Mejlholm Wealth Management Group - Create Your Family Legacy

Insights into giving and inheriting wealth across generations

Within a generation, over $400 billion is expected to be passed down to inheritors in Canada. How are Canadian families preparing for one of the largest transfers of wealth in history? And will inheritors be ready?

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In the coming years an estimated four trillion dollars in wealth will transfer across Generations in Canada the UK and the US.

But are we ready? Our study found both inheritors and benefactors are unprepared.

In fact only 26% of benefactors surveyed have a full wealth transfer strategy in place.

And just 35% of inheritors say they are prepared to receive wealth.

So while many people are making initial arrangements like writing wills, one and three have done nothing at all to prepare.

What we found was a direct correlation between preparedness and confidence.

For those with a full wealth transfer plan 58% are confident the next generation will sustain their wealth.

For those with no preparations only 33% are confident their wealth will endure.

When it comes to building financial confidence it pays to start early.

Those starting with financial education before age 18 are the most confident.

However, our study found education typically does not begin until age 27 and it tends to be informal and led by family members, despite the fact that almost four of five respondents found Financial education led by professionals to be effective.

So, how can you preserve and protect your legacy? Important steps can be taken to ensure a confident transition of wealth including preparing yourself, your heirs, and your financial affairs.

Before you transfer wealth transfer your knowledge and supplement it with professional financial education.

Your legacy is about more than wealth the steps you take today will lay the foundation for a legacy that lasts

RBC Wealth management - Grow more than wealth]

[rbcwealthmanagement.com/wealthtransfer - Download the full report]

[Wealth Transfer Report 2017]

[Lasting legacy - insights into giving and inheriting wealth across generations]

This video is provided by RBC Wealth Management for informational purposes only. The comments contained in this video are general in nature, and do not constitute legal, investment, trust, estate, accounting or tax advice. RBC Dominion Securities Inc.*, Royal Trust Corporation of Canada, The Royal Trust Company, RBC PH&N Investment Counsel Inc., RBC Wealth Management Financial Services Inc. are affiliated corporate entities and member companies of RBC Wealth Management, a business segment of Royal Bank of Canada. *Member – Canadian Investor Protection Fund. Please visit www.rbc.com/legal/ for further information on the entities that are member companies of RBC Wealth Management. ®/TM Trademark(s) of Royal Bank of Canada. Used under license. © 2021 Royal Bank of Canada. All rights reserved.

“It’s up to the givers of wealth to proactively prepare the next generation to manage that wealth.”

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Wealth Transfer Report 2017 - How prepared are we in Canada? Tony Maiorino Vice President and Head RBC Wealth Planning Services

Based on our estimates over 400 billion in wealth is set to pass from one Canadian generation to the next.

Canadians really need to take this opportunity to evaluate their current state of preparation for both transferring wealth as well as educating the next generation on money and financial matters.

[Only 22% have a full wealth transfer strategy]

From our research less than 1/4 of Canadians have a full wealth transfer strategy in place and one in three have done nothing so far to prepare.

While some preliminary steps have been taken with 52% of Canadians indicating they have prepared a will important steps remain particularly given the aging population in Canada.

This lack of preparation has Canadians worried about their legacies in the next generation.

Almost 60% of Canadians are not confident their children will preserve or grow the wealth they inherit.

Canadians need to take further action to adequately prepare for the significant wealth transfer that will occur in the upcoming years.

A solid grounding and financial fundamentals help set the stage for a successful transfer of wealth across generations.

This includes first transferring knowledge as well as opening up communications between both the givers and receivers of wealth.

It's up to the givers of wealth to proactively prepare the next generation to manage wealth to ensure that the family legacy can endure.

[Leave a legacy that lasts. RBC Wealth Management - Grow more than wealth]

[rbcwealthmanagement.com/wealthtransfer - Download the full report]

Preparing the next generation

It's important to Dale and Darice that their two boys build their financial knowledge and confidence to the point where they can make informed decisions. Find out how financial education and mentors have helped this family become better stewards of wealth.

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When you talk about legacy, I don't think that it's just after you're gone, what have you left? I think it's how you've lived your life the whole time.

The legacy that I'm the most interested in leaving is the one about having been responsible for what I was given, and doing the best job of making sure that those resources have been used in the best and most efficient and most effective and most impactful way. A part of that part is making sure that we're working with our sons to educate them, and get them ready to take over that part of that legacy.

My role has always been not only to manage their investments, but be a guide, help navigate through many financial choices they have. To do that successfully, it is important for me to be very knowledgeable about who they are, their family histories, their goals, their wishes, and their values. You need a plan that includes insurance, estate planning, business succession, charitable giving. You need other experts to contribute. And that is the role that Arnie, Jamie, and others play.

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As anybody who has children, you want to make sure that you're giving them the best values you can, especially with the responsibility and the challenges that come with large amounts of wealth.

We have tried as best as we can to be intentional parents in all aspects. Life is busy, and sometimes we've been less intentional than others. But in this area, we're trying our best to instill in them some responsibility with money.

We want to think about how we're living our lives now, and what we're being involved in, and the causes that we're supporting.

They're getting to the stage where they're making plans for what they're going to do after high school is over. And so we're working through how to make sure they remain motivated. So that's a bit of a challenge to thread that needle. And so that's something that I'm sure we'll be looking to Harp to give us some insights on as well. It's worth mentioning that Harp has brought us several resources over the years regarding training our boys with becoming good stewards of money.

I think actually when your kids are teenagers, they quite often prefer having other people than their parents give them advice and information. So it's a very good time for us to be bringing people into their lives who can give them advice and to just share some wisdom.

And it changes over time. In a 15-year-old, in a 17-year-old, there's different planning that needs to take place at that stage versus when they're getting involved in relationships. There is another type of planning that you want to look out for, so it's an evolving piece. It isn't just doing and going through a planning process, and now we're done.

So even if tomorrow morning, all is taken away, I'm confident that they'll have learned principles that would help them to avoid problems later in life, just because they've hung around and seen the advice that we've been able to get over these years.

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