We’re finally here at the end of this series. If you haven’t read the other levels of the Wealth Foundation, I highly encourage you to do so by clicking on the ‘Wealth’ category to the right. This 7th and final foundation is Leaving Your Legacy. Most people define this as the impact they want to leave on the world after they die and this is a great perspective to have. Another twist to leaving a legacy comes from the fact that legacy is from French based on leaving money to your heirs. So in the context of your wealth foundation, setting a goal (the bigger the better) of what you want to leave behind to your heirs, favorite charity, favorite pet, etc. is the final step in our process.
The reason I say the goal should be as big as possible is simply due to our ability to achieve that which we set the mark at. It’s been proven over and over throughout history that human achievement is only limited to the constraints our mind puts on ourselves. The 4 minute mile is a perfect example of this in that once Roger Bannister beat that mark in 1954, scores of runners did it, too, within the year since they now believed it was possible. By setting a big goal of what legacy you want to leave, even if you do not achieve it, but come close, you’ve accomplished something significant still.
My whole goal of having this step is to get you to think about and at least verbalize what it is you want to accomplish with your wealth. The problem is most people never think about this and end up wherever the wind takes them through life because they have no vision. It’s like the following quote from Alice in Wonderland:
Alice: I was just wondering if you could help me find my way.
Cheshire Cat: Well that depends on where you want to get to.
Alice: Oh, it really doesn’t matter, as long as…
Cheshire Cat: Then it really doesn’t matter which way you go.
To help you with a few ideas of what big looks like to the average person, what if you could leave your family enough assets to fund your children’s 7 Foundations, pay for your grand children’s college, first home and 2 years worth of living expenses to fund their Storehouse and finally leave enough to fund a local charity for a full year. These are just the tip of the iceberg in my mind and hopefully get you thinking about what’s important to you to leave behind and set some simple goals to achieve it.
