FOX Series

Everyone these days is talking about “impact investing”. A Google search returns over 150 million results for the phrase. There are hundreds of investment managers managing over 1,000 sustainable or impact investment funds.1 But is impact investing here to stay or just a fleeting fad? Spoi...

Matt Hougan was the CEO of ETF.com, a three-time member of the Barron’s ETF Roundtable, and the co-author of the CFA Institute’s Monograph on ETFs. He was also a presenter at FOX's 2018 Autumn Global Investment Forum in New York. In February 2018, he left the ETF industry to join Bitwise Asset Manag...

I have been traveling in the US and abroad lately, meeting successful business owning families who feel that they have “become bigger than their business”. They realize that, in addition to the family business, they need to start to focus on the “business of family.” Many are pondering how...

This summer we hosted our first FOX Family Security Workshop. According to attendees, security is currently one of their top concerns.We brought together industry experts to discuss three key areas of security: personal, physical, and cyber. Each presenter flagged examples of security risk...

Latin America has been one of the most dynamic regions of the world in the last two decades, experiencing strong GDP growth and wealth. During this time, many of the region's family owned firms have also become strong and innovative global firms.Family Office Exchange has been working with many fami...

The biggest asset of any family office is the staff that supports the family clients. Over the last couple of years, creating an effective team for the family office is an issue that comes up frequently from executives who participate in FOX Council groups and our broader family office members. Many...

The impact of greater longevity will be broad and deep as the average life expectancy in America today is longer than in any other period in history. The systems and structures that support our lives will also change. The way we define family will continue to evolve. The way we plan and build the in...

Family meeting season is here, and FOX members are gearing up to create learning experiences and memories that will last a lifetime. Of course, the planning likely began long ago with committee meetings and conversations to decide where to host, what to cover, and how to top last year. Making learni...

A perfect storm of market appreciation and demographics points to a progressive and sustained growth opportunity in the ultra-wealth business. Now that the time of great opportunity has arrived, how prepared are advisors to assume an evolving role based on the rapidly changing needs of family busine...

Investing directly and operating in real estate and operating businesses is an increasingly important focus for many family offices. For the past decade, FOX has been tracking family office interest in direct investing, through FOX studies and our highly-engaged FOX Direct Investing Network.The foll...

Overall Family Offices are satisfied with recent performance, but beginning to move away from the traditional approach to asset allocation.

Beyond the Family BusinessA business-owning family with intertwined holdings and joint assets across generations must invest in planning to ensure continued success as a family and as a business. It is by virtue of having a big picture plan, or even just expressing the need to have a plan, that a fa...

All aspects of our daily lives will be impacted, as will our understanding of self and the meaning of privacy, ownership, and citizenship due to dramatic changes resulting from the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Innovation is rapidly transforming how the ultra-wealthy live and work. What are some way...

Legislators must know what is important to family businesses; what helps or hurts them when it comes to operating their business and creating more jobs. For that reason, it is critical that legislators hear from family businesses more than any other years in the past.To determine what issues family ...

You can’t evaluate what you can’t measure- and when assessing the success of any trust, proper metrics are vital. Beneficiaries should hold their trustees accountable, but so should anyone with a stake in the success of the trust, be it a grantor or a family review board.There are four standard acco...

Serving as a trustee is a huge responsibility and can be fraught with peril in terms of potential liability. Trustees owe fiduciary duties to the trust beneficiaries and often must juggle competing interests. It would behoove any individual who is serving (or contemplating serving) as a trustee to i...

Most people feel honored when they are tapped to serve as trustee of a family trust. It’s an important leadership position as well as a powerful role in managing a family’s wealth. The trustee also has significant influence over the long-term well-being of the beneficiaries. It is a role that is not...

The goals of family education include understanding the family’s values, legacy, and sources of wealth, increased engagement in the family enterprise, and basic financial literacy. Here’s how family offices prepare the next generation of family leaders. .blog-banner{ display:none; }

What does a business succession plan look like?The term “succession planning” can sound daunting to business owners, even when they know it needs to be made a priority. Starting your plan doesn’t have to be so overwhelming though, if it’s taken one step at a time. A succession plan should not b...

Our minds are on constant information overload from article headlines, tweets, and even conspicuous eavesdropping in coffee shops and subways, often causing us to get stuck in conversations on topics that we must bluff our way through. I remember being at a family philanthropy conference several yea...

Author: Rena Greifinger, Senior Lead MaverickNext, Population Services International Empathy. Child-like curiosity. Trust. Failure. These traits are what should guide the next evolution in philanthropy.I think often about the future of the social sector, not just because it is what my current j...

I am the oldest son of a successful business owner and have been actively involved in the business for 14 years. I have two siblings who are not currently active in the family business but may be in the future. As my father’s level of involvement in the business naturally slows, my responsibilities ...

"How do you prepare younger family members to manage their wealth well and flourish in their own lives and in their families?"Every family is challenged to find creative ways to engage family members in the process of learning – about the family and what it values and owns, as well as what it takes ...

A family 'like ours'My siblings and I agree that we are fortunate to come from a family like ours. When I say, ‘like ours,’ I mean very close, sort of ‘in each other’s business,’ and with a sense of responsibility for preserving our family dynamic and the opportunities that we have been afforded. I ...

How are families adapting to changing market dynamics?While investing has never been straightforward, investing today in the face of current uncertainty feels overwhelming to many long-term investors.Faced with today’s starting valuations and current yields, many investors have little confidenc...

This may not come as a surprise, but individuals have lost trust in the major institutions that have served as the framework of our modern society. Businesses, NGOs, government, and the media have all suffered a loss of trust in recent years for a variety of reasons.One of our great fears about a wo...