Must-reads for the
Empowered Wealth Mindset.

“Family is a quilt, one generation stitched to the next, and gratitude for each other is the thread that holds us together.”
-Noah benShea

The World is Changing…

The World is changing.  Driven by shifting demographics, political and economic tensions, and microchip technology, disruption and change have become the norm.  There is little about the future that we can be certain of other than the observation that change is inevitable.  Many long-standing traditions, institutions, social patterns, and ways of life are being disrupted daily.

In the midst of this disruption, uncertainty, and the unpredictable future, how can people achieve Sustainable Prosperity™?

True Wealth

Would you rather be “rich” or “wealthy”?  What’s the difference?   “Rich” is having abundant financial assets:  money, real estate, investments, material possessions, etc.  But do you have other assets that you value more than these financial assets?  For most people, the answer is “yes”.  Most people say that they value their family, or their health, or their spirituality more than financial assets.  Empowered Wealth calls these “core” assets.  The four Empowered Wealth® categories of assets are:

• Core Assets: your family, health, values, and the individual well-being of each family member;

• Experience Assets: good and bad experiences, education, reputation, networks, and the wisdom of each family member;

• Contribution Assets: contributions made to others;

• Financial Assets: money, real estate, investments, material possessions.

These asset categories are the elements of True Wealth.  But True Wealth is more than the assets themselves; it involves the dynamic, ever-changing balance of these assets.  For Empowered Wealth, Sustainable Prosperity™ means having True Wealth, optimal assets with optimal dynamic balance.  It’s the difference between being “rich” and being truly “wealthy”.

The Empowered Wealth Mindset

Seeing the world through the lens of True Wealth, a clarity and focus on what really matters emerges.   Thus, unlike traditional planning practices, financial and estate planning based on True Wealth can focus on family leadership as a key element.

Traditional Planning

Lawyers, accountants, life insurance agents, and financial planners have historically focused on minimizing taxes and maximizing the amount of money that passes from one generation to another.  Numerous studies show that when wealth is created through family businesses, over 60% of the financial fortunes of these families will not survive the second generation. By the end of the third generation, ninety percent of the original families will be broke. When families who build wealth focus on passing the material wealth to their children without the principles, concepts, and tools to preserve their True Wealth, there is little chance the family, or its financial wealth, will thrive long-term.  Ironically and tragically, one of the greatest fears of affluent families – having their wealth ruin their children – occurs as a result of traditional planning.

Thriving in a World of Disruption and Change

What is missing is a framework, a methodology that empowers families. Estate and financial planning is an ongoing process, not just a collection of legal documents and spreadsheets.  Planning is a process that ideally builds a sustainable family culture.  It is an ongoing process of family leadership that is not ever “done” or “finished”.

Empowered Wealth has developed two interrelated systems to empower families.  The Powerful Planning Process™ has evolved over Lee Brower’s almost 40 years of experience as an estate planner.  The process of delivers:

1. The Empowered Wealth Family Philosophy™, a unique process that documents the family’s shared values and alignable differences and prioritizes them through the formation of family principles,

2. The Empowered Family Treasury™, a constellation of custom-designed legal entities with the purpose of optimizing a family’s True Wealth, and

3. The Powerful Plan itself, a detailed analysis and roadmap for family Sustainable Prosperity™.

The other Empowered Wealth system is The Business Family Coach™, a personalized coaching program that provides instruction, feedback, motivation, and accountability for Business Family Leaders.  Coaching is what helps families to implement and maintain The Powerful Planning Process™.