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Natural and criminal disasters affecting the HNW community have amplified the need for individuals and families to fortify their homes and make safer choices that demand advance preparation. The ultimate goal after a disaster is to return to normal life as quickly as possible. Planning ahead and knowing what steps you need to take will help limit y...

With bonds providing so little yield in today's market, should life insurance be viewed as an investment? Whether or not you view insurance as an "asset class," permanent life insurance is definitely an asset, and it can help investors achieve their long-term financial goals. Thoughtful coordination of insurance and invest...

With broad equity markets performing exceptionally well over the last five years, there has been much debate over the benefits of active versus passive investment strategies. As strong proponents of fundamental investing, we have long believed that well-executed, actively managed strategies outperform passive index-based approaches over full market...

This article addresses the nature and causes of low volatility, what developments might upset market equilibrium, what history tells us about this phenomenon, and how investors might prepare for periods of greater fluctuation in asset values.

For the five years ending in 2013, U.S. public equity markets returned between 16% and 23% annually. In one of the strongest ever periods for equity markets, investors' portfolios benefitted from core equity investments while allocations to anything else became a drag on performance and an opportunity cost for portfolios. Alternativ...

Family offices are complicated because of the scope of services they deliver, the high number and complexity of entities they oversee and the staff they must manage. These complexities can open the door to liability. Employing consistent policies and procedures, establishing an annual entity review process, maximizing protection provided by indemni...

The paper discusses how many advisors and high net worth clients view life insurance as an expense as opposed to a dynamic asset that requires constant monitoring, analysis and periodic decision-making to give it the best opportunity to perform as it was intended. Included are some case examples of real life situations and once read can provi...

The big difference between 1999, 2007, and today is the lack of a fundamental trigger to upset the apple cart. The current environment is potentially more dangerous and more durable than the prior two periods.

While everyone is at risk when it comes to hackers and online thieves, the wealthy are specifically targeted, and increasingly by aggressive and well-organized individuals. The good news is there is a lot you can do to protect yourself and your family. It won't take much time - most of the effort involves simple, common-sense steps ...

This white paper reviews how the new landscape of energy in the U.S. is changing the national discourse on energy independence, influencing our economic recovery and offering opportunities for discriminating investors.

Delaware has long been a jurisdiction of choice for grantors of trusts—for generations, the state has built a trust-friendly body of legislation and has supported its laws with a knowledgeable and effective court system. In this package of white papers, our wealth strategies experts explain the benefits and considerations of Delaware tru...

Technology, science, geopolitics, and critical natural forces are changing the way people live, work, and interact with others. What will these changes mean to your family enterprises? To help envision and prepare for the forces of change and how they may affect your family, we turn to the work of “futurists.”

While subdued inflation and low bond yields have been key common features across major economies in the current growth recovery, the divergence in labour market dynamics has been striking. Whereas the rise in Euro area unemployment has barely been dented, the fall in US or UK unemployment has been faster than anticipated.

Many families of wealth struggle with a fundamental question: Can our wealth be sustained across generations and have a positive impact on those who use it? Through experience and research, a series of best practices for the successful transfer of multi-generational wealth has been identified to help reduce the likelihood of families succumbing to ...

When families feud, nobody wins. What causes reasonable human beings to defy the advice of trusted advisors and lose sight of the costs of family fighting, not only in terms of money but vital family relationships and peace of mind?