“Real legacy consists of leaving financial gifts and not burdens.” – Darnyelle Jervey Harmon
Episode Summary
This episode is powered by the God Girls Making Millions, The Mastermind
Part of the reason I am a big advocate for normalizing wealth and legacy is because I honestly believe we should leave those who are left after we transition with more than memories. At minimum, we should make sure that they aren’t burdened in trying to settle our affairs. This episode is deeply personal and vulnerable, exposing some of what was just experienced with my father’s passing from lung cancer. As is often not a surprise in the black community, my father didn’t leave anything for us financially. Possibly due to financial illiteracy or perhaps just not understanding the significance of having insurance, not spending his retirement, or electing to allow for survivorship from his pension, my stepmother especially will be massively impacted by the lack of financial legacy in his passing. I hope that this episode shines the light on this for you so that you change the tide in your family and actually leave a financial legacy – at minimum make it such that your loved ones don’t need a Go Fund Me to bury you, just saying. You’ll have to grab your pen and paper to learn more. Listen in now to discover:
- Why legacy is financial
- 5 ways you can help to create a financial legacy
- The #1 thing you should have in place for each of your children
- And so much more
Important Links:
Powerful Quotes from the Episode
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The decisions you make when you’re alive are going to have an adverse effect on those who remain.
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None of us is promised the next day, as well as none of us knows when our day is coming. And this is why we have to plan before it’s too late.
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Put yourself in a position to be able to not just leave your loved ones with memories, but to leave them financially able to continue to live long after you’re gone.
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Show Notes:
00:50 Dad’s Story
04:47 Legacy Is Financial Definition
09:10: Philanthropist
11:32 Mission
14:18 Shifting Trajectories
15:30 Useful Tips
17:25 Legal Documents
20:04 Strategic Plan
23:52 Wrapping Up
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This episode is powered by God Girls Making Millions. If you are a woman who is on a mission to deepen your impact and increase your income, and you’ve been looking for a place where you can let your guard down, be extremely vulnerable, and get the support and strategy you need to continue to go to the next level, then this is for you. Go now to GodGirlsMakingMillions.com and apply to join us.
In this episode, I’m going to start with a spoiler alert. This is going to be an extremely vulnerable and transparent episode. What you may not be aware of, unless you are on my email list, which you should be, or following me on social media, is that I lost my father, Robert Joseph Jervey. My dad died on August 7th, 2022. It was semi-unexpected.
On July 1st, my stepmother sent all of us, me, my brothers, and my sister, a text message that a mass had been found on my father’s liver. On Monday, he was going in for additional testing. That testing never happened as it was traditionally planned because, on that Sunday, he was rushed to the emergency room after vomiting up blood. I also probably should sidebar and go back to that spoiler alert and say that this might be a little bit more graphic of an episode.
The purpose of this episode is because I want what transpired inside of my family to be a lesson for you in yours. About a week into his stay in the hospital, tests confirmed that it was, in fact, a mass and was cancerous. Soon thereafter, we got his prognosis that it was incurable, inoperable liver cancer and was unto death. It was terminal. The doctor said that he had days, maybe weeks. True to life, a few weeks later, my father transitioned. I’m grateful. I went every day to the hospital once he got sick, except for when my husband and I were on vacation.
That week that we were going, he met with substantial declines, but I’m so grateful that he was still here when we got back. I got to spend some quality time with him on that Saturday. I’m praying with him, reading scripture to him, and listening to his beloved smooth jazz. It’s some good time, and I’m preparing his soul and helping to make sure that his transition will be one of significance and that he would go home to meet his Lord. It was amazing. I had no idea that he would be called home later that night, but I’m so grateful that I got the opportunity to spend with him.
I have a younger brother. We share the same father. He has a different mom than I do. Throughout this process, as things have been going on, my brother and I took the reins to get everything taken care of. We learned very quickly in this process that my dad didn’t have financial means. As I said, this is a vulnerable and transparent episode. I want to share it with you because I don’t want this to be the story of your loved ones and potentially even your parents. I don’t want this to be your story. My brother and I had been discussing the need to make sure that we get my dad’s affairs and that things were in order.
Legacy Is Financial
As soon as he went into the hospital on July 3rd, we had a notary come. We had his will, power of attorney, and all of those documents signed. It’s better late than never. Going through the process and his paperwork and realizing what he had, that his 401(k) had long since gone, that his home, which is my dad and stepmom’s home, which should have been paid off, had been refinanced. There was debt there. His only insurance was the insurance that his company gave him at retirement, which was barely enough to get him in the ground. The reason why I’m calling this episode Legacy is Financial is because legacy is financial.
When I look up the definition of legacy in the dictionary, it says, “An amount of money or property left to someone in a will.” We hear all the time that when someone transitions, they talk about their legacy is that they were a great actor, a great father, has written five books, or ran this amazing company. That is not a legacy. Legacy is financial. We, as a society and culture, have a jaded relationship with money. It is what impacts our ability to leave a financial legacy.
My dad did not leave a financial legacy. I’m grateful to be cognizant of legacy and doing pretty well that I’m not adversely impacted by his lack of financial resources at the time of his transition. I could participate in the process of making sure that we had an amazing ceremony and celebration for him, and it didn’t adversely impact my own household. I don’t think that any parent does this intentionally, mine included. I believe that my father did the best that he could with what he had. I believe that some of his own battles and afflictions impacted his ability to leave a financial legacy for his children, grandchildren, and wife, who will still be here and impacted by the lack of finances.
The decisions you make when you’re alive are going to have an adverse effect on those who remain.
I don’t want to get too far into the specifics of some of the things with my dad. Some of the decisions he made when he was alive are now going to have an adverse effect on those who remain. Why are we talking about this? It’s because you incredible ones are an entrepreneur and small business owners. You are building a business, getting to the point to leverage and scale a business so that, ultimately, you will have a business that serves you financially and spiritually. Please be clear. This service is not just so that you can live well now. It’s not. This is so that those who will remain once your sun has set will be able to continue on. That’s why legacy is financial.
I wanted to tell a little bit about my dad’s story and hope that wherever you are now, you will begin to take some of the steps that I’m going to lay out for you in a moment to change the narrative. I believe that every single one of us can do things that will change the narrative for our children. It’s too late for me and my father because of the decisions that he made as he’s gone on. Still, I believe he did the best that he could with what he had. Sometimes, the financial information that we need escapes us, but you’re reading this because you have a desire to build and scale your company to and beyond the million-dollar mark. You have a desire to make millions, move millions, and leave millions of dollars.
Philanthropy
It is incumbent upon me as I’m preparing myself to create a financial legacy to share with you some of the success clues that I am implementing in order to be able to do the same. I remember being 10 or 11 years old, in that timeframe, that a big part of my destiny was to be a philanthropist. A philanthropist is someone who gives to causes outside of their own for the support and advancement of others. That is probably the Darnyelle definition of a philanthropist.
I made a decision very early that I wanted to be a philanthropist. I wanted to be in a position where I would be able to give to others and that benevolence wouldn’t upset my own way of living and lifestyle. This 2022, we were establishing the Incredible Factor Foundation, whose purpose will be to teach entrepreneurship to the children of incarcerated parents, so that they might have an alternative to follow in the same footsteps of their parents. Even when I didn’t have as much as I have now, I’ve always had this desire to be able to give, establish a financial legacy, and be able to help people financially.
Entrepreneurship
That is a big part of the reason why entrepreneurship and starting my own business were important to me. I could do it when I was in Corporate America, but you know that when you’re working in a corporate conglomerate, you’re being paid what they deem your position to be worth and not necessarily based on the inherent value that you bring to the table, which means that you could fall short. I remember meeting with financial advisors when I was in Corporate America and establishing plans on how long it would take for me to get to some of those financial milestones I wanted to hit because I was operating under a salary that someone else set that I didn’t get to have as much say.
I know now that I could have negotiated, but I didn’t know then that I had the power to negotiate what I earned in my job and that it might allow me to earn more. My desire is to impart and share with you many of the things that myself and my husband were doing to establish a financial legacy. At Incredible One Enterprises, our mission is to eradicate small business poverty, which we deemed to be a low six-figure business, to normalize access to millions of dollars so that financial legacies can be established. That is what we’re here for. I don’t want anyone to have to experience what is coming down the pike in my family for some of my loved ones that were needing for something different to be done.
I don’t want that for anyone. I don’t think that’s what any of us intend. I believe that we all do the best that we can with what we have. I’m hoping that what I’m about to share with you will give you the ability to do better with what you have. I went through this exercise now. I won’t get into my own financial wealth portfolio. Our clients are, by and large, women. If I had to put a percentage on it, we have about 90% to 95% women and 5% to 10% men clients. Legacy needs to be established on both sides. One of the things that I suggested to my clients, and I did it to demonstrate how easy it would be, is that for every child they have, man and woman, they get a $1 million life insurance policy for that child, where the beneficiary would be that child.
Talking To A Professional
I am not a financial advisor planner. I’m not an insurance agent. I do not play either on TV. I’m going to recommend that anything that I suggest to you, you talk to a professional to validate and clarify it for your own personal situation. This should not be construed as financial advice. I’m not offering you financial advice. I am sharing with you what I have done in order to establish a financial legacy. I highly recommend that as you look to establish yours, you consult the professionals that you should consult. I suggested it because this is what I did for my goddaughter. Others probably have already said too much.
I have taken out $1 million policies so that the loved ones, my beneficiaries, when I transition, will instantly have access to $1 million. This is how we shift trajectories generationally. This is how we change the paradigm of wealth in our families. It is by creating an environment where we think ahead. That’s what I love about insurance. I went through this process of getting a term life policy. The term on the policy is 25 to 30 years. They vary in terms. The way that a term life policy works are they’re cheaper than whole life policies. Term life policies are for a set amount of time. If you should transition during that time, now you’re going to have to look at the stipulations for your policy.
None of us is promised the next day, as well as none of us knows when our day is coming. And this is why we have to plan before it’s too late.
Whatever you were paying into would be paid out to your loved ones. I believe that we can all leave millions by making sure that we have million-dollar life insurance policies. The one that I took out to be demonstrative of this act as an example to my client base on our Move to Millions Mastermind cost me $173 a month to be able to leave $1 million to a loved one as a beneficiary. I wanted to sidebar and share that, but I’m going to give you a couple of tips. Number one, I want you to start where you are. However much time has already lapsed, it’s gone. There’s no need to be remorseful or lament. It’s done. There’s nothing we can do about it.
Moving forward, we can make different decisions that allow us to experience a different reality. Start where you are and get yourself a financial advisor or a certified financial planner. Financial advisors will be able to help you establish a wealth plan. They will be able to help you establish a retirement plan. They will be able to assist you in the beginning phases of estate planning and development, or succession planning if you have your own business. When you establish your business, you should have put into place a set of procedures, bylaws, and what would happen in the event that something happened to you.
You should have that. You should have it for your life just the same as you have it for your business. When you do your articles of incorporation as an LLC, there’s a boilerplate document that you can utilize in the event that something happens. I recommend that you do not take the boilerplate. You sit down and think about what you want to happen in the event that you transition and what you want to happen with your company. Are you leaving it to someone? Is it to be dissolved? Is it to be transferred to key employees?
Documents
A certified financial planner will be able to help you with that and get everything documented and in place so that you’ll have what you need. They will begin the journey of helping you make some of those decisions. They will likely refer you to an estate planning attorney so that you can get the proper documentation. You could probably go to LegalZoom, LegalShield, or any of those places, but you are going to need legally sound documents for whatever it is that you decide. I want you to get some life insurance.
Establishing A Will
Your financial advisor can help facilitate that for you, but it’s the same where you could go online and start the process of getting some life insurance. It’s easy peasy lemon squeezy in the grand scheme of things. Depending upon the type of policy, you may be asked to submit blood work so that they can validate all of that stuff. That’s also going to determine what your premiums are going to be. Your financial advisor will be able to help you with that. You’re also going to need to establish a will. Even if you do not have children, you should still have a will. You should still have directives for what is to be done in the event that you transition.
Here’s one of the things that I learned from what went on with my dad. We know it invariably, but we don’t realize that none of us is promised the next day, as well as none of us knows when our day is coming. This is why we have to plan before it’s too late. Even if you are in the best of health and are in the prime of your life, do yourself a favor and get a will. Even if all you have is three televisions and a pair of Christian Louboutins, determine who gets them when you transition. I’m being slightly funny because you probably have more than you think, and it should have a directive of what you want to happen to it.
One of the things that I can say about what happened with my father is that there was no fighting because the directives were done. There wasn’t a lot to offer financially. For the other things that are to be done, the directives were in place. It allows for an amazing transition on both sides. The loved one gets to rest in peace. The family that remains gets clear indication and instruction of what is to be done in the absence of their loved one. It makes life easier because it can get crazy and chaotic if these things are not in place. We’re now going to shift to your business for these next two tips that I’m going to recommend for you.
Number one, I want you to be operating your business with the 3 to 5-year strategic plan. The goal of this plan is 3 to 5 years. We run on a three-year plan. Every year, we update the next year. We make tweaks to it, but we know where we’re going to be three years from now because that’s the way the business has always been run. As you’re working on that plan, make sure that what’s included in the plan is your livelihood, lifestyle, and financial legacy. This means that you are likely going to have to raise your rates so that you can increase your profit margins.
This is why I’m an amazing advocate for Mike Michalowicz’s Profit First. I subscribe to it. I advocate it. If you happen to get his book, you’ll see my name as the first case study or testimonial inside the second edition of that book because I believe in it. That profit percentage is going to start to give you something that you can put away for your loved ones in the form of cash capital. If you have possessions, you need directives on what happens to your possessions because it makes life easier. Determine what you want to be done with the financial resource that you have. If there are causes that you support, and you want to get a lump sum at the time of your transition, that needs to be documented. Everything needs to be documented.
Put yourself in a position to be able to not just leave your loved ones with memories, but to leave them financially able to continue to live long after you’re gone.
Raise your rates inside of your business to be able to have more that you can put into the profit percentage that allows you to either invest, put it into a trust, or any of those things that your financial advisor will work through with you. I’m trying to be careful about giving specific advice because I am not a financial advisor, but I want you to be able to leave a financial legacy. Truthfully, that’s the only legacy. The memories that they have and how they’ll sit around and laugh at the time are great. They will need that in order to ease themselves into the process that you are no longer in body, that you have become a spirit.
Conversations
We want to leave them something they can fold so that their lives can continue to be better. We should leave the world better than we found it. That’s what legacy is truly all about. Number five, what you should do to leave a financial legacy is you should begin having conversations with the people that are on your team, especially your employees, about your business and the vision of your business. Find out in the event that something happens to you in an untimely manner unexpected if they are interested in continuing the work that you have started. Everything should be documented. It’s the same as we create standard operating procedures for the tasks and roles needed to be completed inside of the business.
We need standard operating procedures, like a will and financial directives, to be established for what it is that we want to at the point of your transition because legacy is financial. I believe that my father did the best that he could with what he had. Some of the decisions that he made were made in limited scope based on his own relationship with money. I told you guys that growing up, my dad preached, “You have to work hard for money,” likely because that is what was taught to him. He instilled in us that we needed to have a strong work ethic to have money. I did develop a strong work ethic, but I did eventually learn that working hard is not necessary to access money, that money is about flow and alignment.
Money is an energy, is always moving, and always needs to move. How different would my life have been had my dad learned that, taught me that, and knew it for himself to be able to create a financial legacy for his family in his transition? I want us all to be able to learn from what we experienced as a family and to put yourself in a position to be able to not just leave your loved ones with memories but to leave them financially able to continue to live long after you’re gone.
I pray that this episode blesses and also spurs you into action and that you meet with someone who can help you make those financial management decisions for yourself for now, as well as yourself for later, and also even put you in a position to be able to go into retirement, living the same way that you live now or better all because you started to think about it now.
Death is one of those things we don’t like to talk and think about, but here’s what I can tell you. It’s coming for all of us. None of us knows the day or the hour, but I assure you. We will all transition back to our creator. We all have the ability, especially now, to determine what happens to our loved ones once we’re gone. I hope that, like me, you will decide that your legacy will be financial. I’ll see you next episode. Take care.
