Preparing Heirs: Five Steps to a Successful Transition of Family Wealth and Values

by Roy O. Williams, Vic Preisser

Preparing Heirs discloses the surprising findings from the authors' research into the legacies of 3,250 wealthy families. With extraordinary insight, they reveal what the relatively small number of successful families had in common-how they achieved and maintained family harmony, and ensured the smooth transition of their wealth to well-adjusted heirs. They also warn of the wide range of factors that cause the majority of wealthy families to fail in their transition. Preparing Heirs offers clear, concise, well-organized, and easy-to-follow instructions that will enable you to evaluate your plan for transitioning family wealth. Preparing Heirs is an assessment tool that can be used in conjunction with the services of qualified professionals such as attorneys and accountants. It addresses the major causes for the 70% failure rate in estate transitions, which lie within the family itself and are within the family's control. This book can help you develop a plan to transmit the family values underlying the accumulation of wealth and prepare your heirs to be good stewards and thoughtful administrators of that wealth.

Genres: Nonfiction

181 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2003

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good overview.
Good sales pitch for their services which are probably needed in most cases if you want to take this seriously.

[Joe Henry · Rating 2 out of 5]

In the first paragraph, the authors reference research indicating that 70% of wealth transfers fail. This is illustrated by such “traditional” sayings such as “ Rice bowl to rice bowl (or shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves) in three generations.” And it is easy to see how if one generation started without wealth but somehow managed to accumulate some, the second generation could easily be ill prepared to handle wealth wisely, and the third generation would find itself back at square one (without wealth).

The organization and approach used in this book, compared to Barney and Collins (Best Intentions), seems more highly structured and analytical. Replete with tables, charts, and checklists, it might seem somewhat repetitive when read straight through. However, the intent seems to be to allow the reader to use the book as a reference, skipping straight to chapters that might offer the most immediate insight/help for the reader at the moment. At the same time, repetition of the themes allows the reader to get reinforcement and move along more quickly through material that is already familiar.