By Contributing Writer James L. Marshall, Jr., Financial Advisor, Financial Educator & Author
It’s like the conversation I had with Anthony Fool in my book, “A Fool, and His Money” during our conversation about the importance of leaving a legacy of wealth for your family.
Anthony Fool: “I don’t know about that ‘M.’ No one left me anything! So why should I be the one to step it up?”
Me: “Because it is not about you Anthony. It’s about your family and the community as well. Did you know that with the right amount of life insurance and financial education, we could wipe out poverty in our community in one generation? It’s also about your legacy Anthony. How will you be remembered? How big will those shoes be that you leave under your bed? Do you love your family enough to provide for them even after you are dead and gone?”
Now let’s do some assuming here and see where it may have led. Let’s say my family was only able to start getting some kind of savings or life insurance about 90 years ago when my great grandfather Richard Marshall died.
Let’s say Richard left $10,000 from a life insurance policy in a family trust with detailed instructions. We can assume:
- $1,000 per year went into that trust from family contributions.
- If that money was invested conservatively at an average annual return of 5% over 90 years, it would be worth approximately $2,401,910 today!
- If it was invested in Dow Jones Index companies that have had an average annual return of 10%, it would be worth $106,250,452 today!
What do I mean by leaving a big pair of shoes under the bed?
For decades I have been advising families about wealth-building concepts like investments, life insurance, and retirement plans. And when it comes to life insurance, I often get the same response (mostly from men). Their response is that they don’t. Well let me tell you what Anthony Fool had to say about it:
“What’s the point of leaving money behind for some other man to push up on my wife, spend my money, drive my car, and lay up in my bed?”
So, I said to Anthony, “Anthony, it’s just like I told Willie – another man might come through, but he can never be you! Plan on dying old and leaving a big pair of shoes under the bed… and by shoes, I mean taking the proper steps to assure your family’s security when you die. You need to have enough life insurance to pay off all the loans, bills, and tuitions and replace your annual income for at least 5 years.”
Yeah, you’ve talked like Anthony or thought like Anthony, or maybe you heard it being said! And I don’t want to make this just about the men. Women also fall far short when it comes to maintaining the proper amount of life insurance and wealth transfer strategies needed to change the dynamics for Black families in America.
Well as is often said, “If you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you have always gotten.”
I don’t know about you, but I am tired of hearing people talk about us like we are the character “Can’t Get Right” from the movie “Life.” The main characters thought he would be their ticket out, but true to his name, he just couldn’t get right!
I’m way past hearing the statistics of our anemic household net worth and how far we lag behind white families in income and wealth. I want to change the narrative by changing our circumstances. Let’s start by moving up a few shoe sizes. And by that, I mean let’s build transferable wealth, own meaningful amounts of life insurance, and prepare our children to receive and grow the wealth we plan to leave them.
Let’s keep a big pair of shoes under the bed!
James Marshall is a registered investment advisor registered in Texas and Kentucky. He can be reached at James@Marshallyourmoney.com. Visit him on the web at Marshallyourmoney.com.
