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Many families of wealth struggle with a fundamental question: Can our wealth be sustained across generations and have a positive impact on those who use it? Through experience and research, a series of best practices for the successful transfer of multi-generational wealth has been identified to help reduce the likelihood of families succumbing to the paradigm of “shirtsleeves-to-shirtsleeves in three generations.” Families who devote time and effort to adopt the best practices will be better able to increase the 1 in 3 chance of maintaining wealth through multiple

It can be surprising to hear that just 30 percent of families successfully sustain their wealth beyond three generations. The reasons for wealth transition failures are generally personal rather than technical—resulting from a breakdown of communication within the family, inadequate preparation of heirs, and lack of a shared family vision. Successful families consider the impact of wealth on their family and look beyond financial capital to consider human, intellectual, and social elements of unique wealth.

Families with significant wealth often assume that requiring a prenuptial agreement should be expected, but frequently have questions on the impact the discussion can have on current and future family relationships. Through effective communications and careful development, a prenuptial agreement can enhance and clarify a couple’s financial relationship and intentions prior to marriage to provide measures of safety and security.

Over the next 15 years, the youngest of America’s Baby Boomers will turn 65, and waves of small business owners across the country will get ready to cash out. Sales of Boomer-owned small businesses and wholesalers are expected to reach an apex by the end of the decade. And finding time to plan for the future can be hard—especially for wholesalers, who face intense competition, market consolidation, and day-to-day operating pressures. Thinking 12 months ahead can feel uncertain, and planning for next-generation ownership can feel even more daunting.

Under 35s are creating more companies, with higher headcount and greater profit ambitions. They show strong interest in the new economy, but not exclusively, and prefer diversification across their investments. Dubbed as the “Millennipreneurs,’ these are business starters from ‘Generation Y,’ born between 1980 and 1995, also known as Millennials. Each Millennipreneur has started an average of 7.7 companies, and 78 percent of successful Millennipreneurs come from families with a history of running their own businesses.

Marie Tillman was thrust into the spotlight on April 22, 2004, when her husband, former Arizona Cardinals safety Pat Tillman, was killed in a barrage of friendly fire in Afghanistan. Only a week after Pat’s death, as donations from strangers poured in to support the Tillmans, family and friends decided to establish The Pat Tillman Foundation in honor of Marie’s late husband. "Having the foundation to focus on was such a gift," said Marie. "I was able to take the time to heal because I knew I was doing something positive.”

It is an unfortunate fact of life that, as we age, our cognitive powers often decline. To assist people as they reach this stage in their lives, states provide a mechanism by which a person’s friends and family may petition a court to declare him or her incapacitated, and for the court to appoint a guardian to manage his or her affairs. While the guardianship process is meant to assist people in cognitive decline, it also exposes them to considerable risk. However, there are steps that you and your family can take to minimize those risks, including designating a preneed guardian.

The expression “an elephant in the room” is readily recognized to mean an uncomfortable situation not talked about but clearly known to all. When elephants make unwanted appearances—at family dinners, social gatherings, meetings—people get uncomfortable and begin to shut down. When this happens, they begin to operate from assumptions and draw conclusions based on their own perceptions. Overtime, these actions may cause family relationships to erode.

While wealthy families prefer to pass nearly two-thirds of their wealth to their children, grandchildren and other heirs, they grapple with a fundamental question: Can their wealth benefit their generation and be passed on to future generations while also having a positive impact on those future generations? Experience shows that sustaining family wealth is indeed possible when families begin to see their wealth not only as a series of activities that need to be performed, but also as an enterprise that needs to be managed.

Because of social and cultural changes that have increased women’s control of wealth, this paper seeks to help families navigate this newer development—where the female partner’s inherited wealth significantly exceeds that which her spouse is likely to generate through his own inheritance or work. It begins with McKayla’s story and the challenges she and her boyfriend faced in their fiscally unequal partnership.