100 Year Time Horizon

100 years seems like a long time, unless you’re dirt – then it’s imperceptible. But in our day-to-day lives, full of email, text, BBM, twitter and real time access to just about anything, 100 years seems to stretch out farther than is sometimes imaginable.It’s also around the corner – just a generation or three away. The paradox of 100 years is that it’s rather long to us personally, and quite short in the context of our families. Perhaps that’s why it’s such a useful reference point when we think forward in time, because it starts to remove us from the equation and shifts our reference point beyond ourselves. It starts to ask the question “What’s important to this family?” instead of only asking, “What’s important to me?”Have you ever thought forward to see what life will be like 100 years from now? Technology will certainly be dramatically advanced. Health care costs are estimated to be approaching 50% of the US GDP. We’ll be living longer. India will be a leading economic force, and you can see all kinds of forecasts and predictions on what the world will be like online and on the bookshelves.But what will life be like for your family? Where do you think their attention should be? What do you think is important for them to know? What assets will the family have and what would be intelligent ways for it to be used?Thinking out 100 years or more can let you arrive at some important thoughts that can have a real impact on your family – some of whom you’ll never meet. For example, a 100-year time horizon can help you:

• Develop an approach for investing your assets, investing in your community and investing in your family
• Pass on your attitudes and wisdom about wealth
• Manage risk by holding a longer, clearer view that avoids unnecessary concentrations of uncertainty
• Share your intentions about family business plans
• See philanthropy in a more appropriate and strategic context
• Plan how to transfer wealth to succeeding generations in tax-smart and intelligent ways

A family is its own entity. It has its own personality, its own desires, and its own path that’s separate but intertwined with the members of that family. Looking 100 years out puts your attention on the family entity and what will best serve it. It requires foresight and leadership. Your family’s counting on you for it, and they don’t even know it yet.