FOX Series

At Family Office Exchange (FOX), one of the questions we hear most frequently is:“How many single family offices are there?”Unfortunately, there is not a clear answer. There is an older, often-quoted statistic of between 3,000 and 5,000 single family offices in the United States – but the origin of those figures is unknown. More recently, Family Wealth Report estimated that there were about 6,000;1 Campden Wealth puts the figure at 7,300.2With such widely varying numbers, and no single source to verify the estimates, the question becomes how to accurately “guesstimate” this number. One way to ...

What do our future family leaders need to learn? When should family education begin and how formalized should it be? How will we adequately prepare the rising generation for the lives they will lead and the roles they will play? Sound familiar? These are the common questions I hear from many of our member families lately. The questions are both simple and complex. The answers are the same. What do our future family leaders need to learn? Has your family gone through an exercise, perhaps at a family meeting, and had this conversation? Have you defined, together, what is mo...

What is the difference between a life insurance review and a life insurance audit? In this episode, Steve Herlihy at Wellspring Associates sheds some light on why it might be time for your family to consider a life insurance audit, and outlines some life insurance basics that younger-generation family members should know.Subscribe to FOXCast on Apple Podcasts here. Listen Now: Is it Time for a Life Insurance Audit? Your browser does not support the audio element. Below is a transcript from the conversation:KC: So, life insurance. I know a recent conversation that FOX had with Wellsp...

Earlier this year, we completed our 2019 FOX Survey on Values-Aligned Investing alongside our annual Global Investment Survey for the first time. We felt strongly that it was time to gather information on this growing trend - and share the findings with our members and their advisors – because there has been a fundamental shift in how families of wealth view capital deployment. Today’s families of wealth are increasingly focused on aligning their activities and dollars with their values. What was once a conversation held at the philanthropic table is now being discussed across the capital spec...

Below is an excerpt of an article that originally appeared on BDO.com Cyber-attacks and their success rate in network breaches are increasing in frequency and sophistication. At the root of many successful cyber-attacks are the vulnerabilities that exist within network infrastructure, software applications and the very humans that use those networks and applications. The human element of cybersecurity deals with normal human interactions through email and social media (e.g., vulnerabilities such as email phishing, LinkedIn and Facebook hacking, etc.) and general cybersecurity awareness an...

Just as family offices differ in most ways from other types of businesses, Human Resources (HR) in a family office presents its own unique challenges. That’s why family office executives find it beneficial to share their experiences with one another—because there are no one-size-fits-all methods and many of these challenges can only be understood by a peer. When the FOX Executive Council ‘14 met in Salt Lake City, UT earlier this year, a discussion on human resources—specific to family offices—was a highlight. Cassie Atteberry, HR Director at Chinquapin Trust Co., and Bonnie Gauger,...

In this episode, we sit down with Dan Tarlas, Senior Managing Director at Asset Consuting Group (ACG) to talk about what it takes to partner with families as investment consultants; managing risk appetites and creating an approach that is truly customized and objective.Subscribe to FOXCast on Apple Podcasts here. Listen Now: Investment Programs for Families with Dan Tarlas of Asset Consulting Group (ACG) Your browser does not support the audio element. Below is a transcript from the conversation:KC: Asset Consulting Group (ACG) is known for investment programs that are customized and...

For the last two years our family office has been on a deliberate journey to change our culture. It's been a lot of work and learning as we go, but we now have year-over-year data showing that an overwhelming majority of our employees say that culture has dramatically improved. We know that there is A LOT of talk about culture and how important it is to the success of any family office. But what can you actually DO about it? I think it comes down to 4 deliberate steps:Decide if you need a culture intervention by assessing current stateDefine your desired future cultureBuild and implement ...

In this episode, we check in with Ruth Easterling, Managing Director of Member Services at FOX on the importance of developing a strong trustee/beneficiary relationship.Subscribe to FOXCast on Apple Podcasts here. Listen Now: Mindfulness around the Trustee/Beneficiary Relationship Your browser does not support the audio element. Below is a transcript from the conversation:KC: You work with many different types of families, just to give the listener some background—some have recently had a liquidity event, others are multi-generational, business-owning families growing in complexity. ...

p { padding-bottom:3px; } li { padding-bottom:0px; } Tackling the 'One, Two, Threes'Let’s never forget integrated services are the crucial deliverables by a family office and these services provide the best evidence to judge the performance of the office. There are three key inputs related to services, (1) strategy and goals, (2) scope, and (3) execution, that again and again are cited as critical for success by family offices when serving clients. Call them the “one, two, threes” of family office services.The three elements should be considered key building blocks for any servic...

The Need for a Formal Governance ProcessAs the family grows, decision-making moves from the dining table to the board room and family members are often reluctant to formalize their decision-making process. Each branch of the family wants to broaden their options rather than to narrow their options. Written ground rules for decision making makes some family members feel confined by the formality. Only gradually do stakeholders come to trust the ground rules for group decision-making, as these rules prove themselves valuable over time when uncertainty or crisis erupts. Without guiding princi...

In our first FOXCast episode, we check in with David Toth, Managing Director at FOX about his recently-published study, Transformation of the Ultra Wealth Business. Subscribe to FOXCast on Apple Podcasts here. Listen Now: Adapting to Change in the Great Transfer of Wealth Your browser does not support the audio element.KC: How is the Ultra Wealth Industry Transforming? DAVID TOTH: It’s pretty remarkable. I guess there’s just a point in time where we found it was time to declare that it is transforming. And perhaps it has been all along. The point in time, for us, is...

Below is an excerpt from my article, Understanding the Voice of the Rising Gen, from the 2019 FOX ForesightTM publication.As wealth owners shift gears to succession planning, there is an entirely new set of issues to tackle. Preparing the Rising Generation for leadership is never easy. While ea...

Below is an excerpt from the article, Understanding the Voice of the Rising Gen, from the 2019 FOX ForesightTM publication.As wealth owners shift gears to succession planning, there is an entirely new set of issues to tackle. Preparing the Rising Generation for leadership is never easy. Wh...

What happens when you bring a group of family learning and client experience officers together to trade experiences and share lessons learned? Magic – in the form of answers to big questions, tried-and-true resources to take back to the office, and support from peers who understand what you do every day.There is something special about the FOX Council experience that allows family office executives to step out of the day-to-day to invest in their personal and professional development by learning from experts and sharing their challenges and successes in a safe space with their true peers. Whil...

Evolving from Business Owner to Financial FamilyFamilies held together by a family-controlled business share a feeling of pride about the business. Their identity as a family is tightly woven into the fabric of the business that houses the history of their hard work and success. Many entrepreneurs who have enjoyed the challenge of building a family business face the decision to sell or take significant liquidity out of the business with mixed feelings—and a certain amount of trepidation. While liquidity has its benefits, it is important to recognize the reality of this life-changing ...

FOX Councils provide an exclusive, small-group setting to share knowledge, discuss experiences, and gain insights. Our FOX Financial Executive Council, consisting of CFOs, controllers, and tax managers who work in family offices, met in January. We asked one of the Council Chairs, Jane Flanagan, to share what’s top of mind for these members.Q: One of the great benefits of the council is that members have the opportunity to share their challenges and what’s top of mind for them. Can you share some of the top concerns?The councils are very much a safe, confidential space, but I can sha...

Disruption in our industry is inevitable, whether it is the growing transitions of businesses and wealth, or technology innovations such as robotics that will transform how we do things. .blog-banner{ display:none; }

Below is an excerpt from my article, Forging a Direct Investment Path, found in the 2019 FOX ForesightTM publication.Family offices are forging ahead—increasing their appetite for direct investments in real estate and operating businesses—as they continue to reassess the more traditional approaches to building investment portfolios.Family offices have typically followed the investment approach of institutional investors. For the past 20 years, this has led many family office investors to pursue a “top down,” quantitatively modeled portfolio, generally structured around asset class categor...

We all are experiencing the outsize impact of political issues on the markets. For this reason, I’ve tapped PIMCO’s Head of Public Policy, Libby Cantrill, to discuss global challenges to investors through a political and economic lens, including the rise of populist movements and challenges to democratic institutions around the world at our upcoming 2019 FOX Global Investment Forum, March 13-14 in New York.In her blog post below, Libby briefly maps out her outlook for 2019. She believes politics and policy out of Washington will continue to drive – and in some cases, weigh on – markets, much l...

When families think about “risk mitigation,” they typically are thinking about preparing themselves to handle problems when and if they occur, perhaps by creating a private trust company (PTC) to succeed individual trustees, or by purchasing insurance to guard against the losses that may result. However, as Benjamin Franklin once said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” By instituting a framework for collective decision-making that involves and engages the entire family, many of the most common risks that PTCs face can be avoided. When people feel that their concerns are h...

Adapted from an article in Trust & Estates.Crafting an Entrepreneurial VisionWhen there’s disruption, there’s opportunity. Therefore, it’s important that successful business-owning families continue to focus on shaping meaning and purpose for the family.For families that intend to remain family-influenced and owned, it’s crucial to take the timely steps outlined below to establish their vision and plan for the future. As family leaders move toward an enterprise mindset (that is, transitioning from being a business-centric family to being a family-centric enterprise with a thoughtful way to...

As family interests expand beyond the core operating business and foundational family office services, the family, executives, and entities involved typically experience growing complexity. This complexity may be experienced through:Unclear decision channelsBeing overwhelmed with administrative details, new projects, acquisitions and lack of processUncertainty about how a new initiative moves the family forward – or notExpanding number of family households and beneficiariesA general sense that it is time to take a step back and look at the bigger picture of the family’s direction Pri...

Private Trust Companies (PTCs) first drew industry attention when industry elder, Jay Hughes, in his book Family Wealth – Keeping It in the Family called out the structure as a powerful tool in long-term family governance. That was in 1997. Over the ensuing decades hundreds of families have formed a regulated PTC and, according to reports from Wyoming firms servicing these structures, a thousand-plus have formed unregulated PTCs. With that said, has the potential of the Private Trust Company model to adapt and remain relevant to family inter-generational and enterprise needs been demonstr...

Even in a tight labor market, family offices maintain a remarkably high employee retention. And that’s a good thing...right? Family offices have built compensation and benefit plans that have been excellent at helping to retain employees. The question facing them is: How will they adapt these plans to keep up with the need to recruit a new generation of employees? .blog-banner{ display:none; }