Although surveys vary, it is estimated that one-third of Americans own a gun. Therefore, the probability that a professional fiduciary (whether a trustee or personal representative) will be responsible for handling the sale or transfer of a firearm is relatively high. A fiduciary selling a gun collection faces unique challenges of both valuation and liability. Although it may be a time-consuming task, researching and using various alternative methods can uncover the best price, with care taken to abide by state and federal regulations, and will likely resolve both issues.
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Entrepreneurs are risk takers by nature, leveraging their insight, hard work, and capital to create successful companies. Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs who become business owners don’t think about specific kinds of risk until they’ve experienced a threat first hand. Yet planning ahead is critical to mitigate many different kinds of risk and protect your business from losses. Your own risk exposure will depend on many unique factors—the nature of the business, your own personal tax and financial situation, and estate and business succession planning considerations.
Family office activities are complex, and families can unintentionally put themselves at risk if they don’t proactively identify and address the potential impact of external factors. One solution: conduct a full diagnostic risk assessment and review of your internal controls to ensure that potential problems have been identified and proper mitigation strategies have been implemented.
Family offices and family-operated companies face a variety of security risks, including: cyber, physical, reputational, and financial. In many cases, their interconnectedness to family residences complicates matters further. David London of The Chertoff Group and FOX senior technology consultant Steven Draper will explain how to improve a family’s risk profile by identifying specific risks and implementing proven best practices for mitigating them.
Terrorism can take many shapes and involve a vast range of political or ideological agendas. But there are common threads linking all acts of terror: they involve the use of threat of violence, they are random—potentially occurring in any country, against any target, at any time—and their ultimate goal is to generate fear. As terror tactics continue to evolve, individuals and corporations around the globe cannot depend on security forces for their safety.
Vulnerability and personal security risks can be greatly reduced by following five basic principles of security at all times—awareness, low profile, unpredictable routine, communication, and layers of security. Based on those principles, these guidelines are designed to give practical advice on safety and security to anybody who is living in or travelling to places where problems such as kidnap, detention, and other forms of criminal attack may occur.
It’s tempting to imagine the computer systems as airtight vaults, impenetrable and immune to cyberattacks. But this would be a risky move. In reality, IT infrastructure is more like a porous sponge with gaping holes where data can leak when things don’t go according to plan: a staff member might lose a laptop, a system might experience a configuration error, or sensitive information might accidentally be published online.
Cybersecurity continues to heat up alongside consumer’s growing dependence on devices and the growth of the Internet of Things. Hacking has evolved from the teenager attempting to modify a high school report card to a highly profitable business run by sophisticated groups. As a result, more and more cybersecurity companies are being founded and funded as investors look for the next big win in this market. Until companies can find the technology to end all cyber-attacks, there are things that can be done to better protect essential data and improve personal security measures.
Successful family offices combine financial, philanthropic, legal, and administrative operations and help ensure that family objectives are achieved from generation to generation. These responsibilities create a range of liability risks for the family office entity and its executive and professional staff. With these risks, it is important for family offices to be aware of management liability red flags and take protective measures to prepare for potential claims.
As we enter the ninth year since the Federal Reserve Bank slashed interest rates in response to the Great Recession, many Wealthy Families are looking for ways to deploy cash into the fixed income markets. This comes at a time when most market pundits are predicting that the Federal Reserve Bank will finally begin to raise interest rates at the scheduled December 2015 meeting. This long awaited rise in rates poses many challenges for wealthy families, in particular those with fixed income portfolios. Some of those are as follows: