Best of the FOX 100 2017
| 1. | 10 Steps to Create a Robust IT Security Program Wolf & Company In the last few years, hackers and cyber criminals have become much more sophisticated in how they steal private information, which has led to massive data breaches. These data breaches not only cost an organization hundreds of thousands of dollars in fixes and possible fines, they can ruin a long-established reputation in a matter of hours. Putting in place a robust IT security program will help protect the personal information you maintain from being stolen and misused. |
2. | 2017 Global Entrepreneur Report: Understanding the Pursuit of Success Among 21st Century Elite Entrepreneurs Based on the voices of 2,650 successful business owners across Europe, Asia, the United States and the Middle East, the Global Entrepreneur Report examines the characteristics and motivators of Elite Entrepreneurs with a total net worth of $40 billion. They are highly motivated, resourceful and skillful in the art and science of entrepreneurialism. When looking deeper in the characteristics of what makes an entrepreneur distinct, patterns emerge and are clearer to see when considering the entrepreneurs by their generation, gender, or even by their practice of entrepreneurialism. Their endeavors and the collective results they achieve are a guide and inspiration. Collectively, they help light the way toward future wealth and prosperity. |
3. | Driving Performance in the Family Office: 3 New Approaches for the Data Driven Chief Financial Officer Financial reports and other real-time operational data are often lagging indicators of performance. These metrics, although perhaps lacking precision, may have been sufficiently effective in the past; however, they are less so now because they lag the current cadence of information dissemination and business volatility today. The challenge for many finance functions is to try to keep pace with all the modern sources of insight and analysis that internal and external stakeholders are receiving. If the old ways are now less effective, then what ideas and technologies are replacing them? For the data driven Chief Investment Officer, there are three new approaches for achieving a timelier, higher quality analysis and reporting paradigm. |
4. | Powerful Trust Planning Opportunities in 2017 Many powerful trends are taking place in 2017. While much is still unknown in regard to what actions the new Trump administration and GOP-led congress will take towards the estate tax, planners have many opportunities to provide clients structures for both the short and long term. Additionally, planners will need to continue to factor in the recent development by the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates. Lastly, international families continue to establish trusts in the United States at a record pace, both with and without family members and/or assets in the United States. All of these trends provide advisors and planners powerful opportunities in 2017. |
5. | Protecting the Family 'Nest Egg' Given today’s litigious society, Trustees should always ensure they are acting prudently in administering trusts by keeping an eye on inadvertently exposing trust assets to creditors. One method for a Trustee to confer benefits on a beneficiary without recourse from creditors is to permit the beneficiary to use trust assets rather than making an outright distribution of such assets. Another way a Trustee may limit exposing trust assets to creditor claims involves how the assets held by the trust are structured. |
6. | Reinvigorating Your Family Meetings If you are wondering how it is possible that everyone in your family is offering an excuse for missing the family meeting date, then it is time for some new ideas or approaches to turn these meetings into events that no one wants to miss. How? By planning a purposeful family event that also happens to include the family meeting. In addition, it will go a long way toward increasing a sense of purpose and engagement when it is organized around the right location, meeting format and family bonding activities. |
7. | The Five Common Mistakes of Next Gen Education Programs Many families recognize the importance of preparing future family leaders for the responsibilities of wealth through education programs. It’s a process that needs to be cultivated over many years in a thoughtful and planned manner. However, far too often the next gen education programs fail to get off the ground or maintain momentum. Family members become disinterested, disengaged or simply don’t attend. It can happen when families make five common mistakes in developing an education plan for their rising generation. |
8. | Who Can I Trust to Be My Trustee? The legal qualifications for a trustee are simple: he/she must be over the age of 18 and legally competent to manage his/her own affairs. The practical qualifications, however, are much more complicated. Most importantly, a trustee must have the skill set to properly administer the trust and meet the needs of the beneficiaries and must possess and exercise good judgment. Selecting the person or institution who will act as your trustee is one of the most important decisions you and your family members will make. With these things in mind, you have several places to look to find the best person to carry out your wishes. |
9. | Family Councils and Assemblies: Building Blocks in Family Enterprise Sustainability When the holiday dinner table no longer suffices for annual stockholders meetings or strategic planning sessions, and a growing family needs to redefine its relationship to a family business enterprise, what forms of governance tend to be most helpful? Who should be involved in what, and how can this be established? Indeed, how does a family even get started on development of what is needed? This paper explores these questions via a case study of a client family (a fictitious composition of different client families) developing their two initial formal governance structures: their family council and their family assembly. |
10. | Creating an Effective Cyber-Protection Plan For Your family Office The internet and connected devices are transforming the world, mostly for the better. But for all the advantages cyberspace brings, there are also growing risks for businesses and families, all of which are relevant for family offices. We’re all vulnerable, but wealthy families are particularly attractive targets in the eyes of cybercriminals. Learn how it's possible to manage cyber risks, while taking full advantage of digital technology. |
11. | The Basics of Investing: A Paper to Share With Your Children Learning and practicing the basics of money management can have a profound impact on a young child’s life. What parents often overlook, even those who are investors themselves, is taking the education to the next stage once their children get older—say, around age 11 or 12. At that point, it may be the right time to start a conversation about investing. The lessons learned can not only develop the investor and entrepreneur in your child, but also the philanthropist. By teaching children about investing and creating opportunities for them to put their knowledge into practice, you’re helping them take an important step toward their eventual financial independence. |
12. | A High Net Worth Guide to Hiring Private Staff and Domestic Help So, you need to hire someone to work at your home—a housekeeper, a chef or a personal assistant. You have decided not to contract out these services to a local company, and your family office does not hire staff for you. It is up to you to fill this position. Before letting a stranger into your home, it is important to understand the domestic employment process from hiring through terminating, so you don’t open your family to exposure financially, legally and socially. This guide helps high net worth families prepare to hire domestic and private staff, and includes the labor, tax and insurance responsibilities of being an employer. |
13. | Framework for Constructing Globally Diversified Portfolios Investing evokes emotion, and even sophisticated investors should arm themselves with a long-term perspective and a disciplined approach. Abandoning a planned investment strategy can be costly, and research has shown that some of the most significant derailers are behavioral: the failure to rebalance, the allure of market-timing, and the temptation to chase performance. In examining the five major components for creating and maintaining diversified portfolios, we believe that the top-down hierarchy (when aligned with the investor’s goals and constraints) offers the best chance for success. |