As the war was coming to an end in the epic Steven Spielberg classic, Schindler’s List, Oskar Schindler, beautifully played by Liam Neeson, lamented to Itzhak Stern on his regret at not being able to add even more names to his list of those he had been able to save. “I could have got more. I could have got more, I don’t know. If I just… I could have got more… If I had made more money… I didn’t do enough.”
Schindler saved over a thousand people’s lives, but he still felt the sting of regret at not being able to save more.
No one wants to reach the end and realize that they “didn’t do enough,” but sadly, after my father passed away, my mother and I came to a sobering reality: Most of my father’s dreams for contributions hadn’t taken place.
The estate-planning attorney didn’t realize how important giving was to my parents. He also didn’t understand the details of the assets enough to position them so my mother could maintain her lifestyle and spend the rest of her life giving away millions to the charities that mattered so much to her and my dad.
Fortunately, you are still alive, which means you have the opportunity to make the most out of your hard work. You can turn your planning into an opportunity to achieve your objectives while you can still experience the joy of the outcomes.
Don’t let your dreams expire without being fulfilled. The right planning expert knows how to combine planning with your desires to ensure that your dreams to help your family and society become reality.
Wealth is more than money. Don’t just plan for your future, live it right now. Pass it on and share the insights like this that you find valuable.
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– Elaine S. Dalton