Under the tactful guidance of veteran philanthropic counselor William M. Eck, CWC, True North Connections professionals delve where others rarely tread. Eck and True North guide families in generational significance, by connecting them to what matters most.   It is a unique and powerful process designed to strengthen and unify generations of your family by uniting the values and beliefs you hold dear, with the financial wealth you have earned.

Among an array of services, True North professionals help navigate what often becomes the "true family direction and legacy," Eck notes. "We focus on the true wealth of the family, beyond the money." Eck says. "We guide the family in a discovery process toward a deeper understanding and stronger connectivity to their family history, traditions, stories and culture."

What Bill uniquely offers . . .
Uniquely qualified professionals like William Eck, CWC, are trained for this challenging environment. They come from the renowned Heritage Institute™, a highly selective 'legacy-management' organization. As the Heritage Senior Course Mentor, Charter Member and Certified Wealth Consultant, Eck is anything but another 'money manager.' He's the objective uncle/confidante and mentor who engages everyone's voice, leadership role and responsibility in the family.

Yet in concert with family elders, Eck eventually implements many pre-inheritance experiences, along with a financial stewardship challenge to potential heirs with opportunities Heritage calls "the family bank, family council and the charitable inheritance.   Through the whole process, guided discovery integrates each member of the family toward their self discovery and "ownership" in the future of the family. The approach and emphasis is on values over valuables.

The Impact on Your Family . . .
The cumulative result: family significance and longevity. By strengthening the family's human, intellectual and social capital, the probability of the financial capital surviving, increases dramatically. The Heritage Institute(TM) was, in fact, founded by veteran estate planning attorneys concerned of watching legacies dissolve in a generation or two. It is not because they had inadequate planning or incompetent advisors. Rather, families planned for the future of their money, not the future of their family.

Those circumstances prevail today. Statistically, 65 percent of wealthy families worldwide lose the family fortune within two generations; 90 percent lose it all in three generations. And with $41 trillion to pass from one generation to the next by 2044, family legacies designed by Eck and True North Connections add longevity to large estates.

Eck-onomics
"I call it Eck-onomics," Eck laughs, "because it has little to do with money and everything to do with the values of the family founders. Passing on the hardships that made you successful is difficult, yet, essential to your family's survival and preservation. The true measure of the promise created by your inheritance plan cannot be found on the bottom line of your personal or business balance sheet. Those numbers define a condition-they do not describe your family."

For Eck, large estates and the Heritage philosophy are home turf. He has been both friend and family coach to generations of philanthropic donors, guiding the emotionally charged aspects of estate planning through charitable legacy and related asset preservation.

What's important to you?
"Yet it all starts with a guided discovery journey, key to understanding who you are and what you value." Eck notes. "Yes, each of us can state what is important to us, but connecting us to the why and how these things became important is critical to family survival. This deeper defining and connectivity is stated in a family vision statement."

Affluenza: A Dysfunctional Relationship With Money
Addressing assets and inheritance issues are often too daunting for elder family members, turning the avoidance of what Eck terms "affluenza" into something easier said than done. Once the family vision statement is in place, the family team of advisor can address the financial and legal needs of the family planning. Meanwhile, the family council begins a journey of guiding the family and a shared vision, toward excellence, cohesiveness and longevity.

The family council and family philanthropy play a key role in enhancing the perhaps, un-aligned members in a new direction of connectivity, trust building and working together. "Passing on the family stories and traditions are important, too," Eck says, "especially when they learn that grandma and grandpa lived on stale bread while building the family fortune."

"We preserve families, first." Eck says. "From there, a unified family can take care of itself, using their financial assets as tools to strengthen and build the family many generations."