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Entrusted: Building A Legacy That Lasts
When it comes to estate planning and the effective transfer of wealth, most discussions involving the terms wealth and money use those terms interchangeably. Although the two are not the same, most estate planners today do not even broach this concept with their clients or include the less-tangible aspects of wealth as they draft an estate plan. They simply develop an estate plan that prepares the family's financial assets to be dumped, divided, deferred, and dissipated among the members of the next generation. These estate plans typically reflect a very linear way of thinking. In other words, if transferring some amount of financial wealth is good, then transferring more financial wealth is better. Not only is this approach is myopic and simplistic, but it's ultimately destructive because it focuses on the fire (the result) and not on the flint and kindling (the tools and resources that produce the result).
Entrusted lays out the foundations of Entrusted Planning process, which aligns the principles and values of a family with their tangible assets and prepares future generations to build a true and lasting legacy. It's a process that draws from the very origins of estate law, which placed the highest value on who was involved--on who was entrusted. Entrusted Planning goes back to preparing beneficiaries for wealth beyond just the legal concept of a trust and takes into account the relational maturation of the person or persons being entrusted as stewards of resources, not just consumers and users of it. Entrusted Planning is about transferring opportunities instead of just assets and doing so over multiple generations.
By focusing on the means to an end (education, personal character, home ownership, entrepreneurship, charitable service) as opposed to the end (stocks, bonds, real estate, and businesses), Entrusted Planning has the greatest potential to do the maximum amount of multigenerational good with the least amount of collateral damage. Entrusted families have goals that are both deep and broad. They're less interested in preparing their families to be rich and more interested in preparing them to manage, sustain, and carry on a rich legacy.
Entrusted outlines seven core disciplines that can be found across a multitude of successful high-net-worth families going back hundreds of years. These are not hypothetical or idealistic disciplines. These disciplines are real and permeate through the families who have embraced these concepts.
Discipline 1. Entrusted families know who they are and what they believe.
Discipline 2. Entrusted families prepare the family for the wealth and not just the wealth for the family.
Discipline 3. Entrusted families maximize the positive benefits of wealth and minimize the negative effects.
Discipline 4. Entrusted families focus on flint and kindling and not on the fire.
Discipline 5. Entrusted families are generous.
Discipline 6. Entrusted families preserve and protect wealth.
Discipline 7. Entrusted families design and implement dynamic governance.
When a family gets to the point where they are putting their wealth behind a statement such as "We are the Smiths. This is what we believe in, this is what we value, and this is what we do to impact the world," they will produce successive generations who can be Entrusted.
Entrusted lays out the foundations of Entrusted Planning process, which aligns the principles and values of a family with their tangible assets and prepares future generations to build a true and lasting legacy. It's a process that draws from the very origins of estate law, which placed the highest value on who was involved--on who was entrusted. Entrusted Planning goes back to preparing beneficiaries for wealth beyond just the legal concept of a trust and takes into account the relational maturation of the person or persons being entrusted as stewards of resources, not just consumers and users of it. Entrusted Planning is about transferring opportunities instead of just assets and doing so over multiple generations.
By focusing on the means to an end (education, personal character, home ownership, entrepreneurship, charitable service) as opposed to the end (stocks, bonds, real estate, and businesses), Entrusted Planning has the greatest potential to do the maximum amount of multigenerational good with the least amount of collateral damage. Entrusted families have goals that are both deep and broad. They're less interested in preparing their families to be rich and more interested in preparing them to manage, sustain, and carry on a rich legacy.
Entrusted outlines seven core disciplines that can be found across a multitude of successful high-net-worth families going back hundreds of years. These are not hypothetical or idealistic disciplines. These disciplines are real and permeate through the families who have embraced these concepts.
Discipline 1. Entrusted families know who they are and what they believe.
Discipline 2. Entrusted families prepare the family for the wealth and not just the wealth for the family.
Discipline 3. Entrusted families maximize the positive benefits of wealth and minimize the negative effects.
Discipline 4. Entrusted families focus on flint and kindling and not on the fire.
Discipline 5. Entrusted families are generous.
Discipline 6. Entrusted families preserve and protect wealth.
Discipline 7. Entrusted families design and implement dynamic governance.
When a family gets to the point where they are putting their wealth behind a statement such as "We are the Smiths. This is what we believe in, this is what we value, and this is what we do to impact the world," they will produce successive generations who can be Entrusted.
205 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 10, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
January 19, 2021
Those considering how to pass on their values, their wealth, and what they believe to their successors should read this book.
More concerned as titled with building a lasting legacy and carrying on values than the mere mechanics and transactional business of making a will, a trust, a set of powers of attorneys.
This asks, very powerfully, why would you spend or disburse your money in death in a way you never would in life? Suddenly, as a surprise without conditions or guidance and without awareness and participation of its recipients, your loved ones?
4 Star reviews mean I enjoyed this book, I will likely read it again someday. I would recommend it to many people and it changed my mind about something important.
More concerned as titled with building a lasting legacy and carrying on values than the mere mechanics and transactional business of making a will, a trust, a set of powers of attorneys.
This asks, very powerfully, why would you spend or disburse your money in death in a way you never would in life? Suddenly, as a surprise without conditions or guidance and without awareness and participation of its recipients, your loved ones?
4 Star reviews mean I enjoyed this book, I will likely read it again someday. I would recommend it to many people and it changed my mind about something important.
March 26, 2020
My top legacy resource. Wonderfully Practical and field-tested guide to wealth transfer. I say wealth transfer over estate planning because “entrusted planning” gets at all aspects of planning.
August 24, 2021
This is a useful but not particularly well written book.
A few of the things I learned are:
--90% of wealth accumulated by the first generation is gone by the third.
--All estate plans should be reviewed and updated regularly.
--The Rothschild family of European banking fame "focused on opportunity transfer and continued to loan-never give-money. They required repayment and production. The family met at least annually to share their successes and their failures in business, replicating the process Mayer Rothschild began int he 1700s."
--Robert and Ange Workman's approach to giving back
A few of the things I learned are:
--90% of wealth accumulated by the first generation is gone by the third.
--All estate plans should be reviewed and updated regularly.
--The Rothschild family of European banking fame "focused on opportunity transfer and continued to loan-never give-money. They required repayment and production. The family met at least annually to share their successes and their failures in business, replicating the process Mayer Rothschild began int he 1700s."
--Robert and Ange Workman's approach to giving back
September 9, 2022
This is a solid discussion on some of the wisdom learned from helping families plan for passing on possessions and principles to your kids after you die. It’s not a tax book, or really a legal book, though it has practical recommendations in all those areas. It’s actually a book about families and legacy, just framed around some of the big questions like how much money is too much and how much money is too little, and how to identify and communicate your values from one generation to another.
July 22, 2025
I don’t usually write book reviews, but this one deserves it. This is one of the most impactful, life-changing, and countercultural books I’ve ever read on estate planning and legacy building. The value it brings and the practical tools it offers are absolutely exquisite.
As soon as I finished it, I felt the urge to reread it immediately. This is a book I’ll be treasuring and referencing often as I build my family’s wealth for generations to come.
As soon as I finished it, I felt the urge to reread it immediately. This is a book I’ll be treasuring and referencing often as I build my family’s wealth for generations to come.
January 18, 2025
I liked this book actually and recommended it to a few folks.
If you enjoy high level books this will be for you.
I wish the author had spent a little bit of time removing fluff and making the boom more tactical by providing scripts and tools for creating the family documents and more of that process.
If you enjoy high level books this will be for you.
I wish the author had spent a little bit of time removing fluff and making the boom more tactical by providing scripts and tools for creating the family documents and more of that process.
May 22, 2024
It's a good book, but is short on details regarding how to take action. My general understanding of trusts is better, but I still feel like I need more books before I can do anything. A revision could add a library of forms and also a "map" or decision tree to help narrow the reader's needs.
February 21, 2021
I liked this book. It gave a whole new perspective on estate planning and ways to think about what you want to leave behind - for your children and others.
August 14, 2022
This was an interesting book on how to incorporate your family in making estate decisions. There were a few nuggets here and there that were helpful and worth considering.
July 20, 2024
Wonderful guidance on holistic legacy planning for families - beyond passing on of financial assets and tools like wills and trusts. Worth the money and worth the read.
May 13, 2026
Will be recommending this to my estate planning clients. Inspirational and practical.
February 18, 2016
Wonderful book about what true wealth really is. Great read for anyone, regardless of financial status
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews