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...

Margaret hired the neighborhood girl down the street to watch her children a couple days a week and run some simple errands for her. She never imagined that when she did that, she became an “employer” with all the legal implications that go along with that title. She is now being audited by the IRS ...

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...

In our work with ultra-wealthy families, we have seen that those families face some fairly unique risks that ordinary people or business would not typically need to think about. When family offices are doing a risk assessment, these are five questions I strongly encourage them to conside...

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...

Recently, I was reflecting on how uncertainty impacts our lives. For instance, modern technology provided ample warning (aka “certainty”) to the East Coast ahead of January’s once-in-a-lifetime blizzard and yet, tragically, some people found themselves unprepared. This is in contrast to the li...

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...

In December 2015, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced he would transfer 99 percent of his Facebook shares—a sum currently valued at $45 billion—to the new Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, a philanthropic endeavor that will be led by Zuckerberg and his wife, Dr. Priscilla Chan. The Chan Zuckerberg...

"I'm wondering if it's time for us to add outside experts to our advisory board," Julie Jacks mused aloud to her cousins. "Experts who would bring fresh ideas and who would have some gravitas around here." Julie and her cousins were gathered at the brown-bag lunch session they held each week i...

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...

Recently, a family I advise came to me looking to plan a family meeting. Inevitably, the question came up: “Well, should we do it at Thanksgiving or at Christmas?” My response? Avoid both. There has been a growing recognition by families of the need to prepare future generations to be res...

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...

Stop for a moment and think about the leaders in your world. Consider friends, family members, teachers, colleagues and business partners. Which of these people would you consider to be the "best” leaders? Who stands out and what makes them stand out above others? Perhaps it's because they show...

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 ...

For many, owning a horse is the realization of a lifelong passion. However, it can also increase your risk of financial loss or even lawsuits. Whether you board your horse on your own property or at a professional facility, it’s important to ask yourself, “Am I protected against the potential risks?...

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...

Earlier this year, one of my clients came to me with a question about her family’s trust portfolio. She was worried that, despite it going against her own personal social values, she (along with the rest of her family) was investing in cigarette companies. “Do we really have to invest this money in ...