As the office of the controller becomes ever more strategic—creating higher levels of financial visibility to help drive growth and profitability—the financial organization’s relationship to the controller role must evolve as well.
Each decade of life brings unique challenges and opportunities, financial and otherwise. Focusing on each stage from the 40s to the 70s, we highlight the planning issues that may be ripe for your consideration, including revisiting your estate plan, downsizing your home, and constructing your general retirement plan.
Each year thousands of property owners and their families are affected by natural disasters and the financial damages can be devastating. Although it may seem there is very little that can be done to prepare against a hurricane, there are practical steps before, during, and after the storm that you can do (or not do) to protect yourself, family, and personal property.
This is a field guide for avoiding the pitfalls that cause families to overpay, waste time, or lose money due to estate transitions. If you are dealing with a family member’s house full of possessions when age, personal or medical reasons dictate that it is time to sell a primary or vacation home, then these tips will help you simplify the process. By taking the frustration and time-consuming aspects out of the equation this will make your estate transition easier.
Hiring domestic staff such as nannies, personal assistants, and housekeepers can expose you to liability issues and danger from unscrupulous employees. It is important to understand your areas of vulnerability and take steps to protect your family and your finances. Whether you hire your own employees or the family office hires them, three often overlooked areas which can create liability for high-net-worth families are insurance coverage, background checks, and employment documentation.
Every year, thousands of property owners and their families are affected by natural disasters such as flood, fire, earthquake, tornado, wildfires and windstorms. In 2015 alone, there were 10 weather and climate disaster events with losses exceeding $1 billion each across the United States. These events included a drought, flooding, severe storms, wildfire and a winter storm. To help prepare and protect yourself against a flood, a checklist of practical steps is provided.
Wealth may be structured to either protect assets or make them harder to reach by creditors. While fraudulent conveyance with respect to existing claims is an unavoidable risk, steps should be taken sooner rather than later. Understanding the various asset protection techniques that are typically used and the “fraudulent transfer” rules that may undermine any asset protection structure is critical to examining what level of asset protection is best suited for you.
Knowing what to do and what not to do before, during, and after a wildfire can go a long way in protecting you, your family, and personal property from harm. To help prepare and protect yourself against a wildfire, a checklist of practical steps is provided.
Strategic investors and private equity firms around the world turned to transactional risk insurance in record numbers in 2017 to reduce deal risk in a highly competitive mergers and acquisitions (M&A) environment. In the latest Transactional Risk report, it provides details on the demand for transactional risk insurance globally. Other key findings include corporate buyers increasing their use of transactional risk insurance and a demand for both traditional and innovative transactional risk products is rising, particularly for contingent tax risk.
Transactions for the purchase and sale of businesses are rarely all cash deals. No matter the transaction structure, the use of financing to consummate the purchase creates a new dimension and layers of complexity requiring additional scrutiny and analysis by a discerning seller (or its principals). When financing the purchase of your business, there are five things the deal team should consider.