Guest Post: Leave a Financial Legacy

Leave a Financial Legacy™

Guest Post by: Sherri Gray, Certified Personal Finance Counselor®

In a previous post, I talked about loving your family well by getting a will that includes a medical directive, purchasing adequate life insurance, becoming debt free, and saving for the future.

When I talk about financial legacy though, I’m not only talking about how you handle your money while you’re living but also about what you leave behind when you’re no longer here. 

We should all be leaving assets, property, and money to our heirs, or to those whom we would like to bless financially.

But financial legacy is not just about putting in place the necessary financial tools to love your family well now or just about leaving behind assets to your loved ones. It’s also about what you teach your children and those who look up to you as mentors, about money.

Financial legacy is making decisions about how you use your money so that you and your family are living in financial abundance which overflows into and impacts your community. Then your family and your community will look at your money choices, see the positive impact on your life and theirs, and want to do what you did.

There’s a line in the book ‘A Purpose Driven Life’ that says, and I’m paraphrasing, it’s not about you. That line has stuck with me ever since the first time I read the book about 5 years ago. Because for the longest time, I thought getting my finances in order was only about me.

Now, I always say that my money is not just about me.  It’s also about leaving a financial legacy to my family and giving back to my community. And when your family and community see the rewards of your work, they’ll want to do what you did and they’ll in turn pass on what they’ve learned from you to their families and those they love and so on.

Your family and those you love, especially your children, learn by what you do and not just by what you say. So, always tell them what’s possible financially, show them through what you do, and watch them follow in your footsteps. That’s true financial legacy.

Sherri Gray will conduct a FREE Financial Legacy™ Workshop at Grace Church (17889 Fraley Boulevard, Dumfries, VA 22026), this Saturday, July 21, 2012 from 9 am – 12 pm. Light refreshments will be served. No registration is required.

Find more ways to save money by going to The Money Mom website at www.themoneymom.org  or following The Money Mom Deals Blog at http://themoneymomdeals.blogspot.com/.