This article provides pointers to younger generation family members about how to build the confidence necessary to make decisions involving being more independent from the family such as deciding whether it's time to move out of the family home, to go to college, or to move into a residence of their own.
In his latest research study, Dennis Jaffe and research contributors from Family Business Network, Family Office Exchange, and Stetson University’s Family Enterprise Center interviewed 38 families that have managed to overcome the adage “shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations.” The report discusses the...
This paper explores how private foundations can plan for changes in leadership in order to weather the transition as a cohesive, effective unit. Some of the risks and rewards of planning for change—or failing to do so—are discussed.
With some care and effort, your family’s story can live on and grow with each new generation. This article describes the process of creating a family archive: a treasure trove of historical information about family decendants, business accomplishements and important events. Helpful tips such as archival vendors and types of materi...
Why is an American who has spent over a quarter century managing financial assets for his family cautioning you against selling your family business? The author urges you to think twice before selling your business.
Entrepreneurial stewardship is the key to perpetuating family wealth through multiple generations. Stuart Lucas and David Lansky discuss some of the paradoxes of maintaining a healthy, wealthy multigenerational family and how to address effectively these paradoxes. The article explains how entrepreneurial stewardship can be a key to perpetuat...
The vitality and longevity of a mature family enterprise depend on three key value drivers: the family economic engine, including both business and financial assets; the family itself, its culture and members; and “leakages” that include both cash flow management and estate planning. By operating in this context so that you manage your ...
Many wealthy families envision keeping a shared property in the family as a means of building family unity, harmony and legacy. A number of notable families have been successful at this, but many others find the reality creates the opposite of their intention.
Families that marry the strength of individualism with a more inclusive, long-term mindset can capture the best of both worlds. They can improve on a traditional foundation with diversified business interests and strategically populate affiliated ventures with members of the extended family.
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 m...
While family businesses are playing an important role in the economy and studies have regularly shown that in the long-term they outperform other businesses, there is the continual challenge of succession to the next generation. An estate is built up over the generations and the family grows larger. This source of diversity is not without its chall...
Traditional wills involve what you want your loved ones to have. Ethical wills involve what you want your loved ones to know. This short article discusses how the ancient practice of crafting an ethical will is an essential piece of today’s multigenerational wealth planning.
Taking time to tell family stories, and finding interesting ways to record them for subsequent generations, can serve as a foundation for family members to bond and identify with each other. Stories can engender in family members an appreciation for their own unique “differentness” of identity from those outside of the family. This shared sense of ...
There is the age old stigma that wealth can bring or buy happiness. But, we hear it time and time again: money doesn’t buy happiness. The lack thereof may create unhappiness, but the presence of wealth does not necessarily have the opposite effect. Wealth does not create happiness nor does it provide the meaning of life. It may provide opport...
Putting together an “operating” succession plan is just one step in the business succession process. The rubber really meets the road in its execution and when the operating leadership is successfully transitioned. In a perfect world the management transition is planned and occurs over time. However, when the CEO or businesses owner une...