A Guide to Legacy Planning: Building a Legacy Around What Matters to You

For many people, the word “legacy” brings to mind the money or property they leave behind. But a meaningful legacy can be much broader. It may include providing security for your family, preserving a business you spent decades building, supporting organizations you care about, or giving the next generation opportunities you didn’t have yourself. 

Legacy planning brings together your investments, retirement plan, estate documents, tax considerations, business interests and charitable goals so they support the people and priorities that matter most to you. 

More than just a will that determines who receives your assets, legacy planning is focused on being intentional with what you’ve built and what you want it to make possible for those you care about. 

What Is Legacy Planning? 

Legacy planning is a financial planning process focused on how your wealth, property and other resources can support your family, community and personal values during your lifetime and after your death. 

That can include traditional estate-planning decisions, such as identifying beneficiaries and establishing wills or trusts. But legacy planning takes a wider view. 

A comprehensive legacy plan may consider: 

• The financial security of a spouse or other family members 

• Wealth you hope to eventually pass to children or grandchildren 

• Retirement and health care needs during your lifetime 

• Business ownership and succession 

• Charitable giving 

• Estate and tax considerations 

• Real estate and other significant property 

• Family communication and financial preparedness 

• The values or responsibilities you want future generations to carry forward 

This wider perspective matters because these decisions rarely exist independently. Giving away more during your lifetime could affect your retirement resources. Leaving a business to a child could create different challenges than leaving an investment account. A charitable gift may influence both your legacy and your tax plan. 

The goal is to see those decisions as pieces of the same financial picture. 

What Is the Difference Between Legacy Planning and Estate Planning? 

Estate planning and legacy planning overlap, but they are not quite the same thing. 

Estate planning focuses primarily on the legal arrangements surrounding your assets and affairs. That may include a will, powers of attorney, health care directives, trusts and instructions for how property should transfer after death. 

Legacy planning starts with a broader question: 

What do you want your financial resources to accomplish for the people and causes you care about? 

Your estate documents can then help carry out that vision. 

For example, an estate plan might establish that certain assets pass to your children. A legacy plan considers additional questions. Are those assets appropriate for your children to inherit? Are there organizations you also want to support? Does your spouse have sufficient resources? How does the plan affect your own retirement? 

That is why estate planning is often most useful when coordinated with your broader finances. Petersen Hastings’ financial planning process is designed to begin with a deeper understanding of an individual’s goals, concerns and priorities before building a strategy around them. 

Your financial advisor can help evaluate how various decisions fit into your overall financial plan, while an estate-planning attorney prepares the legal documents needed to implement your wishes. A tax professional may also become important when more complex tax issues are involved. 

What Do You Want Your Wealth to Accomplish? 

Before choosing accounts, trusts or financial strategies, it may be helpful to define the purpose of the plan. 

For one family, leaving a legacy may mean giving their children financial flexibility. Another may want to help educate grandchildren. A business owner may be most concerned about keeping a company operating beyond their involvement. Someone else may want charitable giving to remain part of the family for generations. 

There is no single definition of a successful legacy. 

Consider questions such as: 

• Who do you most want to help? 

• What opportunities would you like your wealth to create? 

• Are there assets you want to keep within the family? 

• Are there organizations or causes you want to support? 

• How much financial responsibility are your heirs prepared to assume? 

• Is there a family business that needs to continue without you? 

• Would you prefer to see some of your wealth put to work during your lifetime? 

These questions matter because financial decisions become clearer when the purpose behind the money is clear. The same thinking applies to investing with purpose: money is a tool, and the strategy should reflect what you want that tool to accomplish. 

How Does Retirement Planning Affect Your Legacy? 

One of the most important parts of legacy planning happens before assets are ever transferred: making sure your own future is financially secure. 

It can be tempting to begin with a target inheritance for children or grandchildren. In our experience, a better starting point is understanding what you may need throughout retirement. 

Your plan may need to account for decades of living expenses, inflation, health care, long-term care, travel, housing changes and unexpected financial needs. Market performance and longevity can also affect how much wealth ultimately remains. 

That creates a balancing act. 

You may want to help family members today while also preserving enough flexibility for yourself tomorrow. Or you may expect to leave substantial assets but want confidence that doing so will not require sacrificing the life you worked to build. 

A financial plan can model different possibilities rather than forcing you to rely on an arbitrary inheritance target. As circumstances change, the amount available for gifts or a future inheritance may change with them. 

A strong legacy should not come at the expense of your own financial independence. 

What Assets Are Part of a Legacy Plan? 

Most families accumulate wealth across several types of assets rather than in one account. 

Your legacy may eventually include: 

• Taxable investment accounts 

• Traditional and Roth retirement accounts 

• Cash 

• Real estate 

• Life insurance 

• Business ownership 

• Trust assets 

• Personal property 

• Education accounts 

• Other investments or financial interests 

The important point is that these assets do not necessarily transfer in the same way. 

Beneficiary designations may govern some accounts, while a will or trust governs others. Certain assets may create taxable income for heirs. Others may have different income- or estate-tax characteristics. 

Trusts can also be useful in circumstances where families want more control over how assets are managed or distributed. Petersen Hastings Private Trust provides private trust services that include revocable and irrevocable trusts, gifting trusts, special needs trusts, dynasty trusts and other specialized structures. 

The specific structure is a legal and financial decision that depends on the family. At the legacy-planning level, the important concept is simpler: not every dollar of an estate is financially identical. 

Understanding what you own and how those assets fit together is an important first step before deciding how they should ultimately transfer. 

How Can Taxes Affect a Legacy Plan? 

Taxes should not necessarily determine your legacy, but they can influence how effectively wealth reaches the people or organizations you intend to support. 

For people who pass away in 2026, the federal estate-tax basic exclusion amount is $15 million. 

Washington residents have a separate state estate tax to consider. For deaths occurring on or after July 1, 2026, Washington’s estate-tax filing threshold and applicable exclusion amount are $3 million. The state’s graduated estate-tax rates currently range from 10% to 20% for those dates of death. 

That means some Washington families may need to address state estate-tax considerations even when their estates fall well below the federal exclusion amount. 

The size of an estate can also be broader than the balance of investment accounts. Business interests, real estate, retirement accounts, insurance and property held in certain trusts may all be relevant when determining an estate’s value. 

Tax rules change, which is one reason legacy and estate planning should be reviewed periodically rather than treated as a one-time project. For families with significant assets, coordination among financial, legal and tax professionals can help identify potential issues while there is still time to plan around them. 

Legacy Planning for Business Owners 

For business owners, personal wealth and business wealth are often closely connected. 

A company may represent a significant percentage of an owner’s net worth. It may also provide employment for family members, income for the owner’s household and opportunities for employees who helped build it. 

That makes the question “What happens to the business?” an important part of legacy planning. 

A business owner may need to consider: 

• Whether a family member wants and is prepared to take over 

• Whether ownership should eventually be sold 

• How the business will be valued 

• Whether key employees should have a role in the transition 

• How a transition affects the owner’s retirement income 

• Whether sufficient liquidity exists to carry out the plan 

• How children who are not involved in the business should be treated 

These decisions can take years to prepare for. 

Thoughtful business succession planning connects the future of the company with the owner’s personal wealth plan instead of treating the business and family finances as two unrelated issues. 

How Can Charitable Giving Become Part of Your Legacy? 

Legacy planning does not have to be limited to family. 

For many people, charitable giving is another strategy to put accumulated wealth toward something meaningful. That could involve a religious organization, university, community organization, foundation, medical institution or another cause that has played an important role in your life. 

The first question does not need to be which charitable vehicle to use. It can be much simpler: 

What would you like your giving to make possible? 

You can then determine whether it makes more sense to give during your lifetime, through your estate or through some combination of the two. 

Lifetime giving can provide the opportunity to see your resources at work and involve your family in the process. Giving through an estate can preserve assets for your own lifetime needs while still creating future support for organizations you value. 

The assets used for charitable giving can matter as well. Different assets can have different tax consequences, so charitable planning is generally best coordinated with the rest of the financial and tax plan rather than handled in isolation. 

Should You Talk to Your Family About Your Legacy Plan? 

In many families, yes. The amount of information you share is personal, but communication can make the eventual transition easier. 

A legacy plan can be technically sound and still create confusion if family members do not understand the thinking behind it. 

You may not need to disclose exact account balances. Instead, conversations can focus on the purpose of the plan. 

Why have certain assets been handled differently? Is maintaining family property important? Why was a charitable organization included? Who will eventually be responsible for the business? 

These conversations can also reveal assumptions that deserve attention. 

One child may have no interest in taking over the business. Another may love a family property but be unable to afford its ongoing expenses. Family members may have very different levels of financial experience. 

Similar issues arise when families begin conversations about long-term care and financial planning with aging parents. Discussing important financial and legal matters before a decision becomes urgent can give everyone more time to understand their roles and expectations. 

The more technical question of preparing children to receive specific assets deserves its own discussion. At the broader legacy-planning level, the principle is straightforward: the people affected by a plan are often better prepared when they understand its purpose. 

Who Should Be Involved in Legacy Planning? 

Legacy planning often requires more than one professional because financial, legal and tax decisions intersect. 

Depending on the complexity of your situation, that team could include: 

A financial advisor to connect your legacy goals with retirement planning, investments, cash flow, charitable giving and your broader financial strategy. 

An estate-planning attorney to provide legal advice and prepare wills, trusts, powers of attorney and other estate documents. 

A CPA or other tax professional to evaluate income, gift and estate-tax implications. 

Business professionals when valuations, ownership transitions or succession planning are involved. 

Working with a fiduciary financial advisor can also provide a central point for coordinating these financial considerations with the work performed by your attorney, accountant and other professionals. 

The goal is coordination. A trust drafted without understanding the financial assets involved, or an investment strategy that does not reflect estate documents, can create unnecessary complications. 

Your financial life should tell one story. 

When Should You Review a Legacy Plan? 

A legacy plan should change as your life changes. 

There is no need to redesign it every year, but it is worth reviewing after significant events such as: 

• Marriage or divorce 

• Birth or adoption of children or grandchildren 

• Retirement 

• Death of a spouse, beneficiary or trustee 

• Significant changes in wealth 

• Buying or selling a business 

• Major real estate transactions 

• Moving to another state 

• Changes in charitable priorities 

• Changes in estate or tax law 

Even when nothing dramatic happens, periodic reviews can confirm that beneficiary designations, estate documents and financial strategies still reflect what you want. 

A plan created at 55 may not represent your priorities at 70. 

Building a Legacy Around Where You’re Invested 

A legacy is ultimately about more than the value of an estate. 

Money can provide security, opportunity and flexibility. A business can continue creating jobs. A charitable gift can strengthen an organization or community. An inheritance can give the next generation a meaningful head start. 

But those outcomes do not happen simply because wealth exists. They require decisions about what matters, whom you want to help and how the different pieces of your financial life should work together. 

At Petersen Hastings, we believe financial planning should start with understanding where you’re truly invested: your family, your business, your community and the future you want to help create. A thoughtful legacy plan gives those priorities a financial framework that can evolve alongside your life. 

Ready to invest in what matters to you? Call today or schedule a free consultation with your local Advisor. 

This article is provided for educational purposes and should not be considered individualized tax, legal, or investment advice. Federal and state tax rules and individual plan provisions can change. Consult the appropriate tax, legal, and financial professionals regarding your specific circumstances.