Legacy is one of those things that, depending on your personality, you think way too much about or don't think enough about. For the people that don't think about legacy, they're usually not thinking about it because they're drowning in the day-to-day, going through money troubles, focusing on career, figuring out what to do about kids schooling, etc. Legacy is far from the minds of people that are busy because it's a little too big picture, a little too far away to matter when daily survival is at stake.

The people that think about it too much do so because they have achieved a lot of the goals that they've set for themselves. Maybe they're older, maybe they've done many things that they've set out to do. As cool as those accomplishments might be, there's something missing when the achievements are solo. Legacy is a bigger and more daunting group challenge and seemingly worth the effort you put in.

Yet the topic is overwhelming. How do you make plans that your heirs will execute on? What can you do about stuff that you intend to last many years after you're gone?

Planning for something so big is scary because there's no guarantee and you're not going to be around to fix things should anything go wrong. It's a lot like what you'd imagine Satoshi felt before releasing Bitcoin. You want to design something that will run on its own, with enough room to correct any systematic weaknesses, yet with enough structure so that a single generation can't completely ruin it.

Johann Kurtz does a great job with this topic, breaking down our modern biases about inheritances, giving a much fuller picture of what a leaving a good legacy looks like and strategies for putting your family in a position to succeed in that regard.

Love as the BasisLove as the Basis

The book was a lot more focused on love than I expected, and this is partly due to his framing of the issue as one of true charity. We tend to think of charity as doing something great for a people far away, which, as he points out, is much closer to philanthropy. And philanthropy is a fiat phenomenon that's much closer to blind almsgiving. Real charity is much more local and much more focused on people you actually meet and have relationships with. And it's from this framing that he shows that leaving a legacy necessarily means a much deeper love for the people that you are closest to, your family, your neighbors and your community.

For me, the book challenged me to love my children, not just in getting them opportunities and skills they need, but in helping them to handle the wealth that I will be leaving them. The problem with leaving wealth is not in the wealth itself, but in preparing those that are receiving it. They need the virtue to resist the enormous temptation that comes with such resources. And it's not just temptation to indulge in whatever addictions they might have, but the temptation to go with the flow, to do what's considered "good" by the mores of the day. They need the virtue to be responsible with the power entrusted to them.

Inheritance in that sense, is a bit like handling a firearm. You need training to use it properly so you don't hurt yourself. And if I'm honest with myself, training them to be responsible is the part that I've been doubting about myself. Can I teach my children to not waste the money and indulge themselves? Can I raise them up so that they, too, leave a legacy? Will they also leave the family behind better than they found it?

There's a Chinese saying about how wealth dissipates in 3 generations because so few wealthy people succeed in this endeavor. Yet, as Kurtz shows, there are many families that haven't dissipated their wealth, and seeing how they raise their children is a big part of leaving that legacy. In other words, the inheritance can't be just the material goods, it has to also be virtue and character that can handle those material goods.

Illiquid EstatesIlliquid Estates

Which brings me to the intersection with Bitcoin, because Johann recommends that we leave our children with illiquid assets. The reason being that something liquid is very tempting to spend and indulge in. It's way too tempting and easy to blow liquid wealth than illiquid, which is one of the subtle ways in which fiat money, making everything liquid, has destroyed legacies.

Bitcoin, unfortunately, is also very liquid. And indeed, this is at a deep level why it's so hard to hold. It's too divisible and too easy to spend and holding on to it in the midst of every temptation that money can buy requires an enormous amount of restraint.

So this book has me rethinking what I can leave to my children that they can take care of for their children and grandchildren. Is it land? Is it buildings? Is it, perhaps, even a city or a citadel?

These are useful questions for me to ponder. And I appreciate Johann bringing them up in a framework that helps me align my wealth to my goals.