Conversation starters
"I know you are very supportive of [organization or program, e.g., the local soup kitchen, your synagogue, your alma mater] . . . Would you like to continue your support through your estate plan?"
"Are you making charitable gifts now that you would like to continue after your death?""Have you considered what would happen to your assets if your spouse or children do not survive you? Would you like any of your assets passed on to a charity, rather than to a distant relative?"
Ways to expand your clients' thinking about their legacy to the next generation
"Do you think your three children would mind getting 30% of your estate rather than 33% if you decided to give 10% to your favorite charity?"
"If your children were to write your epitaph, what would it say about you? Would it match what you would say? What would you like to tell your children about what really matters to you?"
You could use a quote from Warren Buffett: "Parents should leave children enough money so they would feel they could do anything but not so much that they could do nothing."
Clients can be hesitant to consider charitable gifts because they are afraid they will not have enough assets for a secure retirement. You might discuss how much is needed and open the discussion with the following sentence: "If you're interested, perhaps we could try making your money work better for you in your retirement while also providing for organizations that are important to you."
If your clients are interested in including philanthropy in their plans but are unclear about a particular cause, you might consider this exercise. Give them red and green markers and ask them to read the Sunday paper, marking anything that concerns or upsets them in red and anything that makes them happy or excited in green. This might lead to a good discussion about giving.
You might also ask your client . . . "When you lie awake at night, what do you worry about?"
"What values, activities and organizations contributed to your success? At your funeral, would you like people to say, 'She really cared about . . ."
If you would like to give your client more technical information on giving, the "Ways to Give" section of the Council's "Toolkit for Giving" provides short, client-friendly descriptions of charitable giving options.