how to create a legacy?

[The Uninvited]

My brother is in prison. My dad died recently. My mom died 8 years ago.  I’m in my 40s and after watching my mom stay in an abusive marriage for financial reasons (after getting married on her 18th birthday to escape an abusive father) I decided that I didn’t want to be in that position. My net worth is over 2 million. There is a really good chance I’ll never be able to spend it all.  As it stands right now our family legacy is one of generations of abuse, addiction, neglect, a murder that made everything worse than it already was, abandonment, secrets and so on and so forth.  I would like to change that. Knowing that I have some money to spend what could I do to make a positive difference in the world? I’d love to do as many positive things as the rest of my family has done negative.  Earlier this year, before my dad died, I started a scholarship and I plan to continue it every year locally.  What other creative ideas are there?  I know I could donate to charities but I kind of like the idea of what I do being on a more personal level. Thanks for any ideas.

[GuitarStv]

Donate time rather than money initially.  Volunteer at a soup kitchen, animal shelter, or whatever other charity you're interested in.  Opportunities to use your money wisely will regularly pop up doing this.

[Moustachienne]

Donate time rather than money initially.  Volunteer at a soup kitchen, animal shelter, or whatever other charity you're interested in.  Opportunities to use your money wisely will regularly pop up doing this.

This is really good advice. I've created an endowment to support a student-focussed program at a local university, give a large annual donation to an organization working with homeless people and another to a non-profit running an excellent volunteer 'read with children' program in local elementary schools. I've had a personal working or volunteer connection with each of these and it was then clear what I most wanted to support financially. I donate with as few strings as possible so that the recipients with on the ground expertise can best apply the funds.

Internationally has been a bit harder. After an organization supporting girl's education in Ethiopia wound down, I mostly go for 'greatest need' organizations, e.g. Doctors Without Borders. The Ethiopian program had been dear to the heart of a classmate who died young so there was a connection there.

There is nothing, and I mean nothing, that will make you feel richer than supporting the good people working to make our communities, whether local, national, or international, better places. I hope my 'legacy' is like Dorothea's in the novel Middlemarch. :) 

"But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs."

[Laura33]

First, congratulations on breaking free of the terrible legacy you youself inherited.  Well done.

In terms of your own legacy, the biggest luxury you have is the time to figure that out yourself.  What specific issues concern you most?  Find local organizations that do things you care about.  Volunteer there, see how they work, see where the needs are, see what are effective and ineffective ways to address those needs.  That may encourage you to donate to certain things they do -- or it may encourage you to find a different organization if the first one isn't cutting it for some reason. 

There also doesn't have to be a single right answer.  Maybe you donate some money to a scholarship fund, donate some time and money to Habitat for Humanity, and donate your time being a Big Brother/Big Sister to a kid to provide one-on-one support.  Or you could go back to school to get a degree in some sort of counseling area so you can spend your time helping other kids like you were break the cycle.  Or if your skill set is marketing, you could help your chosen charity develop fundraising campaigns and knock on doors to bring in money from other people like you. 

Etc. Etc. Etc.  There are a million ways to help.  The trick is finding the options that suit both your interests and your skill set.  When you find the "thing" (or things), you will naturally gravitate to spending more time and money on it.  The important thing is to just start looking, because the sooner you start looking, the sooner you will find it.

[uniwelder]

Donate time rather than money initially.  Volunteer at a soup kitchen, animal shelter, or whatever other charity you're interested in.  Opportunities to use your money wisely will regularly pop up doing this.

Yes

[JupiterGreen]

This is the thread I needed to read today. You are all so generous. OP, my past was not exactly like yours but also was a mix of tumultuous and poverty among other things. I still feel the psychological impact of this, and never feel like I have enough money for the "what ifs". But like you, my partner and I are going to probably end up having too much. I love this idea of volunteering and giving back while you are still alive. Education was my way out of poverty, so I'm partial to giving in that area. We do fund a small scholarship right now, but could do more. Anyway, I am just following this thread to read about how other people give. It's a nice positive alternative to reading the news.

[SunnyDays]

How about supporting women’s shelters?  Perhaps if your mom had had access to such a resource, she would have been able to escape the abuse.  Depending on how much money you expect to have in excess, you may even be able to start a new one.  There are never enough spaces to meet the demand.

Alternatively, you could put money/time into men’s programs for anger management, to tackle the other side of the equation.