Financial Planning – Pass On Your Values
When a new year is upon us, it is usually a good time for a new start. It is a good time to think about the past year and the year ahead. It is also a very good time to think about planning for the inevitable. There is a 100% chance that everyone will die some day, (unless Jesus returns while you’re alive) and planning on what is to happen after you die is hugely important.
First of all, it is important to plan ahead by preparing a will which describes where all your material stuff goes when you “go.” You also need to have a durable power of attorney prepared to help your loved ones take care of your business if you become disabled and don’t have the ability to be able to do it on your own anymore. It may also be important to have a health care directive prepared. A health care directive, also known as a living will, are instructions given that specify what actions should be taken for your health in the event that you are no longer able to make decisions due to an illness or incapacity. This may also be a good time to not only think about your family but also to think about the possibility of making a charitable bequest.
As all of these planning ideas are very important to pass on your material wealth and to get your “house in order,” a will usually leaves no direction to your family about what you believe and the values that make you the person you are. One way to identify what you want your family to know besides what you want them to have is the use of something called an “ethical will.” An ethical will is a vehicle to put your life in order; it provides a way to honor the past, capture the present, inform the future; a way to be remembered.
Scripture suggests that ethical wills were oral exhortations that were linked to one’s final days. One of the most significant was recorded in Genesis 49, when Jacob gathered his 12 sons around his deathbed and gave them his blessings. Another example is in chapter 33 of Deuteronomy, when Moses bade farewell to Israel’s children and blessed its tribes after leading them through the desert for forty years. Also in the book of John in chapters 15 - 17, Jesus bestowed his parting blessings and commands to his faithful followers: “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: that he lay down his life for his friends.”
An ethical will is often written to accompany one’s estate plan, and it can be written in any stage of life. It can be as short as a one-page letter, or it can become a multi-page document. A lot of times, people write ethical wills when they are facing challenging life events or when they experience major transitions or turning points in their lives. These transitions may include a birth of a child, marriage, serious illness, death of a loved one, a child’s departure from home, or retirement.
When writing an ethical will about my life, I would want to express my own faith journey, the love I have for my family, the values I honor, the love I have for the family farm business (I’ve been a farmer my whole life), and hopefully be able to share a little wisdom from what I’ve learned and experienced in my life. It may be that writing down my values on paper might be the only way my grandchildren would ever get to know anything about me as I could be long gone before some of them are born.
An ethical will can be a way to say “I love you,” or “thank you,” or a way to clarify what your hope is for the future of your family. It can illustrate your values, what you believe, tell about life lessons, to talk about love and forgiveness. It may be a way to clarify what’s important, simplify others’ tasks; it could be a way to lighten someone’s burden, comfort others’ grief, and may gather essentials in one place.
By writing an ethical will, you will carry on an ancient tradition that has gained appeal and offers solace in troubled times. In the beginning of this article I commented that knowing for sure what is going to happen to you after you die is hugely important. Placing your trust in Jesus and knowing for sure that you will be in heaven someday is the greatest message you can pass on to your loved ones. You can set an example in life to those around you and the example of your faith can be passed on to the next generations possibly by just writing it down through the use of an ethical will.
