The Naked Opus

You spend a lifetime accumulating assets and building wealth, not only to make a good life for yourself, but also to create a legacy for your family. So why is the estate planning process so often inadequate to the task? Why does the focus on technical aspects, such as tax planning and trusts, feel unsatisfying, even hollow and frustrating, to clients and advisors alike?

The Naked Opus reveals a novel approach to estate planning—a more fulfilling, holistic and purposeful way to pass your wealth on to your heirs, and to ensure it endures for generations to come:

-- Transforms estate planning from a technical moment designed simply to transition assets, into a creative process that fosters stewardship and continues to generate wealth for future generations.

-- Outlines a four-step SMRT planning process—a strategic, multidisciplinary approach that’s focused on the family’s core values and goals—to reveal what is most important, and uniquely yours, to pass on and protect.

-- Explains that family wealth goes far beyond financial assets and shows how to create an Abundant Estate to avoid the entropy that erodes wealth over the long term.

-- Offers a framework to handle complex family dynamics and challenging interpersonal situations.

-- Presents a new model for sustainable succession planning in an entertaining way; learn about the Abundant Estate while reading the engaging story of Rick Gilmour and his clients and colleagues.

With The Naked Opus as your guide, you can peel back the layers of your family situation, discover the purpose behind your planning, safeguard the fruits of your life’s work, and write your own powerful, authentic family story—a legacy that will last for generations to come.

“Chris Delaney’s Naked Opus reveals the true nature of wealth by stripping away the idea that we are alone in our journey. He reminds us that the true measure of wealth is found in living a purposeful, collaborative and connected life—to family, friends and to our own humanity. A thought-provoking, original classic that will surely change lives and the very meaning of wealth itself.”

—Tom Deans, Ph.D., Author of Every Family’s Business and Willing Wisdom

“The Naked Opus is game changing. It adds a new dimension to the wealth management story by demonstrating to advisors how to authentically listen to their clients’ goals to provide solutions that are deeply resonant. A must-read for all investment professionals and their clients.”

—Carol Fickling, Portfolio Manager, Wealth Advisor & Financial Planner at RBC Dominion Securities

“I just loved it! The Naked Opus is well conceived and is a practical story to which both clients and their advisors will relate. It was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.”

—Carol Foley, Lawyer and Chartered Professional Accountant

“The Naked Opus reveals the evolution of estate planning and is timed perfectly as there is so much intergenerational wealth about to transfer. It asks advisors and families to dig deeper and really articulate what wealth means to them and what they are hoping it will mean to their future generations.”

—Rebecca Griffith, MBA, FICB, Small Business Consultant, BexBiz, and Mortgage Agent/Advisor, Streetwise Mortgages

“I can see The Naked Opus being mandatory reading for families starting the discussion of family wealth transfer, or for advisors, such as lawyers and accountants, trying to get into the field of intergenerational wealth advisory services.”

—John Neretlis, MBA, CHRP, FEA, Next Gen Anesti

“Clients are sophisticated. They deserve advisors who are at the top of their game and who embrace modernization. The time has come for advisors to work in collaboration with with one another, ego aside, in order to discover the true values and goals of our clients. Chris cleverly illustrates essential, progressive ways of being of service to families through his storytelling, in a book that takes us through a journey of growth and inspiration.”

—Nathalie Boutet, Family Law Lawyer, Mediator, and Certified Family Enterprise Advisor