John “John A” Warnick, Founder of the Purposeful Planning Institute, Fellow of the American College of Trust & Estate Counsel and author of the Purposeful Trust & Legacies Handbook
I assist families in transferring much more than money to their heirs. I also empower them to invest in their relational wealth and to discover the joy of a shared philanthropic journey with their family.
I want to transform the way lawyers and financial planners provide estate and financial planning services. I believe the Six Paradigms of Purposeful Planning and the Seven Keys of Purposeful Trusts are transformative. They produce "tears at the signing ceremony" when clients understand that their estate planning or business succession documents have captured their voice, vision, life wisdom and values. And they lead to "tears of gratitude" when the inheritor hears their parent or grandparent's voice in a document and understands the great love the grantor had for them and the enhancing gift they have received. As one Collaborator has said, "I believe I do my highest and best worth when I am helping a client put together a Purposeful Trust."
Specialties: Purposeful Trusts and Purposeful Planning.
Training heirs and beneficiaries to understand their roles and responsibilities and to empower them to find their dream and calling while becoming wise stewards.
Consulting with trustees--both in the corporate world and in the private trust company space--and family offices to provide them with awareness of best practices to serve their client families and with connections to world class resources to meet every challenge.
John A. Warnick, who family, friends and clients know as “John A”, describes himself as a “recovering tax attorney.”
After practicing for thirty years as a tax and legal advisor to wealthy families, he left the large law firm he was a partner in to pursue his passion of assisting clients transition their wealth more purposefully.
He works with clients, and their team of advisors, to ensure that the impact of their technical planning will be a positive force in the lives of the rising generations of their family. His blog, Seedlings, provides suggestions on powerful but easy ways in which we can create non-financial legacies for our families and communities. John A has been on what he describes as the path to Purposeful Planning Mastery for almost twenty years.
There are many technical and professional mentors he is indebted to. But he is quick to point out “my greatest teachers have been my clients. It is through them I discovered the secrets for producing not just tax-wise plans but plans that promote family harmony, individual growth and long-term preservation of family wealth.”
Mr. Warnick is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel. He has served as the Philanthropic Editor of the Journal of Practical Estate Planning and serves on the Carter Center Philanthropy Council and the Multidisciplinary Teaming and Professional Collaboration Committee of the National Association of Estate Planners and Councils. His most recent publications include “Generative Trusts & Trustees: A New Paradigm for Design and Administration”, “Innovate or Die”, and "Selecting a Trust Situs in the 21st Century".
Mr. Warnick received a BA magna cum laude from Brigham Young University and his JD from George Washington University with honors.