How Seniors Can Leave a Legacy in the “Marketplace of Wisdom”
In the last decade or so, Merrill Lynch Wealth Management and Age Wave, a consulting firm specializing in issues related to aging, have co-launched a variety of studies to learn more about the goals, attitudes, and desires of today’s retirees. In a 2013 study, one of the most commonly expressed wishes among seniors was a yearning to leave a legacy—and not just of the real estate or monetary kind. 75% of respondents said that it was important for them to be able to pass along their values and life lessons.
The fact that seniors have a wealth of knowledge and experience to share has not been lost on academia and industry. The Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina has developed a program called “Pass the Torch” for companies to use in order to ensure that those approaching retirement are able to effectively transfer what they know.
Across the world, a variety of different organizations have established programs that allow seniors to pass along their skills and mentor students both young and old through talks, workshops and classes. One such enterprise, “The Amazings,” established in the U.K. in 2012, has been billed as “a marketplace for wisdom,” providing the opportunity to learn from seniors about a broad range topics—everything from guitar playing to gardening, chess, and, yes, even nuclear physics.
At The Heritage at Brentwood, we too actively support our residents’ desire to experience the rewards of leaving a legacy by offering a variety of volunteer opportunities in the Brentwood and Nashville communities, as well as the chance to serve on a range of resident committees here on campus.
Leaving a legacy of accumulated life wisdom and professional acumen has certainly been important to resident Sandra Hatcher. Prior to retirement, she spent many years as a personal financial planner, presenting numerous seminars and workshops–often specifically for women.
“I think that was just from my personal experience of wanting to know, as a woman, how do I make these decisions? How do I get enough information to know what I’m doing and have some comfort with that?”
Today, Sandra continues to mentor young people, especially young women, in the ways of money management and investing, encouraging what she calls “financial integrity and congruence” through the harmony between one’s financial life and spiritual life.
Says Sandra, “I don’t do as much in a formal atmosphere anymore—just helping a lot here and there whenever somebody comes and needs some advice. Those kinds of things have been very, very rewarding to me.”
Of course, many seniors also find leaving a financial legacy to benefit their family or charity of choice to be incredibly rewarding as well. At The Heritage, we can help facilitate that desire through our Return-of-Capital® Plan which refunds up to 90% of the original entrance payment to the resident–or to his or her estate–no matter how long the resident stays in our community.
If you would like to learn more about our how our Return of Capital Plan works, or other ways in which the activities, services and amenities of The Heritage support the lifestyles and desires of our residents, please contact us at 615-507-2686.