Ep. 1 - Introduction to the Good Steward Law & Wealth

Welcome to the Good Steward Law and Wealth Podcast, where host Ledly Jennings explores law and finance to help listeners become better stewards of their wealth. Each episode covers the latest trends and strategies in estate planning, elder law, investment, and wealth management. Tune in for the knowledge and tools for financial success and security.

Welcome to the Good Steward Law and Wealth Podcast. This is the first episode, um, just kind of an introductory episode to give you guys an idea of what we're going to be talking about and what you can expect going forward. Um, well, my name is Ledly Jennings. I'm sure a lot of the listeners here know me or clients of mine, but I am an estate planning attorney. So I do, um, wills, trusts, business planning, that kind of thing in a law firm that I started. It's called Ledly Jennings Law, and our slogan is "A Good Steward Firm," hence the name of the podcast. So we'll kind of dive into more of what that means into this episode and then really in depth in future episodes. But generally, myself, we're going to— this is, you know, kind of a personal podcast, so we'll get in depth about family and that kind of thing. My family, I have a wife, Bethany, that is a nurse practitioner at a children's hospital. So she actually does real important work. And then we have a kid, he's 2 years old, and then one on the way due next month. So got a lot going on here. But my background and why we're doing this podcast is the Good Steward Law and Wealth Podcast. So we're going to talk a lot about law and wealth, but in my realm of things, so I have a law degree and a master's degree in business. And so that's kind of my background. And then right after law school, I started working in an investment bank. So got a good mixture of financial advising, wealth management, that kind of thing. And then after that, I wanted to dive more into the law side of things with my law degree. So I started with an estate planning attorney, you know, he was one of the best or is one of the best in the Nation, kind of a thought leader in estate planning and learned under him for years and years. And then I decided I wanted to start my own firm to really mix in my background of finance and estate planning and mesh the two together in a way that could really help my clients. So that's kind of the, the basis of this podcast and why it's called Law and Wealth is we're going to mix both topics into this and everything we talk about is how does the law side of estate planning mix with the wealth planning side of everything. And what you can expect from this format is we'll probably do about 3 to 4 episodes a month, and they will vary in type. So a couple of the episodes will be short-form, really digestible content that dives deep into estate planning mainly. So I will talk about everything you need to know, you know, what is probate, Why is it good? Why is it bad? Which the answer is it's bad. So why is it bad? And then we'll dive into tools to avoid probate, you know, what is a revocable trust? What are irrevocable trusts? We'll talk about power of attorneys, you know, everything you need to know, and we'll get into details on those. But also, we're going to bring in experts that are going to talk about the finance side of things, you know, you probably have a 401(k), an IRA, we'll talk about that, we'll talk about what is a Roth versus a regular. We'll talk about 529 plans, you know, we'll do short-form episodes that dive deep into topics that actually are valuable to you and you can take some good practical tips from. But the real fun will happen with our long-form episodes. So, we're going to have guests on that, like I said, one, are experts in their fields, you know, the best at what they do, and I'm just going to pick their brain and see what kind of value we can take from that. Part of being a good steward is being the best at what you do and doing the most with what you've been given. So, we're going to have a lot of interesting guests on. You know, it'll be experts in the field, but we may have athletes, successful business owners, just people in that realm who are really good at what they do, fitness instructors, you know, anything you can think of, just someone that I admire or that I've came across in my meetings with clients. You know, we meet with dozens of clients a month, and most of the time they are successful business owners, wealthy in some form or fashion. And I just really want to pick their brain and share with you the things that I get to learn in daily meetings with them. So, that's what we'll talk about. And when we're saying wealth, I'm not just talking about financial wealth. Yes, it does include the finances, but it also includes everything that we have, you know, your relationships, your family, your job, your hobbies, all of that is included in your wealth. So, when we're talking about growing and managing wealth and doing it to the best of our abilities, it means really everything in our life. So, that's kind of what we'll have going on. And what I really wanted to talk about today to set the foundation was our slogan of A Good Steward Firm. So our website, you can go to agoodstewardfirm.com and see what we're about. But basically, it is a biblical philosophy. And that's how this podcast is formed, is how to be a good steward of everything that we own, law and wealth side of it. So what is a good steward. Like I said, it's a biblical philosophy, so it may help if I kind of resort back to this parable in the Bible that I will share with you a little bit. I won't read it word for word, but I'll look down a little bit so I can make sure I'm paraphrasing correctly. So the parable that really lays out what a good steward is, is it's called the Parable of the Talents. It's in Matthew 25. So basically, to set the scene, there is this rich man who is getting ready to go on a journey. He's going to travel for a long time. It may be a vacation, not sure what it is, but he brings his workers together. So there's 3 of them that he brings together and he tells them, I'm going on this journey. I have this property that I want you to manage for me. So in the parable, they call it talents, which apparently talents is like money. And I think it's a lot of money because in the footnotes here it says it's about 20 years worth of labor for that laborer. So that'd be like your salary times 20. So basically what he does is he gives one worker 5 talents, he gives another worker 2 talents, and then another one 1 talent and says, manage this for me, I'm entrusting this to you. According to your abilities while I'm gone. So basically he gives this to him, says, manage it for me, I'm going on a trip. And then he's gone for a good while, and he comes back and calls the servants together and says, hey, what did you do with my talents? Where's my money? That kind of thing. So the one servant that he gave 5 talents to comes to him and says, well, here you go, boss, I took these talents and invested them and traded them and turned it into 5 more talents. So here's 10 for you. And the rich man says, great job, you've been faithful over a little, so now I'm going to entrust you with much more. And then the next guy comes up, the one that he gave 2 to. So he takes the, the 2 talents and he said, I turned these into 4 talents, here you go. So, and then he's— the rich man says same thing, great job. I'm going to entrust you with more. And then the guy with 1 talent came up and said, well, boss, I was scared I was going to lose everything, so I buried it in the ground, and here's your 1 talent back. And basically the rich boss man got mad at that and said, why didn't you at least put this in the bank and let me make some interest on my money? So he took the 1 talent and gave it to the guy that now has 10 talents. So, and at the end of that, he said, everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. So that whole story right there is a lot to break down, but it's actually pretty interesting and lays out kind of the good steward philosophy of everything. So the first takeaway I look at that is right there, he says he gave them the talents each to his own ability. And I think about this with like estate planning. When we are planning for how we are leaving things to our kids, we have to think about their ability and how we leave things. So, you don't want to give, you know, your young kids several millions of dollars or whatever your wealth is because they're going to waste it. So, you have to give it to them according to their own ability. And when they're young, you know, you give your kids certain responsibilities. You know, maybe that is a chore here or there or an allowance, something like that. They get more, and as they get older, they get more responsibility and more and more, until eventually you've trained them and they are mature enough to handle the wealth that you're going to leave them. So that's the first tenet of what I look at in this parable. The second thing that we have to take away and understand, he says he is entrusting this property to his workers, and that's just like in our life. Everything we have is a gift from God. It's on loan. None of it's ours. You know, our job, our family, our finances, all that is a gift. And it's our job to do the best we can with that gift to manage it. So, the third tenet is it comes with responsibility. So, every gift that we have has a responsibility with it. We're not expected to just take that gift and let it sit there and manage it and, you know, keep it the same. We're expected to grow it and achieve the best that we can get out of it. So, do everything to the best of our abilities, grow it, invest it, manage it, you know, do what we're supposed to do so it can have a further impact. And in that article, it said, for everyone that has, more will be given and he will have an abundance. And then he said, you're faithful over a little, I'll set you over much more. So, that is the impact that we can have with a good estate planning and being good stewards of what we have. And I think about it in several situations, like my parents set me up to be successful to where I could get a good education, get a good job, start out on the right foot financially. And I could do one of two things with that. I could just sit on it and do, you know, the bare minimum to get by. Or I could grow what I've been given the opportunity I've been given and manage it and increase it. For my children. So, I take what my parents started with, build it and increase it, leave it to my kids who can then start on an even better foot and have more responsibility and more impact. And it's not just you're leaving them more wealth, it's that you are training them and leaving them in a better position than what you started with to have a bigger impact. So, that is the whole concept of being a good steward of what we've been given and how we're going to relate this to the law and to the wealth and some takeaways that you can get from this to apply to your own life. On the wall in our law firm, we have our values listed, and there's 4 of them. So, we have good stewardship is one, which is what we just talked about. The second is generational living. So, every plan we do, every thought is with the next generation in mind, and that is how you are a good steward of your wealth. The third are excellence and diligence. So, every plan we do, we apply excellence and diligence to it. But that applies to everything in your life is you're doing to the best of your abilities. And the fourth is service. So, we want to have some sort of service and impact in what we do. In every estate plan we do, in every business decision we make, it's all focused on growing wealth for the next generation. So, that is twofold where you have to manage it while you're living to grow it. Make good decisions, but then leave it in a responsible manner. So, I know that is a big concept that I could dive more and more into. But generally, that is what we're talking about when we think about good steward law and wealth is how do we use tips, tricks, you know, how do we look at the law and manage it to grow during our lives, but also leave our kids in a better position. So, that's the goal of this podcast is to layout, whatever it may be, law planning, tax planning, insurance planning, just the things that you could do to increase your wealth and manage it better. That's kind of what we're going to talk about here in all of these episodes. And like I said, there will be 3 to 4 a month, and we will have some really cool guests on, and we'll dive deep into specific topics so you can have some practical takeaways from each episode. What we would like for you to do is if you could like and subscribe on this podcast as we launch it and share it with your friends, anyone that you think would be interested in this, or anyone that you think would make a great guest. I'd love to hear from you. And then like our social medias, everything we do with L. Jennings Law, you can like and follow that, and we'll have regular updates on the podcast and different things we're doing with the firm. But if you listen to this and you find some takeaway that you think, I need to apply this right now in my own life, then just go to our website goodstewardfirm.com and you can learn all there is to learn about our law firm and what we do. But also you can click there, book a meeting, set a consultation with me, and we can actually dive deep into your family situation. So yeah, that is pretty much it, what I wanted to cover in this first episode. And then next week we will have another one for you where I'm going to dive deep into What is probate and how do we avoid it? So that'll be, uh, interesting for most of them.

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