Preparing Heirs: Five Steps to a Successful Transition of Family Wealth and Values

Are you concerned about the impact of wealth on your heirs? Are your heirs prepared for the responsibilities of wealth? In Preparing Heirs, Roy Williams and Vic Preisser disclose the surprising findings from their research into the legacies of 3,250 wealthy families. With extraordinary insight, they reveal what the relatively small number of successful families had in common—how they achieved and maintained family harmony, and ensured the smooth transition of their wealth to well-adjusted heirs. They also warn of the wide range of factors that cause the majority of wealthy families to fail in their transition.

Preparing Heirs offers clear, concise, well-organized, and easy-to-follow instructions that will enable you to evaluate your plan for transitioning family wealth. Used in conjunction with qualified professionals such as attorneys and accountants, this book can help you develop a plan to transmit the family values underlying the accumulation of wealth and prepare your heirs to be good stewards and thoughtful administrators of that wealth.

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All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

Family Transitions, Wealth, Relationships, Values, 2006-09-04
"Preparing Heirs" is a common sense approach to insuring that you and your family take the necessary steps to successfully transition your family assets and values.

The text is accompanied with easy to use, tables, charts, and questionnaires to summarize and illustrate forecasts, causes of failure, heir readiness, and other step by step checklists. The authors have created situations, and cases to illustrate more clearly the principles presented. Their analysis includes both successful and unsuccessful family examples.

Personally, I found the wealth transition checklist invaluable. The details for establishing a mission statement, involving participation of family members, establishing their future roles, and the process of communicating estate, and asset distribution plans provided helpful guidelines.

The summary statements provide either a warning note or an opportunity for implementation. For example: "The most important single issue that undermines successful transfers of wealth is the breakdown of trust and communications within the family unit."

Roy Williams, consultant, and author, with a career of 40 years coaching, researching, and educating families in areas of successful finance, is well qualified to co-author this significant work. Vic Preisser adds his expertise in business, government, and his experience as the Director of the Institute for Family Business at the University of the Pacific to round out this team of authors.

This is an important book for you and your heirs regardless of the size of you estate.




18 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

An astutely written collection of solid advice, 2003-10-19
Successful businessman Roy Williams and experienced family coach Vic Preisser successfully and expertly collaborate to present Preparing Heirs: Five Steps To A Successful Transition Of Family Wealth And Values, a straightforward guide to facilitating the smooth transfer of great wealth from one generation to the next. Focusing on five crucial steps, as well as pitfalls to beware and issues to keep firmly in mind when grooming one's heirs to become responsible future beneficiaries, Preparing Heirs is an astutely written collection of solid advice and is very highly recommended reading for anyone seeking to have their children (and their children's children) continue to promote, preserve, and extend their family's financial and ethical heritage.

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