Financial Advice

Within the next 25 years, an estimated $124 trillion in accumulated wealth, real estate, and personal properties is expected to pass from one generation to the next, according to Cerulli Associates. Although much of that wealth will go to family heirs, a significant portion will be allocated to philanthropic groups and charitable organizations.

Johann Kurtz, the author of "Leaving A Legacy: Inheritance, Charity, & Thousand-Year Families", argues in his book there is a better way to create lasting dynasties than simply passing wealth to the next generation, or worse yet, defaulting to the modern impulse of "giving it all to charity." As Kurtz explains, charity has drifted far from its original meaning. Much of today’s philanthropic world has been hijacked, with once otherwise well-intentioned organizations now serving as tools for ideological and political agendas.  

Kurtz promotes true charity as “a totalizing way of being, which should consume our every movement. That is what it means to bring charity into its full majesty as a virtue — the development of a constant habit which perfects one’s soul through the projection of love.”

In the book, he suggests that many family decision-makers, by prioritizing charitable giving, have adopted a socially accepted, popular narrative that distracts from their deeper duties as patriarchs and matriarchs. Those duties include outcomes that anchor families, strengthen communities, and preserve the social order established by previous generations.

Generational transfer, or succession planning, is not easy. The process is riddled with landmines that can destroy the family and drain the accumulated wealth of generations. However, Kurtz’s work and the premise of "Leaving a Legacy" encourages a renaissance of responsibility — a return to the mindset that family wealth carries obligations, not merely options.

The book does not promote a cure-all. Instead, it reminds readers that stewardship — of capital, land, properties, and values — is the foundation of durable families and stable civilizations. Kurtz highlights historical examples of multigenerational success and argues for faith in God, devotion to family, and adherence to the disciplines that hold communities together.

Beyond the book, Johann publishes "Becoming Noble" on Substack, an online media platform. Recently, we connected over Google Meet, he from his home in Romania and me from my office in California. During our conversation, I asked about the book’s premise and his views on forming better communities.

Kurtz explains his faith-based logic for constructing “intentional communities” and “family dynasties.” He believes that generational wealth transfer should stem from a moral duty, religious conviction, and personal values, rather than conforming to popular philanthropic attitudes that place little emphasis on preserving the family’s legacy.

He describes legacy as "the journey of a particular family. It’s how current members of a given family intend on continuing that journey into the unknown future. And as such, it's necessarily an intimate, personal thing, specific to that family."

In the book, Kurtz reminds readers that legacy is more than money and property. It’s family values and the duties we have to one another. It’s about upholding one’s place in the community and serving a larger purpose. Legacy is about transmitting values, not merely transferring assets. It demands teaching leadership and continuity.

At one point he says, “The most fundamental provocation of the book is to realize that there are paths available to you that contemporary society has dismissed.”

So, the question of legacy, he says, really goes back to, “What does the patriarch or the matriarch want their legacy to be if they could strip away every form of external pressure, every expectation of contemporary society?”

I pressed him on the practical challenges: How do families begin thinking in centuries when we live in a disposable, short-term world?

“I hope to support readers who are in a situation where they want to pass their wealth to their children, but find themselves in a social milieu where that's not the norm," he says. "They're receiving tremendous pressure via media messaging to do otherwise. And they don't have a defense against that more explicit, well-articulated assault on their beliefs. I'm hoping ("Leaving a Legacy") gives them the moral language to find confidence in their own minds to follow a more constructive path.”

The book, and my experience, tell me we can do better. We need to lean into our responsibilities as parents, stewards of the family’s wealth, and community leaders to plan for leaving a lasting legacy. I encourage you to start today:

• Define your legacy goal beyond the noise and distractions of popular culture. 
• Share your intentions with your family, and start while your children are young.  
• Include family values, social responsibilities, and community obligations as a vital part of your family’s legacy. 
• Design your estate to impose meaningful obligations, not just distribute financial freedom.
• Develop a portfolio of assets that is resilient against fluctuations in management abilities.

In a transient culture, permanence is an act of courage. Stability doesn’t happen by accident — it is built by men and women who accept the weight of inheritance and the duty of stewardship. Whether you manage a farm, a family business, or a portfolio of assets, your legacy will not be measured by what you owned, but by what you preserved, cultivated, and passed on.

Kevin Spafford is a certified financial planner and partner adviser with Allworth Financial in Spokane. He is available at the office: (509) 624-5929, by cell: (530) 966-5560, or by email: [email protected].