Playing Hearts With My Game

🎁 The "Heart" of Your Plan: The Ethical Will

Tis the season for gift giving and I’d like to offer a suggestion for a gift that you’ve likely never given.  I’ve often talked about the importance of establishing an estate plan.  This usually consists of a trust, will, power of attorney and medical directive.  A standard will or trust is a legal document. It is a sterile, technical instruction manual for the distribution of your valuables. It can transfer a stock portfolio, but it cannot transfer your wisdom. It can pass on a house, but it cannot pass on the meaning of that house.

This is why a comprehensive plan must include an Ethical Will.

This is not a legal document; it is a personal one. It is, quite simply, a letter (or video, or audio recording) from you to your beneficiaries. It is your final conversation, a chance to articulate the "why" behind the "what."

An ethical will is the "heart" of your plan. Its contents are yours alone, but they often include:

• Your Story: Describe your origins and the winding journey to the point that they entered into your life.

• Your Values: What you believe is most important in life (e.g., integrity, family, education, community).

• Life Lessons: The wisdom you have acquired through a lifetime of successes and failures.

• Hopes and Dreams: Your wishes for your children and grandchildren. What do you hope they do with their lives and the resources you've left them?

• Explanations: The context behind your legal decisions. This is its most powerful function. "I am leaving the business to John, not because I love him more, but because he has been the one to work in it for 20 years. To Sarah, I have left an equivalent value in liquid assets, so she may pursue her own dreams."

• Expressions of Love: A chance to tell each person what they meant to you, to share a specific memory, or to express your pride in them.

In my experience having honest, open conversations with your beneficiaries about your plans are the best way to keep the peace.  This obviously occurs while you’re still around and everyone is of sound mind.  After you’re gone, the inclusion of an ethical will is a great tool for preventing post-mortem family conflict.  

The "what" of a will and trust can feel cold and, in the fog of grief, can be misinterpreted as a final judgment on your love. "Mom left Sarah the painting; she must have loved her more."

The "why" of an ethical will defuses this conflict before it begins. "I left the painting to Sarah because her grandmother gave it to me, and I know she will one day pass it to her own daughter, preserving a line of matriarchal ownership we both cherished."

Suddenly, a potential fight becomes a moment of understanding.

For you, the grantor, the process of writing it is transformative. It forces you to think beyond the balance sheet and truly consider what your life has meant. It is your chance to tell your story as you want it to be told.  To have the final say in the story that your family will hear when you are gone.

For the beneficiary, the legal documents  and assets provide financial security, but the ethical will provides emotional closure. It is the last "I love you," the last piece of advice, the opportunity to connect. In almost every case, this letter becomes the single most precious item in the entire estate.

The holidays are upon us and this is a fantastic opportunity to gather loved ones to have these discussions.  Those discussions can help you to create your ethical will.  It is one of the best everlasting gifts you can ever give.

📖 The Infinite Game - As it Applies to Your Wealth

Earlier this year, I read Simon Sinek’s The Infinite Game, and while it is written primarily for business leaders, I couldn’t help but see a direct parallel to how we manage wealth.  The markets are a little rocky these past few weeks after having an overall great year so far.  Some have expressed to me the concern that they have about the upcoming year.  Read this and come back to it when you need an extra dose of conviction.

Sinek argues that there are two types of games: finite games and infinite games. Finite games have known players, fixed rules, and an agreed-upon endpoint (think: football, chess, or day trading). The goal is to win.

Infinite games, however, have unknown players, changeable rules, and no finish line. The goal isn’t to win—because you can’t "win" business, marriage, or life—the goal is to keep playing.

Investing is the ultimate infinite game. Yet, the financial media constantly tries to force us into a finite mindset: “Did you beat the S&P 500 this quarter?” “Who won the trade?”  When we treat our wealth like a finite game, we chase returns, take unnecessary risks, and stress over quarterly results. When we treat it like an infinite game, we focus on longevity, legacy, and peace of mind.

Here are the 5 key concepts from the book, applied to your investment journey.

1. A Just Cause

In an infinite game, you need a "Just Cause"—a vision of the future so compelling you are willing to sacrifice short-term comfort to achieve it.

In investing, "making more money" is not a Just Cause. It’s a metric. Your Just Cause is the purpose of your wealth. Is it to ensure your grandchildren graduate debt-free? Is it to fund a charitable foundation that outlives you? Is it to buy back your time so you can pursue a passion?

The Lesson: We invest not to hit an arbitrary number, but to fund the life you want to lead and the legacy you want to leave.

2. Trusting Teams

Sinek emphasizes that leaders cannot succeed without a team they trust implicitly—one where they feel safe enough to be vulnerable.

In our relationship, this means you should feel safe telling me when you are worried, when your goals change, or when you made a financial mistake. If you feel the need to hide your fears or your spending because you want to "look good" to your advisor, we are playing a finite game.

The Lesson: Real wealth management requires radical transparency. Our best work happens when we can have open, honest conversations about the hard stuff.

3. A Worthy Rival

In a finite game, you have competitors you want to beat. In an infinite game, you have "Worthy Rivals." These are players who are better than you at something and, by their existence, reveal your weaknesses and push you to improve.

It is tempting to view the S&P 500 or your neighbor’s "hot stock tip" as a competitor you must beat. Instead, view them as Worthy Rivals. If the market is up 20% and a conservative portfolio is up 8%, the market isn't "winning." It is simply revealing that we have chosen a different path—one prioritizing preservation over volatility.

The Lesson: Stop trying to "beat" the market. Use benchmarks to learn, but measure your success only against your own Just Cause.

4. Existential Flexibility

This is the ability to make a dramatic strategic shift to advance your Just Cause.

In business, this might mean blowing up a profitable product line because a new technology serves the customer better. In wealth management, this is the willingness to change your strategy when your life demands it. It might mean shifting from aggressive growth to income generation earlier than planned because your health changed. It implies that we are not married to a specific stock or asset class; we are married to your long-term well-being.

The Lesson: We must be rigid about your goals but flexible about the tactics we use to get there.

5. The Courage to Lead

It is easy to hold a long-term view when the market is going up. It takes courage to stick to an infinite strategy when the market is crashing, headlines are screaming "Recession," and your finite-minded friends are selling everything.

Courage is choosing the difficult path of discipline over the easy path of reaction. It is ignoring the noise to protect the Just Cause.

The Lesson: Volatility is the price of admission for the returns required to build generational wealth. We provide courage when your conviction wavers.

The Bottom Line

You cannot "win" investing. The only way to lose is to run out of the will or resources to keep playing.  Our goal is to make sure you stay in the game for as long as it takes to fulfill your Just Cause.

Here’s to playing the Long Game!

🗓️ Key deadlines:

As we near the end of the year, there are some deadlines that we need to adhere to.  I've already reached out to the vast majority of people who potentially need to take action, but if any of these apply to you and we haven’t completed it yet, please let me know.

By December 15, 2025

• Transfers of mutual funds (both to Altruist or from Altruist to another institution)

By December 19, 2025

• Charitable donations of cash or securities (use the Charitable Donation Form; forms must be received by this date)

• Charitable donations from an IRA via check (use the IRA Distribution Form; forms must be received by this date)

• Roth conversions

• IRA cash distributions

• Excess IRA contributions

• IRA recharacterizations

• Internal transfers between Altruist accounts

By January 2, 2026

• Cost basis lot swaps for 2025

💰2026 Contribution Limits

The IRS has released the contribution limits for 2026. If you have set your 401(k) to contribute the maximum, you will want to make adjustments on January 1st to reflect these new limits.

• 401(k), 403(b), 457 and Thrift Savings Plan Contribution limits: $24,500

• Age 50+ catch up contribution: $8,000 for a total of $32,500

• Age 60-63 catch up contribution: $11,500 for a total of $36,000

• IRA& Roth IRA:  $7,500 up from $7,000

If you’d like help calculating how much you should contribute to your retirement plans with each paycheck, please let me know and I’d be happy to do the calculations for you.