The Impact Report

In the latest installment of The Impact Report, Eric and Ryan examine successful family businesses and the critical wealth planning mistakes they are making on a regular basis. Running a successful family business takes a tremendous amount of working hard and working smart, while navigating family dynamics along the way. This is no easy task, which is why even the most successful family business neglect to fine-tune their wealth planning strategies periodically. This allows for mistakes to creep into the picture. Listen as Eric taps into his experience and outlines each of these pivotal mistakes! This episode is bound to leave you with clear insights to consider for your own family business. Timecodes:0:06 - Introduction and overview on the topic of the day2:08 - The need for wealth planning within a family business3:37 - The level of risk for mistakes that pops up within family businesses5:35 - Finding the right wealth manager for a given family6:55 - Hyper-focusing on the issue of mitigating taxes9:45 - Being secretive about their wealth planning12:04 - Failing to keep your wealth planning accurate and up to date13:24 - What a family can do to make sure their plan is no longer outdated15:10 - Viewing the sale of the family business as a negative thing18:00 - How to get in touch with Eric and his team 19:33 - Closing remarksConnect with Eric Lawton:WebsiteFacebookLinkedIn

Affluent families and individuals often have so many things on their plate, that it's easy to overlook issues with one of their largest assets: their homes. And since our homes are important to our financial security, as well as our personal sense of stability with everything going on in the world right now, we need to make sure we're taking the proper precautions to mitigate any levels of risk.In the latest installment of The Impact Report, Eric and Ryan identify the five biggest mistakes affluent homeowners are making today. From failing to have enough liability insurance, to failing to adequately address a home's unique features or construction, this episode is bound to leave you with some key takeaways to consider with your own home!Timecodes:0:06 - Introduction and overview on the topic of the day1:45 - Why it makes sense for homeowners to do a financial check up on their homes2:30 - The five most prevalent mistakes homeowners are making today3:25 - Failing to have enough liability insurance coverage4:50 - How to tell if you have a lack of adequate coverage5:27 - Owning multiple properties and the issues on this front6:38 - Failing to list trusts or LLC's on a homeowners insurance policy7:52 - Listing a home's unique architecture or materials 8:54 - Listing your high-value collections and artifacts10:15 - What your wealth manager can do to help a given homeowner11:30 - How you can get in touch with Eric's team to discuss this topic further12:40 - Closing remarksConnect with Eric Lawton:WebsiteFacebookLinkedIn

Are your heirs ready to deal with the wealth you may be planning to pass on to them someday? It's an unfortunate fact that inheritors often struggle with their windfalls in ways that can be hazardous to their wealth. On the fourth installment of The Impact Report, Eric Lawton unpacks the complex world of inheritances and the variety of internal and external conflicts that arise throughout this process. Listen as Eric outlines how his affluent clients prepare their heirs for the inheritance and why we can all take a page out of their playbook on this topic. Timecodes:0:06 - Introduction and overview on today's topic2:00 - Inheritances can be a double-edged sword2:56 - The internal and external conflicts facing heirs4:02 - What can be done to help heirs prepare for the transfer of wealth5:15 - What successful families are doing to adequately prepare their heirs6:50 - Where to begin? 9:50 - An approach that may be more appealing to educating heirs12:01 - Additional considerations when the transfer of wealth is involved13:30 - This is a universally applicable strategy 15:20 - How you can get in touch with Eric's team to learn more 16:25 - Closing remarksConnect with Eric Lawton:WebsiteFacebookLinkedIn

One of the biggest concerns facing affluent families is how to manage their wealth so that it achieves many goals. Their focus could be continuing to grow their wealth as it is transferred to younger generations, or aligning the use of that wealth with the values and ideals the family holds dear, or even protecting that wealth from creditors and others who might seek to take it unjustly. Often the best place to start, is to ensure that your family members are aligned when it comes to key issues. A family constitution can be a great way to get that process going.In the latest installment of the show, Eric explores the benefits of establishing a family constitution to ultimately promote clarity and harmony when it comes to managing family wealth. Timecodes:0:06 - Introduction and overview on the topic of the day2:06 - The challenges that arise when families work together to manage their wealth4:00 - The family constitution 5:41 - How the family constitution works to promote better familial relationships7:45 - How a family should go about drafting this document10:36 - Who from a family should be involved in these discussions11:32 - This is not a legally binding document13:18 - Advice to ensure the family constitution remains relevant over time15:36 - How you can get in touch with Eric's team to continue this discussion further19:00 - Closing remarksConnect with Eric Lawton:WebsiteFacebookLinkedIn

In the second installment of The Impact Report, Eric and Ryan explore the key ingredient missing from most wealth managers and why affluent individuals should be demanding this ingredient when working with their financial professional. It's no secret that affluent individuals, families, and business owners have access to financial professionals who possess the highest level of financial acumen. However, in most cases today, that isn't enough to develop a comprehensive and customized wealth plan. Wealth managers need to be incorporating the human element into their dealings with clients. Only by understanding a client's core values and personal goals, will a wealth manager be able to develop the most effective plan. So sit back, relax, and enjoy another great conversation surrounding you, the client. As Eric shares, a wealth manager needs to understand what is most important to you, in order to develop a plan that works FOR YOU!Timecodes:0:08 - Overview on today's topic and introducing Eric Lawton2:10 - Why affluent individuals should be demanding more from their financial professional4:16 - The missing link with most wealth managers today4:43 - What does the human element entail within wealth management5:22 - Why the human element is vitally important and should be included in your wealth plan7:19 - How the human element is weaved into the stress testing process 8:56 - Instances where stress testing reveals no issues for clients9:55 - How to tell if a wealth manager truly cares about their clients and incorporates the human element11:30 - What Eric would look for in a wealth manager if he was a perspective client 12:30 - What a good and thorough discovery process looks like14:14 - The importance of wealth managers listening to clients and not just giving lip service15:50 - Closing remarksConnect with Eric Lawton:WebsiteFacebookLinkedIn

Welcome to The Impact Report! This is the show where we break down complex wealth management strategies into understandable terms to help you on your path to living an amazing life of significance. In our inaugural episode, we introduce you to Eric Lawton, President & CEO of Impact Financial, who works with high net worth families, business owners, and non-profit organizations. Eric brings over two decades worth of experience in the financial services sector and is no stranger to effective wealth planning solutions. To start our show on the right note, Eric provides a detailed overview on the benefits of stress testing your current financial plan. Given the tremendous amount of uncertainty in our world right now, there's never a better time to consider a stress test to evaluate the current and future performance of your established wealth plan. So sit back, relax, and enjoy this thought-provoking episode that's sure to leave you considering this strategy within your own wealth plan. Timecodes:0:06 - Overview on the theme of the show and the topic of our episode1:31 - Background on Eric Lawton and his work at Impact Financial3:57 - What people can be doing right now to give them confidence around their finances overall4:50 - Why stress testing is such a valuable process to be considering5:32 - The three main ways stress testing can be utilized6:38 - How Eric works to better understand his clients' goals and needs8:23 - A lesson or two that can be learned from the affluent 9:39 - The types of questions Eric is asking his clients during the stress testing process10:55 - The analysis or assessment a client leaves Eric's office with after a stress test12:38 - How to get in touch with Eric's team for further discussion on stress testing13:52 - Stress testing is an ongoing process to ensure your plan stays viable over time14:48 - Closing remarksConnect with Eric Lawton:WebsiteFacebookLinkedIn