As we age physically and mentally, our ability to care for ourselves and capacity to manage family affairs often diminishes – sometimes unexpectedly and rapidly. This presents significant problems that next generation family members and family office executives must manage under very stressful circumstances that can change day-to-day. In addition to the types of care one requires, there are myriad legal, financial, and personal matters that must be delicately addressed and thoroughly planned for.
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Families that have accumulated significant assets want to know how to best prepare the rising generation to help them maximize the benefits available to them, while also minimizing the unique challenges that occur when navigating the world of wealth. Younger family members may have different approaches when it comes to wealth. Understanding where these approaches come from is essential when creating an effective family education program. To engage family members of all ages, with disparate beliefs and approaches to money, the best place to start is with what matters most: values.
Talking about wealth is every bit as important as creating a technical wealth plan—if not more so. Preparing a wealth transfer plan without helping your loved ones understand how to manage those assets in their own lives leaves the true process of sharing wealth incomplete and subject to real, but avoidable, risks. In this guide, you’ll find ways to have productive conversations that give your loved ones a clear understanding of what financial assets they will receive and how to manage them well.
National Center for Family Philanthropy recently spoke with Bill Leighty about how he’s helped keep the Leighty Foundation’s memories alive by recording its history. While many foundations use external production companies, Bill created his family’s legacy videos himself—using his own technological know-how, video equipment, and dedication.
Families blessed with significant financial resources can make an amazing and long-lasting impact on the world. But that wealth can also lead to disagreements, grudges, and hurt feelings. Trying to hide from the conflict does not make it go away. The best thing a family can do is create a culture of open, honest conversation about the impact their wealth can have, as well as the pitfalls. Communication is therefore one key factor in sustaining wealth for generations.
Over the past decade, matriarchs and patriarchs of successful families have been shifting their focus from their children to a broader group of individuals, such as grandchildren, siblings, and nieces. Often, they choose to create family banks, which are typically trusts that are funded to help individuals pursue entrepreneurial opportunities, venture philanthropy, and knowledge in a structured and more-likely-to-succeed manner. Family banks can be customized to fit a family’s agenda, and the risks inherent in family banks can be thoughtfully managed.
The results of the U.S. Family Business Survey findings brought out the importance of being prepared to compete in a far more digital economy. Family businesses have built up trust among loyal employees and their ownership group. So how to turn values like loyalty and hard work into a multi-generational success story?
In this 2019 edition of FOX Foresight, we review how business owners need to shift shift to an enterprise mindset, and how family offices seek to redefine their role, and as a new generation of family members prepares for leadership in a time of great transformation. FOX Foresight is presented in 7 chapters:
Decision making for a family enterprise is complicated and there is typically not an absolute right or wrong answer. Even when a family is on board with a shared vision of what they want to accomplish with their wealth, how do you bring them together to make the decisions needed to get there? Following six recommended steps, a family enterprise can be successful with their decision making.
Family members from all generations are hungry for clarity on how to navigate the financial and emotional complexities of wealth. In order to do this well, families need leaders—all kinds, from all generations. Come to this session to learn how one Chief Learning Officer within a multi-family office helps families develop leadership skills that are pragmatic and cross-generational. Good leadership is easily identifiable when it is present within a family system, and often overlooked when a family lacks the skills to cultivate its own leaders. What do families need now? Leadership.