Families Working and Investing Together: 10 Arguments For and Against

Working together in a family enterprise—across generations and between branches—can be complex. Some families will arrive at this fork in the road quite abruptly, perhaps due to a catalyst event such as the sale of the family’s primary asset, or the passing of a key family leader, while other families will wind their way around to this decision point over time. However the families get there, the decision on whether to stick together or unbundle collective assets into separate ownership and investment structures will perhaps be one of the most difficult decisions a family will ever confront. There are advantages and disadvantages to both.