Wills make us feel RICHER
File under: The other 99%. Are we "wealthy"?
'Til death do us part ... from our money
Households assume they're middlin', not rich. Yet "routine" assets, in the end, can add up to a BIG legacy for doing good ... especially for the childless.
Surprising fact #1?
The majority of US households are childless.
I know: I've waited dutifully for school buses to discharge, seen clustered parents sipping their coffees outside day care, heard the Happy Meal's thunder of many a McDonald's PlayPlace.
I didn't suspect it was possible that US households were "majority childless." Yet it's true.
In 2013, Reuters reported that nearly 57% of US households had no kids. Dr. Russell James, America's leading researcher into bequest behavior, confirmed that demographic fact during our January 26, 2023 bequest webinar. And added some brushstrokes....
"Baby boomers," he said, "are dramatically more likely to be childless. And childlessness is the dominant predictor of likelihood of including a [charitable] gift [in their Wills]."
He offered two quick stats:
"If somebody's got a Will, and they are over 55 in the US, if they have grandchildren, about 7% of those folks will include charity [in their Will]."
On the other hand, "If they're married with no offspring, HALF [50%] include a gift to charity."
Recite those numbers again: 7% vs. 50%. File for future reference. Dr. James' summary: "Childlessness is a massive, massive indicator [of bequest giving]."
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Are bequests "major gifts for the rest of us?"
Professor James again: "Yeah, absolutely."
Surprising fact #2?
Once they have a Will, people switch their self-perception ... from seeing themselves as pocket-change donors to seeing themselves as wealthy donors.
Dr. James brought us up to speed on this little-known phenomenon. "This is nationally representative data. It's from a study that's been going on over 30 years in the US called the Health and Retirement Study."
It comes down to self-image and self-awareness.
"For most people," he explained, "when they think of charity, they think of something that comes from disposable income. They think of 'pocket-change' gifts. They think of something that compares to what they just spent at Starbucks."
Here's the vital pivot:
"For most people, the very first time they will EVER commit to a gift from their wealth is when they make a [charitable] gift in a Will."
Until then they've been 'pocket-change' donors.
Now they see themselves differently.
Dr. James: "Once a person begins to think of her/his wealth as 'donation relevant,' not just pocket change ... that can lead to a dramatic transformation in her/his giving."
People start thinking BIGGER ... triggered by the inclusion of a charitable gift in their Will.
The research, via Dr. James: "A person's propensity to make larger gifts, $1,000 or more $10,000 or more, [becomes] dramatically higher AFTER they've included charity in their Will ... because now we're talking about gifts of wealth, not about giving pocket change."
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