Garrett visits with guests at the aPhilanthropya dinner hosted by The Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country last week. Garrett is an estate planning consultant who shared advice on keeping wealth and families together.
Garrett is the president of The Abilene Christian University Foundation and The Garrett Group, a consulting company to non-profits.
Garrett said he has helped families move wealth from one generation to another and has seen, first hand, negative experiences by heirs who were not prepared for the gifts bequeathed to them. Garrett said that watching these people struggle with inherited wealth made him realize that education was necessary to prepare future generations for eventual inheritance.
Traditional estate planning has failed to keep families together for three or more generations, Garrett said.
aAt some point, however, we have to ask our selves if we are preparing our kids for the money or the money for the kids,a Garrett said.
As an example, Garrett said, parents want to take the path their children travel and take out all the dangerous curves and potholes along the way.
Then he asked guests to write down what they thought families who are successful in passing down wealth and unity for multiple generations do differently.
aDoes that mean we talk about he family business all the time?a Garrett asked.
Garrett referred to the aWhite Paper,a which are available at The Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country that detail the 12 things that families do that are successful for generations.
Families that are successful share several common traits together, Garrett said, which include sharing a culture of communication and trust.
Successful families also have a shared vision, Garrett said.
aDoes your family know what is important to you?a Garrett asked.
Another shared trait of successful families, Garrett said, is they have a balanced view of wealth, which includes philanthropy.
As a consultant and an author, Garrett said he has devoted the past 42 years helping prepare children for wealth. Generally, the six types of funds that The Community Foundation uses are: Unrestricted Funds, Donor Advised Funds, Field of Interest Funds, Designated Funds, Agency Endowment Funds, and Scholarship Funds.
