Family meetings can serve to update and educate family members on business and investment issues, reinforce family ties, and resolve conflicts. They can also be a lot of fun. But figuring out how to get the family members to the event, how to keep their attention once they've arrived, and how to make it fun in the process is no easy feat.
Resource Search
Family Office Exchange LLC is often asked about resources that are available to teach basic concepts in money and finance. In response, we've researched some of the best Internet resources available.
Family transitions are not only difficult, but potentially explosive. Younger family members often have a high sense of anxiety because they don't know what will happen next. At the same time, those in control may be unaware that others aren't happy. Mounting tensions can cause families to delay change as long as possible, often compounding the problems.
Cousins Michael, Richard and David Horvitz told the story of their family, the birth and evolution of their individual family offices and their differing approaches to investing family assets. They also spoke of the challenges of transitioning from a trustee's office to a sibling's office and the lessons they learned along the way.
Financial families who have accumulated great wealth face unique challenges associated with passing that wealth productively to future generations, and/or philanthropic recipients. Being invested together in multiple financial and business opportunities requires a sophisticated structure for managing the family’s financial enterprise.
On April 25, Mario Morino, Chairman of the Morino Group and Venture Philanthropy Partners, spoke to the FOX Concepts in Strategic Philanthropy Special Interest Group.
FOX interview with Jack Myers about setting up the governance structure for the Reinhold family and what was learned.
In our 1st Quarter 1991 newsletter, FOX interviewed the Laird Norton family office, which at that time had become a Private Trust Company and had been serving outside clients for several years. Now a firmly established Multifamily Office, Larid Norton discusses how their firm has evolved.
Interview with Marianne Wilder Young, president of the Market Street Trust Company.
One tradition that some FOX members take quite seriously is that of documenting their family’s, company’s and even family office’s history. To assist other FOX members who haven’t yet decided upon the best means of accomplishing this challenge, we talked with two family group, the Richardson Family and the Laird Norton Family, who have done an extraordinary job of preserving their history for future generations.