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One of the trends we’ve seen in response to the volatility of the markets in recent years has been for private investors to rethink how they define investment objectives through a goals-based lens. Families are actively articulating and measuring their investment profile in terms of their personal financial goals, rather than in terms of market benchmarks.

A challenge for many wealth owners is understanding how to assess the costs and value of the family office. This 2012 FOX Fall Forum session provided family members and family office executives a framework to determine and communicate seven critical issues managed through the family officeand featured highlights from the FOX 2012 family office benchmarking study.Some key takeaways:

Leadership succession is perhaps the most uniquely challenging issue a family faces. It transcends the business of wealth management to touch on personal issues of family dynamics and engagement. It is for this reason that you need a clear, transparent and understandable plan for making a change in leadership, one that helps you balance preserving your legacy with preserving family harmony. In this 2012 FOX Fall Forum session, Karen Neal and Margaret Vaughan Robinson of the Family Office Exchange detailed a roadmap to help create a successful plan.Some key takeaways:

Family leaders are finding that to cultivate family members’ interests, talents, dreams and careers to their fullest potential, they need to constantly develop new strategies, new roles, and new understandings.

It is estimated that by 2020 between $400 billion and $1 trillion dollars will be invested through impact investing. Clearly this new approach to influencing positive social and environmental changes has far-reaching implications.

The trustee and beneficiary relationship has great potential to be personally rewarding for both parties. It can also be very challenging. The path for success starts with some crucial conversations about what’s involved in the trustee role. This 2012 FOX Fall Forum session looked at the critical steps grantors, beneficiaries and trustees must take to ensure each party is educated, engaged and accountable.Some key takeaways:

Family Office Exchange CEO Sara Hamilton joined representatives of two successful multi-generational families to help illustrate best practices for taking a long-term view of family opportunities and challenges during this 2012 FOX Fall Forum session.Peter O’Neill, director of Rockefeller Financial and former chair of the Rockefeller Family Council, explained how the Rockefeller family supports the diverse interests of their five living generations.

This organizing session at the 2012 FOX Fall Forum marked the launch of a new investment community, the FOX Deal Exchange. FOX CEO and FDX Chairman Sara Hamilton provided an overview of this venture, which was followed by a panel discussion with three leading private equity teams, each dedicated to deploying one family’s private capital in strategic ways. Some key takeaways:

Launching an effective family enterprise plan can be a daunting task yet it is essential to the long term sustainability of the family and its wealth. This 2012 FOX Fall Forum session detailed a framework for understanding the planning process and explored the changing risk environment for wealthy families.Some highlights include: