we had it. Finding a job, affording to buy a home, uncertainty surrounding government services, caring for an aging demographic and responsibility for an enormous debt burden for which they did not incur, are steep hurdles we did not have to overcome.
One issue facing boomers today is adult children moving back into the family home, indefinitely. So what are some of the issues and practical steps to make sure this family reunion doesn’t turn out to be a like All in the Family (aka Archie Bunker and family)? [read more >>]
As an independent professional woman, I’ve always bristled at the suggestion that there is somehow a difference in how I approach the management of my assets simply because of my gender.
But having just come back from a Women Advisors’ Forum in the U.S. this week, I have to say there is a lot of research to suggest women do have different expectations than men – and these are not being very well met by the financial industry.
On vacation with my family last week in Los Angeles, we couldn’t help but get caught up in the Oscar mania that surrounded us. As we drove through the streets of Beverley Hills, and walked the famed Rodeo Drive, we were struck by the irony and the contrasts: California, the near bankrupt state, bloated with debt, yet opulence everywhere you turn. Every car seems new and everyone is in a hurry to get to where they can be seen wearing the latest fashions.
As a parent, it was refreshing to hear my 25 year-old daughter say, “this all seems so pretentious.” I couldn’t help but smile and feel relieved that ‘she gets it.’ See my blog – We’ve failed our kids, shame on us.
On our flight home, we all watched The Descendants; the George Clooney flick that garnered so much attention at the Oscars. Clooney plays the role of Matt King, a wealthy lawyer who is the sole trustee and one of many beneficiaries of a $100 million+ family property that is to be sold.
The parallel story line deals with Matt’s new found responsibility for his two daughters as a result of his wife’s comatose condition after an accident. Matt and his family have lived quite modestly and he shielded his daughters from their massive wealth.
My favourite line in the movie: Matt says, “I don’t want my daughters growing up entitled and spoiled. And I agree with my father: you give your children enough money to do something but not enough to do nothing.”
This is actually a paraphrase from one of the world’s wealthiest and best investors, Warren Buffett (maybe why the line resonated with me). When asked how much money he would bequeath to his children, Buffett replied, “I want to give my kids just enough so that they would feel that they could do anything, but not so much that they would feel like doing nothing.”
Regardless of source, this is a great summation of the balancing act parents face in providing for the needs and wants of their children. How ironic given the opulence in the city the movie was featured.
“Am I wealthy?”
It’s a question we are often asked by clients.
Given that many of them live modest lifestyles, a lot of them don’t feel wealthy.
A study by Fidelity Investments found that 42% of American millionaires do not feel wealthy. The investable asset level at which they said they would feel wealthy?: $7.5 million.
Ironically, of the 58% who said they do feel wealthy, $1.75 million of investable assets was the amount at which they reported feeling wealthy.
So who is ‘wealthy’ in Canada?
This month’s issue of Report on Business magazine published a summary of Canada’s highest income earners: The top 1% — 246,000 Canadians – earn a minimum of $169,300 per year; the average income for this group is just over $400,000.
The top 0.1% make an average of $1.49 million and a rarefied 0.01% of Canadians get by on $3.83 million a year.
Still, these people are what Thomas J. Stanley, author of the Millionaire Next Door would call ‘Income Statement Affluent’; income being an imperfect predictor of net worth.
According to Investor Economics, a research firm specializing in financial services, there are an estimated 562,000 households in Canada having more than $1 million in investable assets and 19,000 households with $10 million or more. According to Report on Business magazine, there are 24 billionaires in Canada.
Perhaps wealth, like age, is just a number; it’s more about how you feel.
Do you feel wealthy? How much would you need to feel wealthy? What would happen if you decided to feel wealthy even if your actual net worth doesn’t yet meet your definition of wealthy?
I recently had the experience of counselling a long-time client who, despite a very secure financial position, was overcome with anxiety about money. What became clear to both of us after a lengthy and at times emotional discussion was that her anxiety was not about money at all. Rather it was about her obligations to her children, as the sole beneficiary of her late husband’s estate.
It’s a scenario we see frequently: a surviving spouse, usually the wife (life expectancies between men and women being what they are) of a sole or principal income provider, with more than sufficient capital to sustain her lifestyle is anxious and unsettled. Through discussion, we come to understand that the uneasiness is related to guilt over spending money that is perceived to be earmarked for heirs.
Last week, our team met with Julie A. Morton, PHD, a certified mediator, family business coach and change management specialist for high net worth families. Julie is one of only a handful of individuals in North America holding a PHD in Communications with a sub-speciality in Creative Problem Resolution – which is to say she knows a lot about how families can function and communicate more effectively.
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