Volume 6.2 — June 2015

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Legacy on Purpose ... a Winning Estate PlanBy Jeanne McMains Vice President National Christian Foundation Serving Focus on the Family

W ith basketball coming to an

end and football around the corner, we see over and over that it takes a great defense and offense to win the big games.

However, somewhere along the way, the estate-planning world has forgotten that. Is it possible that we’ve become so focused on our defense strategy, defending from taxes, creditors and other predators, that we have forgotten the winning goal is really to provide godly influence on the generations to come?

Our heads spin with the myriad of trusts, family partnerships and other complex tax-planning strategies, when the most important questions are:

• To what end are we stewarding our resources?

• What impact will this have on those we love?

• How do we see God working in their lives, and how will the inheritance further (or hinder) that journey?

These critical questions help shape a purposeful legacy. We may have the best tax-planning defense that professional advisors offer. However, it’s time to build our legacy offense to ensure the inheritance we leave behind will be a blessing.

One creative idea to consider for your legacy playbook is a life-shaping experience trust. This type of trust sets aside funds for impactful family adventures. Most of what we learn happens in the context of an experience. This trust can provide

positive, life-shaping moments that will give your family the opportunity to grow in spirit, character, skill and wisdom.

Whether you care about marriage enrichment, youth discipleship, missions work, or even travel to the ancestral homeland, you can create a lasting legacy of meaningful experiences. Don’t just fund lifestyle; fund life impact!

It takes a great defense and offense to win the big games. If you’d like to discuss how to put inheritance impact back into your legacy design playbook, contact our FamilyWise team at FocusGiftPlanning@fotf.org or 1-800-782-8227. I look forward to talking with you about the possibilities!

What’s InsideWill We Live a Legacy or Leave a Legacy?Living our stewardship today

The Impact of Our Lives How one family decided to help families thrive

Instilling Values in Older Children Asking ourselves the right questions

Increasing the Effectiveness of Leaving an Inheritance Optimizing our choices

Will We Live a Legacy or Leave a Legacy?By Royce Bervig Senior Gift Planning Officer Focus on the Family

As I meet with families across

the country, parents share their intense desire to invest wisely in the next generation. And as Christians, we want to know that we have been a faithful steward, using all that God

has entrusted us with to His glory. However, life throws curve balls and many times our best intentions don’t match up with reality.

In my own family, God is adjusting my focus to living a legacy rather than leaving a legacy. Living a legacy means I’m living today in light of eternity and I’m using my values as a filter for decision-making. I’m asking

more questions and listening more for God’s whispers. I invite you to journey with us in this edition, where we’ve brought together leaders with experience in living a legacy so that together, we might glean an idea or two!

The Impact of Our Lives Adapted from a Focus on the Family donor family story.

When it came to the important decision about what to do with our family resources when my

husband and I passed away, the answer came to us by reflecting on our past and dreaming forward. Our rich heritage and family values had shaped who we’d become as contributing members of society. We wanted our estate plan to include this concept. Together, we envisioned a future generation, left better by the contribution of our lives and our financial resources; left with thoughtful intentionality.

Reflecting back: Wayne and I were first-generation Americans. Our grandparents, with young children in tow, emigrated from Sweden to America in the late 1800s. The ringing bells of freedom drew our parents to the Midwest. Life was built on the foundation of faith, family and community. As soon as we were able, we each worked, contributing to the family economics.

Gratitude was part of our daily life. We served in the community and were joyful to be part of something greater than ourselves.

We married young and moved further west. I got involved in our local church. As Wayne came back from military service, we’d hoped to have children. It wasn’t to be,

so we plowed our love of family into investing in the young people at our church. We weren’t much older than they were, but we certainly had fun giving what we had.

Dreaming forward: Wayne and I built our lives around our values of faith, integrity, community service and family. Although our careers varied over the years, we had always worked hard and invested in others by giving our time and money. Our desire to invest the remaining financial resources wisely to benefit the generations to come propelled us to make a thoughtful choice.

Although we didn’t have children of our own, we dream of enabling parents to build a solid foundation for their families. For this reason, we decided to give a portion of our estate to Focus on the Family. We will forever have a soft spot in our heart for our church where we first served and so we allocated a portion of our estate there. Discipleship played such a key role in our lives, so we decided to give to a faith-based radio program so that they can continue to spread the message.

Our final gifts reflect our life story. Dreaming forward, our hearts want to invest in what made our lives worth living ... our family, our faith and our community. May God be honored as we return His gifts to His service.

Instilling Values in Older ChildrenBy Jackson DunnDirector, Marriage Focus on the Family

Have you ever thought about the values and qualities you want to

see most in your children? The reality for most of us is that as we raise our kids, we often are forced to simply deal with the tyranny of the urgent and many times just surviving. As a result, there is often little time left to identify and cultivate the core values most important to us as the shepherds of our children.

Hard work, generosity, sacrifice and loyalty were very core to my family as well as the “old fashioned” values of the small town in Arkansas I was raised in. Whether it was hauling hay, giving our time and limited financial resources to those in need, fixing an elderly woman’s roof or gathering every Sunday around my grandma’s table for lunch, it was pretty clear to me how I was to work, act and care for others. Those qualities have shaped who I am as a man, husband and father today. I’m eager to pass this along to my two sons.

As overwhelming as this might seem, there are some key things we can do to play our role in instilling these important values. Consider these conversation starters as a couple to turn the corner toward greater intentionality:

• What are the values, qualities and characteristics that your children display as a direct result of your influence?

• How are we “walking the talk” and not just talking about what should be important to our children?

• How can we guide our children to spend a day working hard and feeling that incredible sense of accomplishment and fulfillment that only hard work can bring?

• Have our children noticed people in need and been a direct part of meeting that need?

Be encouraged as it’s never too late to begin building your core values into your children. Be intentional, creative and upfront about the “why” behind “what” you’re doing. Our children are a big part of our legacy, and we have an exciting opportunity!

Increasing the Effectiveness of Leaving an InheritanceBy Terry Parker Founder and Chairman Emeritus National Christian Foundation

Why “roll the dice” in leaving an inheritance? Think creatively and

be more effective. Here are some ideas to guide how you give to your children or grandchildren:

Limit What Is Given:Provide for your heirs’ health, welfare and support in a way that will not be so much as to discourage them from having gainful employment, but will be enough to help them handle the dire emergencies.

Use a Spendthrift Trust where your children or grandchildren do not have an absolute right to the

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Volume 6.2 — June 2015

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A true legacy is much more than leaving your money behind! The No. 1 shared priority among elder generations and their baby boomer children is values and life lessons. 77% of the boomer generation said the most important thing they want to receive from their parents is wisdom, values and life lessons! This ranked much higher than instructions and wishes to be fulfilled, personal possessions and financial assets. (Source: Allianz Life American Legacies Study.)

CONTACT US

1-800-782-8227 FocusGiftPlanning@fotf.org FocusGiftPlanning.com

money, and it can be withheld if they turn out to be “spendthrifts.” This type of trust will also protect their money from creditors and divorce.

Provide for special needs children and/or grandchildren in a way that the money will absolutely go for the purposes intended. Choose trustees carefully. Create accountability by having two individuals serving as trustees.

Set up a committee to help apply the trust standards and guide what is distributed (friends, pastors, church leaders, etc.).

Encouraging Behaviors: Require six months of service abroad on a mission by the time your grandchild is 23 years of age in order for them to receive a distribution. If they do not go on the trip, they do not get the money; it will instead go to charity. If they are married with children and cannot spend six months abroad, require three (or more) two-week mission trips for their vacations in order to receive the money.

If you are paying for your grandchildren’s education, pay the cost if the grandchild attends a Christian college. If the grandchild attends a secular college, require that they present a plan to the committee as to how that grandchild will be a witness for Jesus Christ on campus. Each quarter an update must be given to the committee in order to continue receiving the benefits.

Require that the grandchild serve on evangelical mission trips during vacations (with an approved team) to receive a distribution from the trust. Distribute to the grandchild three times what he or she could have made on a summer job if they spend their summer with a mission organization in an underdeveloped country.

Buy the grandchild a car if he or she works at a church with a youth director, or mentors the child of a single mom, or cares for the yard of an elderly person at church.

Make It a Match:Match your child or grandchild’s down payment on a house $9.00 to $1.00.

If your child or grandchild saves to buy their car and doesn’t finance it, match their savings $3.00 to $1.00.

Pay one-half of a child or grandchild’s support if an approved ministry employs them, so they only have to raise the other half.

Require your grandchild to go through a financial course like Compass Ministries or Crown Financial to receive a distribution. Then, require them to teach the course in order to receive another distribution.

Encourage GenerosityGive your grandchild money every year to give away. For instance, if God has put on your heart to provide a Christian camp experience to inner-city kids, let your grandchildren choose the kids and choose the Christian camp.

There are many more ideas that can be implemented with little effort. I would challenge you to get together with Christian friends and brainstorm on this subject. Many of the items listed above may be too detailed or cumbersome for your temperament, but remember, these are only ideas. They are actually meant to cause you to think more about simply “dumping” a lot of money on a child or grandchild who may, or may not, use the money in a way that furthers their well-being and walk with God.

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© 2015 Focus on the FamilyFocusOnTheFamily.com

Volume 6.2 — June 2015