Legacy Planning: Building Generational Wealth
Preserving wealth across generations is more complex than creating it. At SOLAVELLE GROUP, we help families design legacy plans that break the "shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves" cycle and ensure enduring prosperity.
Strategic Foundations of Legacy Planning
What elements distinguish legacy plans that endure for generations from those that falter?
Financial Stewardship
Successful multigenerational wealth transfer requires more than just asset accumulation. Key components include targeted financial education for younger generations, clearly articulated shared values that guide long-term decisions, formal governance structures through family constitutions and councils, purpose-driven planning that extends beyond financial returns, and tax-aware structuring to enhance overall efficiency.
Asset Growth and Protection
Legacy portfolios must balance growth with preservation through carefully diversified core holdings across equities, bonds, private markets, and real assets. This is enhanced through sophisticated trust structures and family investment entities that manage control and risk, alongside selective alternative investments that provide return enhancement and inflation protection over decades.
Governance as a Family Enterprise
Effective planning treats family wealth like an enterprise through:
- ✓ Family constitution and council to codify mission and mediate conflicts
- ✓ Structured meetings for education and alignment
- ✓ Dedicated family office for integrated planning and continuity
- ✓ Independent advisors providing objective expertise
- ✓ Conflict resolution protocols to navigate inevitable disagreements
Case Study: European Multi-Generational Transition
A third-generation family with diverse interests across three continents faced succession challenges and liquidity needs following the sale of their primary business. The family sought to maintain cohesion while accommodating different risk profiles and geographic preferences.
SOLAVELLE GROUP guided them through a comprehensive transformation:
- Creation of a tiered holding structure allowing business ownership alongside liquidity for passive members
- Family governance upgrades including quarterly councils and independent board members
- Next-generation education programs and a "family bank" structure for entrepreneurship funding
- Integration of impact investments aligned with shared family values
The results delivered both quantitative and qualitative success: a smooth leadership transition, diversified asset base generating 7.2% annual returns, increased family cohesion, and the launch of four successful ventures by younger family members.
Next-Generation Development
Preparing successors is central to legacy success through financial literacy programs, meaningful roles in family businesses and philanthropy, structured entrepreneurial funding and mentorship, and deliberate cultivation of shared purpose and identity that transcends individual pursuits.
Multi-Generational Investment Strategies
Legacy portfolios typically feature prime real estate assets in top-tier markets providing income and inflation hedging, private market investments with long time horizons and governance control, and public market exposure through dividend compounders that build wealth over decades.
Purpose-Driven Philanthropy
Family foundations and impact investing initiatives reinforce shared purpose and cohesion by creating intergenerational governance roles, structured giving programs, and investments directly aligned with family values in areas like climate, health, or education.
Navigating Modern Challenges
Legacy planning must adapt to rapidly changing conditions:
- Digital assets require specialized custody and succession planning tools
- Global mobility introduces complex tax, legal, and cultural considerations
- Cybersecurity and privacy management have become essential protective measures
- Blended families necessitate nuanced governance and communication protocols
- Longevity extends planning horizons and creates multi-generational overlap
Conclusion: Legacy as a Living Strategy
Legacy is not a fixed plan—it's a dynamic, multi-decade journey that evolves with family circumstances, market conditions, and societal shifts. By combining financial discipline with thoughtful family development, governance structures, and clear values alignment, families can create sustainable wealth systems that endure across multiple generations.
At SOLAVELLE GROUP, we help families design legacies that outlast the economic cycle—anchored in purpose, guided by strategy, and led by generations prepared to carry it forward. The most successful families view wealth as a tool for creating opportunity and impact rather than an end in itself, ensuring that both financial and human capital flourish across time.y Planning: Building Generational Wealth"
