FOX Series

I recently participated in a roundtable session at a CFA Society of Chicago career event with 12 moderators each leading a table discussion on careers in various investment specialties. My session was on family office careers. Almost everyone at my three consecutive table discussions started with th...

As impact investing is maturing, we’re seeing an evolution of that very definition.In an earlier FOX Insights blog post, FOX Thought Leaders Council™ member Mark Harder of Warner Norcross & Judd defined impact investing as “making investment with the intention of generating positive environmenta...

Across all industries, client expectations are changing. Wealth management for the ultra-wealthy is no exception.With the advent of technological disruptors and on-demand everything, consumers now expect high-quality services that don’t just meet, but defy their expectations. This challenge is clear...

When former First Lady Nancy Reagan passed away in March, millions of Americans mourned the loss. On the day of her funeral, people across the country watched the ceremony live on TV, while hundreds of others—including former President George W. Bush and First Lady Michelle Obama, and the Reagan fam...

FOX's comprehensive criteria measure whether a firm is providing an integrated wealth management solution. The LWA screening criteria is based on over 20 years studying the industry, and what wealth owners want and need at a level of liquid assets greater than $20 million.Each firm in the LWA Direct...

The Circular Economy, William McDonough explains, is an economic system that provides continuous benefit for generation after generation through design that allows for regular—if not endless—reuse of materials. It’s a system that embodies a particular philosophy: that by looking toward the fut...

A family office is more often than not founded around the concerns about the family’s privacy and data security. So the current news around the FBI request for Apple to unlock the password of the iPhone belonging to one of the San Bernardino terrorists does have a passing interest. If you go b...

For our FOX Thought Leaders Council Report “Creating Memorable Client Experiences: Differentiation in the Ultra-Wealth Market,” we looked at 30 of the best client experience brands in the world, including Apple, Ritz-Carleton, Disney, and Tesla. We identified the following seven activation str...

Now, more than ever, the business of managing private wealth is exceedingly complex. Most family offices are doing the work of sophisticated financial institutions with limited staff, while relying on a patchwork quilt of software solutions that are hosted internally with little integration, securit...

I was recently speaking with the general counsel for a private family trust company (PFTC), and they told me a compelling story about their recent PFTC state situs evaluation that I believe many in the PFTC world will find both informative and relatable. With their permission, I have shared it...

For several years now, wealth advisors have been concerned about the rise of robo-advisors and the potential impact on the wealth management industry. There is a strong potential disruption from the new financial technology (or FinTech) start-ups, each with goals of becoming the “Uber” of peer-to-pe...

Jonah Wittkamper wants to start a conversation about wealth—and help rising generation family leaders find their life purpose in the process. “I think many people think that the meaning of life is to simply accumulate as much material wealth as you can,” says Wittkamper, Co-Founder ...

Is the real estate market overheated? In October 2014, PwC published a report based on interviews of dozens of leading real estate professionals across a number of sectors and disciplines. The report, “Emerging Trends in Real Estate® 2015,” predicted that the momentum of the last five yea...

He may be one of the most visible figures in the emerging movement, but Charly Kleissner realizes that there is still a lot of healthy skepticism surrounding about impact investing.“I know there are a lot of questions,” Kleissner says.If anyone is in a position to answer some of those questions, how...

FOX has been working to determine what makes for a great experience for the client of a family office.Throughout 2015, FOX studied more than 30 businesses across a variety of industries—including notable brands such as Apple and Ritz-Carlton Hotels—in pursuit of determining what constitutes an optim...

There is a big change just starting to impact the way the Internet, and its related apps, are used: they are moving away from a silo approach to one of interoperability.Essentially, instead of having to go to one particular website or application to make use of the functionality and service it offer...

Many FOX members have asked about what considerations should go into developing a family wealth strategy after an operating company is sold. To them, I’ll often tell the story of Thorndale Farm CEO Oakleigh Thorne and his 20 year plan.After Oakleigh completed his MBA in 1986, he went to work at Comm...

In the not too distant past, if you were in IT and had virtualization skills, you probably thought your future as an IT admin was secure.Today, that is no longer the case.In "The Big Switch" by Nicholas Carr, the author explains how the use of electricity in larger businesses shifted from on-premise...

Recently, more than 60 FOX members took part in a survey of family offices by the Private Investor Coalition (PIC). PIC is an authority on legislative and regulatory issues affecting single family offices, and serves as a resource for disseminating information on legislative, regulatory and complian...

There seems to be at least one new concept that lingers in the memory and creates a buzz among the attendees at each FOX event. At this year’s FOX Wealth Advisor Forum, it was the observation by Glen W. Johnson, Managing Director of Mirador Family Wealth Advisors, on the significant impact that incr...

When I attended a recent FOX Executive Council meeting, one common theme I kept hearing from members was how difficult it is, in this or any business environment, to keep the right talent on staff and not face flight risks. The most obvious answer is “cash compensation,” but sadly there’s not an inf...

For many family offices—especially the smaller ones—the thought of spending tens of thousands of dollars on one key element of cybersecurity, penetration testing, is a daunting prospect.Though certainly helpful, penetration testing is often overkill for many offices. A better approach may be to star...

Multi-family offices and wealth advisors are enjoying growing profitability—and revenue.That’s what we learned while conducting the 2014 FOX Multi-Family Office and Wealth Advisor Benchmarking Study Report, FOX’s best and most current thinking on the direction of the Ultra High Net Worth (UHNW)...

There’s a strong correlation between family offices’ investment performance and reliance on a CIO and investment committee.In analyzing the results of the 2015 FOX Global Investment Survey, our annual survey of investor attitudes and behaviors, we found that one group had significantly outperformed ...

Leadership is an integral part of a wealth advisor’s everyday responsibilities as someone responsible for providing holistic and integrated family wealth services.Sarah Biggerstaff, noted coach and lecturer in the practice of leadership at Yale School of Management, will walk participants through a ...