Sustaining wealth across multiple generations require more than financial planning. Interrelated and building off one another, 25 non-financial best governance practices have been identified as having a positive impact on the ultimate success of sustaining wealth for enterprise families.
Communication is found to be the most important factor for cohesion in families and sustainability of family wealth. As one of the key tenets to happy, healthy, and thriving families, it is essential for family members to dedicate the effort necessary to become better communicators. Practicing effective communications—including being open and listening empathetically—will go a long way in building strong relationships, especially for families who work together around shared ownership of family assets.
The number and scope of women-owned businesses have risen at an unprecedented rate. In an era of new opportunities, this paper profiles eight courageous and resilient women who share their personal stories and the lessons they learned building successful businesses. One theme that emerged from these women’s stories was the critical role of mentorship; another key factor was access to capital.
Research indicates that multigenerational involvement is the single most important factor in sustaining family wealth into the third generation and beyond. Furthermore, the families that most successfully integrate younger members into their family operations seem to share the same philosophies and core values. It’s a family enterprise mindset that prepares the rising generation to be able to step in immediately and manage the family’s financial assets, run the enterprises, and preserve the culture and legacy.
One of the most common concerns families have revolves around how to share wealth with family members without encouraging entitlement. With forethought and care, giving well and wisely can bring families together and strengthen the bonds between generations. The steps to giving wisely—and fostering flourishing over entitlement—include clarifying your intentions, understanding your recipients, communicating more rather than less, and letting go of what you cannot control.
At the start of a family enterprise journey, there is often a patriarch (or matriarch) who was both an entrepreneur and a leader who overcame uncertainty or adversity to create something very special with the potential to last for many generations. For the families seeking to sustain their legacies, there will come a time for the patriarchs to move forward to the next phase of life—preparing for the generational transition. However, it will require a different mindset and form of leadership.
Like many families, you may be involved in running businesses or other types of investments together with other family members, but is this necessarily the right choice? Should you consider breaking away and creating your own path. 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.
While each family office has its own unique makeup and course to success, there are many recurring themes over the years which, when aggregated, form something of a roadmap which can be used to help guide other families on their own unique journeys—be they new to wealth or several generations deep. Against that backdrop, this eBook brings collective insights and experiences around family enterprise governance structures that will help families manage their family wealth across generations.
At some point, most families ask if they should have a family meeting, recognizing the importance of providing a forum for sharing news, concerns, opportunities, and challenges in an open and direct way. Family meetings are often seen as a great place to learn, whether the topic is investments, business, legal matters, or the family itself. Furthermore, the interplay of generations is a great way to model and develop family leadership and help nurture the family legacy.
One of the greatest concerns among wealthy parents is that the family’s great fortune might inadvertently lead to misfortune for their children. Raising responsible children in affluence is a life-long task requiring patience and persistence. Like learning to read, financial literacy is a process that is best started in early childhood. Teachable moments, alongside practical ways to teach children about wealth, are the beginning of financially responsible parenting.