Money, values, & ethical wills

Yes, paying attention to finances and ethical wills go well together.

Some people want their financial legacies to reflect the values through which they have lived their lives but when forced to articulate just what those values are, find themselves speechless.  Writing a draft ethical will is one way to shed light on what those values are, and how you want your hard assets  apportioned after your death.

What IS an “ethical will?”

What is an ethical will?  Here is what we say in our Glossary:

ethical will:  a focused communication of one’s values, life lessons, love and forgiveness, typically written in one to two pages and offered to or left for one’s children, family, and/or friends and community. Also, an account of the values a parent wishes instilled in their child by a guardian in the event of a parent’s death.  Increasingly, people are writing ethical wills or other legacy communications during critical periods in their lives such as marriage, birth of a child, illness, catastrophic events, deployment, and retirement.

What are legacy letters?

What are legacy letters?  And where are they the same and different from ethical wills?  Read on.  In general, think of legacy letters as ethical wills with extras.  A legacy letter ideally would include all the same things you would put in your ethical will, but perhaps in a little different format, and with some elaborations.

Use the immense power of stories to help your readers connect emotionally with your message.  

Lynn McPhelimy’s book In the Checklist of Life

 Lynn McPhelimy, National Aging Expert.  This book/workbook/keepsake is highly recommended, especially to those who could use a bit of assistance in getting all the bits and pieces organized and kept in one simple place.  Short of glitz and fluff but long on usefulness and especially thoughtfulness, this one is worth every penny of the purchase price.

What is an ethical will?

What are ethical wills?  Basically they are a letter, or a document similar in form.  Quite focused, often they are only a page or two long, and specifically communicate one’s values, often with the hope that one’s descendents will also hold to those values.

In addition to values, a typical ethical will include the writer’s lessons learned in this life, and ideally — and importantly — will include offers of and requests for forgiveness.