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Financial planning for the education of children or grandchildren is crucial – not only for parents but also for grandparents and other relatives who can afford to help. But just putting aside the money may not be enough. It may be important to consider other options, taking into consideration strategies that minimize income, gift and generation-skipping transfer taxes.

Most parents strive to give their children a solid education. Yet among some wealthy families, one area of schooling could use a little more parental TLC. It won't lead to a diploma or show up on anyone's curriculum vitae. But without a solid understanding of their family's wealth, some members of the next generation may be ill-equipped for it.

The most intractable conflicts that arise in business-owning families occur when parties support their opposing positions by reference to histories that contradict each other in essential points. Here is a method of using the shared core of opposing stories to maintain reasonable discussion of primary, must-solve issues while not allowing the myriad secondary issues to block agreement on central ones.

While each stage of life presents its own opportunities and challenges, the similarities in the paths individuals need to follow to meet their health and wealth goals are unmistakable. By adopting a holistic approach that includes prevention, proactive planning and professional advice, individuals will be on their way to ensuring a healthy and rewarding financial future.

The current financial crisis has caused many individuals to re-evaluate the role that money plays in their lives and has given families the perfect incentive to have realistic conversations about money. Noting that family advisors and mental health professionals long have advocated "financial parenting," this paper offers guidance for raising financially responsible children.

From planning an agenda and obtaining family buy-in to selecting the right venue and leading an event, this short article is replete with practical ideas for organizing family meetings and making them both fun and productive for participants.

Independence, freedom, the ability to choose their own destiny and focus on giving back to their community are the things that motivate extremely affluent women. The ability to pursue work they are passionate about, develop their personal strengths and be of service to those less fortunate make today's wealthiest women happy and fulfilled.

This paper defines a relatively new measure of active management; discusses how it might be used alone and in combination with tracking error to better characterize and compare active managers; discusses how it might help to identify managers most likely to outperform their benchmarks; and promotes further discussion and research of active share as another measure of manager analytics.

Long-term care insurance, a meaningful solution to the long-term care risk exposure facing the ultra-wealthy, also can be a flexible and economical employee benefit, particularly in light of its statutory classification and tax treatment.

While it is always a good practice to be prepared for possible future transitions, the current economic climate makes succession planning imperative. A well designed succession plan will help protect client relationships, ensure business continuity, promote economies of scale and provide procedures for dealing with the eventual retirement of advisory firm founders.