The 41 Trillion Dollar Question

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of July 2005, there were an estimated 78.2 million baby boomers, growing at a rate of 330 per hour in 2006. Furthermore, the Center on Wealth and Philanthropy projected wealth transfer of at least $41 trillion by the year 2052 (January 2003 Wealth Transfer Report). Who will this wealth go to? Children, of course! But parents are discovering they have not communicated effectively with their adult children who have disparate values and conflicting goals. Where is the joy is giving your life’s work to virtual strangers? This is not just a 41 Trillion-Dollar question, but a 41 Trillion-Dollar problem.

Who can these aging boomers turn to? While answers to financial questions are abundant and solutions to tax liabilities are readily available, wealth professionals are neither prepared nor eager to offer strategies to tackle the problem of the other 50% of family wealth—the non-material assets of family. On the rise are conversations about family unity, family values and culture, family human and intellectual capital and so on. Why? Because without investments in family bonds, parents are learning that wealth creation and wealth transfer have little meaning.

The Family Building Institute to the rescue!

Dr. Ronald Law, physician and second-generation wealth beneficiary faced with these questions and the lack of answers, founded the Family Building Institute to begin a Family Building movement, believing that between parenting and grandparenting lies a new idea, Family Building. A firm believer in the value of prevention over cure, Dr. Law, a cardiologist by training and in practice, laments that all strategies to date are twenty years too late.

“Until now, the work of many experts in the field largely describes a paradise lost,” he says. “Unless we discover a post-parenting paradigm, family, our biggest investment, will be squandered.” The current belief is to let go and see what you have in twenty years. “This mindset is illogical,” Dr. Law adds quizzically. “We had a plan with our young children. Why do we not have a plan with adult children? Would we allow our investment portfolio or retirement plan to languish without a plan?” He speculates that perhaps parents worry too much about togetherness or interference, assuming that independence is essential for a new family to take root. “The current norm is to go on autopilot until grandparenting is in full swing, is that wise?” asks Dr. Law. He continues, “A thoughtful plancan accommodate any intention. If you choose total independence, plan on that. If you prefer some generational connectivity, plan on that. If you desire a side-by-side generational walk, plan on that.”

Taking his cues from Lewis Carroll and William Shakespeare, Dr. Ronald Law likens a young family to Alice in Wonderland and a mature family to Macbeth. Each requires its own plan of action: one vastly different from the other. “A mature family is the most complex theater that exists—an assembly of people of diverse interests and conflicting goals forced to coexist without any chance of permanent exit. To hope for a good outcome without a plan under these challenging and changing conditions is foolish optimism,” says Dr. Law.

Family Building hopes to answer the 41 Trillion-Dollar question and chisel at the 41 Trillion-Dollar problem. The Family Building Institute believes that family wealth is the sum of family financial wealth and family non-material wealth. And non-material family wealth is the power of family. People are looking for an answer, but they have not asked the right questions. Thus we have empty nesters and the Syndrome of Emerging Adulthood, described by Dr. Jeffrey Jensen Arnett (better known as failure to launch). The Family Building Institute will not only diagnose a problem, but offer a guided approach with Family Building Tools, climaxing to an annual Family Building Holiday. It is going to be a lot of fun.

Family Building is a practical 7-step guide to create a plan with your adult children. With these 7 steps you gain new knowledge, a positive attitude and timely strategies to discover Meaningful Conversations with your adult children on matters that are important to both generations. As parenting brought untold joy and new experiences, Family Building will be even more rewarding.

The business of family is going to be big business because there is a lot of money involved (41 trillion dollars) and countless families in crisis. But for many families, they may have awakened too late. “You are much better off preventing heart attacks than treating heart failure,” Dr. Law, unable to avoid analogies to medicine, states. “Lucky are families that have discovered Family Building as a continuation of parenting and have learned to harness the full power of family …early.”

As to the 41 Trillion-Dollar problem? Dr. Law leaves us with one enduring question, “On a voyage over turbulent waters, should you build a better boat or train a better captain?”

This question is the beginning of a lifelong answer.

Dr. Ronald K. Law
Founder
Family Building Institute
www.familybuildinginstitute.com
303.694.2549