Oscarlyn Elder:
For many of us, family—or our chosen family—is our North Star, our anchor, and one of the reasons we work so hard to build and protect our wealth. Family is also a frequent theme throughout our podcast, no matter the topic or episode. I'm Oscarlyn Elder, head of investment management at Truist Wealth. And this is I've Been Meaning To Do That, a podcast from Truist Wealth, a purpose-driven financial services organization. We appreciate you listening.
For this episode, we're going to revisit our best moments from 2025, where family takes center stage and the importance of family values, purpose, and legacy are woven throughout. Family and the values we hold bring meaning and significance to wealth planning. For example, in May, Drew Egan of the Truist Wealth Center for Family Legacy was our guest. We discussed the subject of raising independent children, an important goal that can be challenging. Drew talked about setting limits and boundaries to privileges such as access to a credit card, especially when parents start to see early signs of dependency or entitlement creeping in.
Drew Egan:
Maybe you switch to a cash system for a little bit and say, "Here's your monthly allowance. Here it is in cash and here's some responsibilities you have. You can make decisions on what you want to spend this money on, but it's up to you to make sure that you have all of your wants and desires covered." And then the tricky part is to be consistent. So as parents, when they come and say, "Hey, I already spent the money and my friends want to go out to the movies," What a great teachable moment to say, "Oh, well, if you don't have the money, it looks like you may not be able to go."
Oscarlyn Elder:
In August, my colleagues, Jenni Marsh and Amalia Jansel of the Truist Leadership Institute joined me to talk about executive coaching, a topic where one may not necessarily expect the subject of family to arise, specifically the challenges and rewards of running a family business. As an executive coach to family business leaders, Jenni said family business management teams can really benefit from outside executive coaching. She told us the stakes they face are so high, it's not just their business that's impacted by their actions, it's the family dynamics that can be impacted too.
Jenni Marsh:
We're coaching several different adult child pairs, but in one particular situation recently, I'm coaching the parent who's in transition. I'm always working with the adult child who will follow this parent. We occasionally meet together. The person that I'm working with is at the later stages of their career, thinking about what's next and developing that part of their life, and the person Amalia is working with in quite a different place and thinking about the business and the innovation there. But they are in a very committed relationship that they're protective of and they understand could be at risk in this kind of transition and all of the decisions that they're making together for the business. So our role is to support their conversation, to disrupt and help escort them through those difficult parts, sensitive parts, right? Emotional parts of the conversation, the relationships, and the decisions that they make together, and leverage their unique strengths.
Oscarlyn Elder:
Family comes up often when we're talking about philanthropy. In November, we had a great conversation with entrepreneur, Monica Wooden, who told us about her journey from working at IBM to starting and then selling a successful tech company with what she calls a win-win-win business philosophy. With the money she made, she became an active philanthropist and among her many projects are charitable gifts and scholarship funds that celebrate the lives and work of her mother, father, siblings, and other family members. These individuals had a profound influence on her values early on, and Monica says if she can channel their positive influence into a benefit for someone else through giving, she wants to be around to see it.
Monica Wooden:
I don't want to die and then just have a bunch of money that goes someplace. I want to see it today. I want to see the people who are going to be successful in lifting others. You have to understand that this whole thing about compound interest, it's a simple thing, but it's amazing how we forget about it. We want the newest of this and I buy a car and I drive it till it doesn't work anymore. I still have a car in my garage that I bought in the year 2000. It's 25 years old. It gives me great joy, instead of buying another hot rod, to give that money to some of these very purposeful places that have a chance to lift everyone. And I love doing it. There's so many great projects out there. At the same time, it takes really good people that you're investing in to do these projects. And I think that's the number one lesson for me. You have to look at the people and they have to have similar values as you.
Oscarlyn Elder:
And when it comes to charitable giving, it's not just our own families that matter. In February, I sat down with Ed Satell, founder of the Satell Institute, to talk about his many years modeling effective philanthropy, specifically through the model of CEO level corporate engagement. Ed has been a philanthropist for decades. He shared with us that early on, it was quite a challenge to focus his resources productively. So in order to focus, he identified his five most important passions and he really stuck to those in his giving.
Ed Satell:
And the five areas I chose, first was disadvantaged children. I believe that every child is entitled to a happy childhood, and many don't get that. And then the second group I took an interest in was Children of Promise. The third area I took an interest in was basic research. And the fourth area was the community. I lived in a community I loved, Philadelphia. I immigrated there from Massachusetts, fell in love with Philadelphia, and helped with community things. And the fifth thing was my own heritage. And those were my five areas of giving. If it was outside that, I left it for others. If it was inside that, I then had great interest in it to make it a better community.
Oscarlyn Elder:
If you've heard our podcast before, you know we always ask our guests about something they've been meaning to do, but haven't done yet. And we ask them to publicly commit in front of our listeners to getting it done. They've all been gracious in sharing what they've been meaning to do and, no surprise, often they've been meaning to do something involving their family. The theme of future planning comes up often as it did when my Truist Wealth colleague and chief investment officer, Keith Lerner, joined me in April. Keith spends a lot of time thinking about markets and investing, but he shared that he and his wife had fallen behind just a bit when it comes to estate planning.
Keith Lerner:
Since our second daughter was born, we have not updated our estate and we just met with someone late last year, and I think I get an email every two weeks about finishing it. And this has been going on, I hate to say this, for months. So I will commit to finishing this estate plan that we spent some good money to do, and it's super important. That's why we did it in the first place.
Oscarlyn Elder:
I'm pleased to report that I checked in with Keith before recording this episode, and Keith and his wife had made progress on their estate planning. They have a couple more documents that need notarization, but they're pleased to be where they are on the journey.
In our August executive coaching episode, Amalia Jansel of the Truist Leadership Institute had been meaning to update her family's estate planning too, and it was a rather dramatic moment that inspired her to really focus on that.
Amalia Jansel:
I was on a flight a few months ago and the plane was hit by lightning. I thought I was going to die, honestly. And in those moments, I thought, "Dear God, if you save me, I promise I'm going to do estate planning, the first thing that I'm going to do when I get off the plane." Of course, I didn't do that. This was a few months ago, so I commit now publicly to that.
Oscarlyn Elder:
It was a different paperwork task, this time about insurance, that my colleague, Alex Null, had been putting off when he came on the show in February to talk about longevity planning. Alex is managing director of brokerage products at Truist Wealth, and he acknowledged that old saying about doctors making the worst patients.
Alex Null:
A lot of times, financial advisors are also their worst clients. I'm a certified financial planner and one of the things that I've been thinking about lately is reviewing certain coverages I have from an insurance perspective. I have two teenage kids. One is a freshman in college, and they've both started driving, and one is driving in a different state. So, reviewing my personal insurance coverages to make sure, one, I have the most cost-effective insurance out there as you have teenage drivers. For those of you who do, you know your premiums go up a little bit. But then also wanted to make sure I have adequate coverage, I have the right coverage for the needs that I have.
Oscarlyn Elder:
I've checked in with Alex and he wanted me to share that he did complete his insurance review of coverages and made some adjustments based upon that.
And finally, let's go back to Drew Egan of Truist Wealth Center for Family Legacy from our May episode about raising independent heirs. Drew is the dad of a big and active family, and like for many parents, time with his kids is passing by all too quickly. He told us about his plan to preserve the memories and sentiments about what his family means to him while he still can, and in a way that will mean something both to him and his loved ones.
Drew Egan:
For me, I've been meaning for a long time to create an individual video for each of my six boys and for my wife, looking directly at the camera, telling them the things that I love about them, the skills that I see in them, their talents and traits. I see this as a way that if I were to suddenly die tomorrow, they could turn to that and have a conversation with their dad or husband and feel my love and care for them. And my goal really is to actually do this maybe every five or 10 years, and it could be a meaningful thing whenever it is that they go and watch these if ever, but to me, I know it would be meaningful for me.
Oscarlyn Elder:
I love that one because it's about communicating, and communication is such a big part of all the things that we talk about here on I've Been Meaning To Do That, not just about our finances, but also about our values, purpose, and hopes for our families. So I'll finish out the year by sharing how much I appreciate you, our listeners. Thank you for being here and being part of our podcast family.
If you missed any of these episodes or any of our past episodes, you can find them all at truist.com/dothat. I really hope you'll go back and listen because today I've shared a small slice of the good advice and wisdom our guests have shared on the podcast. As always, if you enjoyed this episode, please be sure to subscribe, rate, and review the podcast and tell your friends and family about it. If you have a question for me or a suggestion for the podcast, email me at dothat@truist.com.
I'll be back soon for another episode of I've Been Meaning To Do That, the podcast that gets you moving toward fulfilling your purpose and achieving your financial goals. Talk to you soon.
Speaker 9:
Oscarlyn Elder is an investment advisor representative, Truist Advisory Services Incorporated.
Alex Null is a registered representative of Truist Investment Services, Inc. and Investment Adviser Representatives, Truist Advisory Services, Inc.
Keith Lerner is an Investment Adviser Representatives, Truist Advisory Services, Inc.
Any comments or references to taxes herein are informational only. Truist and its representatives do not provide tax or legal advice. You should consult your individual tax or legal professional before taking any action that may have tax or legal consequences.
