Why Planning Fails:
Exploring the Whys of Planning Before Delving Into How

By Jake Jacobs, CPA

In traditional estate and tax planning, affluent families come to their trusted advisors for advice – for answers. Equipped with best intentions, the professionals put themselves in the clients’ shoes and provide recommendations. The client is asked to adopt the plan. The plan is sound and logical. It’s seamless. But the client can’t seem to take action

Enter Obstacle #1

The advisor is not in the client’s shoes and by definition cannot empathize. As professionals, me included, we all come to the planning table with our own set of life experiences and preconceived notions. The only way to create a plan that is truly the family’s plan is to first help the family grasp the underlying reasons behind their desire for planning action.

Enter Obstacle #2

Oftentimes a family finds itself at the receiving end of multiple great ideas from a variety of trusted advisors operating in the silos of their own disciplines. The family is left to sort through the strategies and motives and identify which makes the best sense. How can we expect someone to take action when the road points in four distinct directions simultaneously? We believe the client should charge the advisory team to come up with a unified voice prior to making recommendations.

Why planning fails

Most families have never been presented with a planning methodology that creates clarity about the underlying purpose of their planning. The true purpose of planning isn’t necessarily preserving wealth or reducing taxes. Typically, it’s about identifying and clarifying the founding members’ values, about preserving intellectual capital, and about providing perspective to next-generation wealth holders. These are the reasons why people plan. By first identifying the whys of your planning, you can form tactical decisions regarding implementation that tend to flow with ease.

When the advisory team effectively guides the family to clarity, it is finally the client’s plan. Suddenly the recommendations are clear and families find themselves motivated to act. Planning seems less daunting to implement. The common ebb and flow of planning dissipates and fruition prevails.

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