There have been some words floating around the Mancino Utz Group corner of the office as we wind down the summer and head into the fall this year. They’re hard words. They’re deep words. They come with layers. As an example, we were talking about gratitude the other day. We recently had a few nights spent with clients enjoying conversation and company along with some food and wine and we left those two nights of client appreciation with full hearts. We were trying to show, in a tangible and meaningful way, how much we appreciate working with our clients. Kate came to the office after the second event and said, ‘You need to write about gratitude for the blog’. Well, thank you very much for the hard work, Kate Lust!
It’s not difficult with respect to how we feel after spending time with clients that trust us to manage what seems to have grown into more than just their money. Sure, they trust us with their money but most of them also trust us with relationships that are closest to them, they trust us to take care of their spouse if they’re not around, and they trust us with their hopes and dreams of what the future will hold. It’s not hard to feel gratitude when people are that open with you. It’s hard to express it. It’s hard to put into concrete terms the feelings and emotions and the depth of feelings that we have towards these humans and what it conjures up in us as we walk alongside folks while they live, and work, and dream, and succeed.
Legacy is another of those words that I’m reminded of this week as my grandfather turns 95 years old. It’s a word that comes up now and again in meetings. I wish it came up more. I want it to come up more. We work with folks that probably, whether they intend to or not, will leave at the very minimum a financial legacy. If we’re being honest though, we’ll all end up leaving some sort of legacy to those around us, be it financial or otherwise. Hopefully it’s legacy on multiple fronts. What is that word? What does it summon up in your soul? Have you spent any time thinking about it? What do you want yours to be?
I don’t know where I heard it first, but I’ve never forgotten that it’s important to pass along your values before you pass on your valuables. That’s legacy. You see the name ‘Porter’ on the back of a jersey in the Pittsburgh Steelers secondary this fall, and you’re reminded of another one with that name that played a little closer to the line of scrimmage. That’s legacy. You know exactly what you’ll do on the last Thursday in November and the 25th of December and who you’ll spend time with on December 31st. That’s legacy.
We spend a lot of time with clients on allocations and contributions and cash flow planning. We spend time talking about taxation. We spend time on insurance protections and legal documents. Those things play, at least a part, into that legacy.
That 95-year-old grandfather I mentioned has built quite a legacy. He’s spoken on the merits of life insurance in all 50 states in his career. He’s given speeches in parts of Europe, Canada, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, New Zealand and South Africa on the subject. He wrote an application for life insurance every single working day for 25 straight years. That’s somewhere in the neighborhood of 6500 people with a future protected from tragedy. Those are just the Instagram worthy moments of the career legacy. The personal legacy he built is better than that. The marriage legacy of approaching 75 years that they’ve built is ridiculous. The financial legacy isn’t bad either. Selfishly, the mentorship/grandfather legacy he’s built is the one I value the most. The spiritual legacy he has built will last longer than all of them.
What legacy are you building? What legacy do you want to build?
We should talk about it more often. Just like we should with gratitude. The words are slow to come out. They don’t sit on the tip of your tongue or come up frequently in the hustle and bustle of our normal day, but we’d encourage you this fall to find some time to talk about both of those words. Sit on your porch with your favorite people and your favorite cocktail on a nice crisp evening and discuss them both. See where it leads. See what surprises you. We are here to help the financial part of that legacy match the words that come out.