Splitting Heirs: Giving Your Money and Things to Your Children Without Ruining Their Lives

Rating:
Summary: Recommended but not without its problems
Review: "Splitting Heirs" is an appropriate title for this book and the problems it deals with. So often people fail to plan for their eventual death and everything they have spent years accumulating ends up in the hands of the court system, lawyers, and others. Even when they do plan it often ends up in the hands of their children who may or may not be mature enough to handle the windfall. The parable of the prodigal son often comes to mind as children squander their inheritance.

What can you do to make sure that your interests and your desires are foremost when it comes to passing on your inheritance? That is the subject of this book. How do you provide for children and grandchildren while still teaching them the value of money and the responsibility that comes with it? How do you deal with the expectations of in-laws, stepchildren, and grandchildren, provide for church and ministries, avoid family conflict and avoid sibling jealousy?

Author Ron Blue delineates a clear process for dealing with these issues. The process is basically to first determine why you should want to transfer your wealth, then to whom you want to transfer it, how much you want to transfer, when you want to do it, what you want to transfer, how you can do it, and communicating all the above to the appropriate people. The advice is sound and he makes several good points that any financial planner would also advise you to do. The only real problem with the book is that parts of it appear to be inconsistent with each other. For example, on page 45 and again on page 154 under the heading of Tools and Techniques he notes the "Trust Principle" which he states is "Never use a trust because of a lack of trust". However, he never really defines what he means by that comment. If it is "never use a trust because you really can't trust the trustee to do what you want" then that is not consistent with his suggestions on pages 167 through 174 where he suggests the use of a marital trust, an insurance trust, and possibly charitable remainder trusts, charitable lead trusts, etc. On the other hand if he means that you should not use a trust as a vehicle to control a child's access to money because you don't trust the child then that is different but still not necessarily consistent with the basics of the rest of the book. If the child is not mature enough to handle money then having it in a trust with someone who can is responsible stewardship. Items like this make parts of the book questionable simply because the reader can't really tell what Mr. Blue is trying to say much less determine if it is sound advice.

Another problem with the book is some of the people he holds out as examples. On page 50 he mentions Andrew Carnegie as an example of a person determined to give. While this is factual and he did give away most of his fortune and supported many charities, he amassed his fortune through ruthless business practices that can hardly be considered as respectful of others. To be fair to Mr. Carnegie most of his practices were not inconsistent with others of his day and it is unfair to compare his work ethics with those of a more worker sensitive environment of today. I'm sure that Mr. Blue would not want people to draw the conclusion that it is okay to abuse others if the resulting income is given away to charities. There are just better examples, some of which he does include (such as S. Truett Cathy).

Along a similar vein, it would have been better if the quotes used on the inside and dust cover were not from people who stood to benefit from increased contributions to charities and churches (a position highly promoted throughout the book). Of the 13 people quoted only three of them are not directly connected with an organization that would benefit directly if more people contributed to charitable organizations or churches in their wills. This does not make the advice any less sound; it just establishes a credibility gap. The people quoted are all from Christian organizations and so one would hope that they can rely on an honest assessment of the book, but it still raises questions of independence. The book is good enough that there should be ample positive reviews from people who are not officers or founders of charities or churches.

Although I obviously have some problems with this book, taken as a whole it is one of the best basic guides to Christian oriented planning and wealth transfer. The advice includes all the basic guidance you would receive from most competent financial planners - give it to your heirs while you are alive, use marital trusts if appropriate, use life insurance trusts, plan to use your wealth in ways that are consistent with your beliefs and goals in life. He also does a good job of pointing out that the tools and techniques should be near the end of the process instead of at the beginning of the planning process. It just makes more sense to first determine your goals and then to use the tools and techniques that get you there. While I believe it could be better with better writing and more carefully chosen examples, the basic tenets of the book are financially solid and Biblically sound. "Splitting Heirs" is one of the best books available to understand the problems of wealth transfer from a Christian perspective.

Rating:
Summary: Recommended but not without its problems
Review: "Splitting Heirs" is an appropriate title for this book and the problems it deals with. So often people fail to plan for their eventual death and everything they have spent years accumulating ends up in the hands of the court system, lawyers, and others. Even when they do plan it often ends up in the hands of their children who may or may not be mature enough to handle the windfall. The parable of the prodigal son often comes to mind as children squander their inheritance.

What can you do to make sure that your interests and your desires are foremost when it comes to passing on your inheritance? That is the subject of this book. How do you provide for children and grandchildren while still teaching them the value of money and the responsibility that comes with it? How do you deal with the expectations of in-laws, stepchildren, and grandchildren, provide for church and ministries, avoid family conflict and avoid sibling jealousy?

Author Ron Blue delineates a clear process for dealing with these issues. The process is basically to first determine why you should want to transfer your wealth, then to whom you want to transfer it, how much you want to transfer, when you want to do it, what you want to transfer, how you can do it, and communicating all the above to the appropriate people. The advice is sound and he makes several good points that any financial planner would also advise you to do. The only real problem with the book is that parts of it appear to be inconsistent with each other. For example, on page 45 and again on page 154 under the heading of Tools and Techniques he notes the "Trust Principle" which he states is "Never use a trust because of a lack of trust". However, he never really defines what he means by that comment. If it is "never use a trust because you really can't trust the trustee to do what you want" then that is not consistent with his suggestions on pages 167 through 174 where he suggests the use of a marital trust, an insurance trust, and possibly charitable remainder trusts, charitable lead trusts, etc. On the other hand if he means that you should not use a trust as a vehicle to control a child's access to money because you don't trust the child then that is different but still not necessarily consistent with the basics of the rest of the book. If the child is not mature enough to handle money then having it in a trust with someone who can is responsible stewardship. Items like this make parts of the book questionable simply because the reader can't really tell what Mr. Blue is trying to say much less determine if it is sound advice.

Another problem with the book is some of the people he holds out as examples. On page 50 he mentions Andrew Carnegie as an example of a person determined to give. While this is factual and he did give away most of his fortune and supported many charities, he amassed his fortune through ruthless business practices that can hardly be considered as respectful of others. To be fair to Mr. Carnegie most of his practices were not inconsistent with others of his day and it is unfair to compare his work ethics with those of a more worker sensitive environment of today. I'm sure that Mr. Blue would not want people to draw the conclusion that it is okay to abuse others if the resulting income is given away to charities. There are just better examples, some of which he does include (such as S. Truett Cathy).

Along a similar vein, it would have been better if the quotes used on the inside and dust cover were not from people who stood to benefit from increased contributions to charities and churches (a position highly promoted throughout the book). Of the 13 people quoted only three of them are not directly connected with an organization that would benefit directly if more people contributed to charitable organizations or churches in their wills. This does not make the advice any less sound; it just establishes a credibility gap. The people quoted are all from Christian organizations and so one would hope that they can rely on an honest assessment of the book, but it still raises questions of independence. The book is good enough that there should be ample positive reviews from people who are not officers or founders of charities or churches.

Although I obviously have some problems with this book, taken as a whole it is one of the best basic guides to Christian oriented planning and wealth transfer. The advice includes all the basic guidance you would receive from most competent financial planners - give it to your heirs while you are alive, use marital trusts if appropriate, use life insurance trusts, plan to use your wealth in ways that are consistent with your beliefs and goals in life. He also does a good job of pointing out that the tools and techniques should be near the end of the process instead of at the beginning of the planning process. It just makes more sense to first determine your goals and then to use the tools and techniques that get you there. While I believe it could be better with better writing and more carefully chosen examples, the basic tenets of the book are financially solid and Biblically sound. "Splitting Heirs" is one of the best books available to understand the problems of wealth transfer from a Christian perspective.

Rating:
Summary: Want a quick summary of this book? Here ya go ...
Review: Leaving money to kids is stupid. It will make them lazy and profligate. Instead, leave your money to charities. Like the ones run by the people who write glowing endorsements of this book. Whatever you do, don't leave money to any wicked organizations that promote abortion or free thought.

There. I've just saved you a couple of hours' reading time and a lot of aggravation. You're welcome. LOL

Rating:
Summary: Best book I've read about true wealth
Review: This book can be read in a night but contains wisdom for a lifetime. Expecting another book about estate planning, I was pleased to find only the essential data needed to introduce the subject and the bulk of the content about thoughtfully (and prayerfully) making the six decisions about wealth transfer. This is the first book I have read by Ron Blue but I suspect it is one of his best. Intertwined between the chapters teaching us about the six decisions of wealth transfer are sole searching questions, historical examples of heros in philanthropy, and humorous cartoons introducing each chapter. But the real treasures in this book are the biblical references with reminders of the definition of stewardship in nearly every chapter - "God owns it all"

Rating:
Summary: Best book I've read about true wealth
Review: This book can be read in a night but contains wisdom for a lifetime. Expecting another book about estate planning, I was pleased to find only the essential data needed to introduce the subject and the bulk of the content about thoughtfully (and prayerfully) making the six decisions about wealth transfer. This is the first book I have read by Ron Blue but I suspect it is one of his best. Intertwined between the chapters teaching us about the six decisions of wealth transfer are sole searching questions, historical examples of heros in philanthropy, and humorous cartoons introducing each chapter. But the real treasures in this book are the biblical references with reminders of the definition of stewardship in nearly every chapter - "God owns it all"