Today, I am delighted to welcome Coventry Edwards-Pitt, CFA, CFP®, Partner and Chief Creative Officer at Ballentine Partners, an independent multi-family-office firm. Covie is the author of three popular books: Raised Healthy, Wealthy & Wise, Aged Healthy, Wealthy & Wise, and Engaged Healthy, Wealthy & Wise. She has been quoted widely, including in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and Investment News. Covie is a trained opera singer and pianist, and a member of the Women Presidents’ Organization and the Collaboration for Family Flourishing.

Covie works with many families of wealth looking to “prepare their next gen to be good stewards of wealth” and often she finds there is a rift between what the parents want and what their children actually need when they embark on this journey. She shares the insights she has uncovered over the course of her career about this tension.

She also highlights another problematic aspect she has experienced – this one has to do with the solutions the family wealth industry offers. These solutions are intended to do good, but often create many unintended, damaging side effects. To remedy that, Covie advises her clients to “take 10 steps back,” and deploys with them such practical tools as a “facilitated reading journey” utilizing her Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise books. She describes how that approach works and the benefits it creates.

An area where rising gens often first get involved in the family enterprise is the philanthropic strategy and giving activities of the family. Covie shares her ideas of another practical tool, which actually doesn’t exist yet, but in her view, should and would be of great value to philanthropic families and their younger generations. She outlines her vision of a vehicle that would act as a “national CLAT” (charitable lead annuity trust) and delves into how this idea would create value to families and their communities.

Please enjoy this informative conversation with a celebrated practitioner and recognized author in the domain of rising gen engagement and development.