When it comes to budgeting, there are a few basics: Track your spending, know where your money goes, and don’t spend more than you earn. These fundamentals can boost your financial well-being and put you on a path toward reaching your goals—but going beyond these basics can help you accomplish so much more. With this easy-to-follow guid...
At its core, a mission statement serves as a compass, continually steering an organization or business toward their goals. For the families who undertake the process of creating a mission statement, it provides a similar and essential navigational tool. To be successful, however, the mission statement must resonate and mean something to everyone in...
If you’re a first-timer to the prenuptial conversation, having apprehension around talking about a prenuptial agreement is normal and to be expected. There may even be fear that raising the topic with the spouse-to-be will put a brake on the relationship. As you consider the best way to reach out to a loved one on the difficult topic, here are 7 ti...
Focusing on how companies are implementing enhanced security as the attacker-defender struggle continues, this Report dives into the 9 key takeaways along with other cutting-edge topics related to the data life cycle. While ransomware attacks decreased dramatically during 2022, they were again on the rise at the end of 2022 into 2023. Business emai...
For families with substantial diversified portfolio investments, costs are an important consideration when devising an overall wealth management strategy. While there are a range of cost estimates drawn from real world examples, each family’s wealth management cost formula is different when analyzing it through a framework and analysis of four part...
Sustainability is now a business imperative across the world, as much as it is a stewardship one, and those companies that fail to adapt may struggle to compete in a new, low-carbon environment. Fortunately, for many family businesses, the drive for sustainability is already a road well-traveled. Their experiences and the progress they’re mak...
In this issue of The Real Economy, the spotlight is on the turmoil in the financial sector and how it is affecting the nation’s small and midsize banks. Other issues reviewed include how the cost of fighting inflation in lost jobs is rising; the Federal Reserves’ seemingly impossible balancing act; and the turmoil in the banking sector ...
Wealthy families often take every precaution in preserving their legacies for future generations, with carefully constructed estate plans, wills, and trusts. But they often overlook the hidden factor that can undermine all these plans, and it isn’t investment returns or poor estate planning: It’s family dynamics. Studies have shown that...
While the banking stress has largely subsided after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, there’s expectations of uneven trajectories of economic growth and inflation that will continue to drive market volatility. Learn what this will mean for asset allocation in this Investment Perspective.
Leaders of founder-owned businesses likely know that the buyer universe essentially breaks down into two main categories—strategic buyers, who focus on synergies and operational integration, and financial sponsors, who emphasize cash flow generation and growth potential in the underlying market. For any founder-owner looking for an optimal ou...
Bank failures, tighter monetary policy, and rising fear of a “hard landing” have heightened economic uncertainty. Despite these challenges, inflation is subsiding, consumer spending is stable, and the labor market remains strong. In light of the market turbulence, investors are reacting to any news, positive or negative, in search of cl...
By now, most organizations have implemented mandatory annual cyber awareness training for their employees, covering topics such as phishing and social engineering attacks. While this education is thwarting cybercrime, it is only part of robust defense strategy. In looking back at the state of cyber in 2022 and highlighting important developments, w...
For every business, risk management is a critical component of business resilience, profitability, and success. In 2023, there are some signs of insurance market stability and rate moderation. Businesses with a preferred risk profile will be in the strongest position to get the best rates and terms. The same can be said for individuals in the perso...
Choosing a trustee is a major decision—one that may impact you and your family in many ways for generations to come. Essentially, when you establish a trust for the benefit of others, you are handing down your values through the terms of the trust and your contributed financial assets. And with an increasing number of trusts lasting for multi...
Gender equity investing seeks to invest for financial return while promoting gender diversity throughout the workplace. Though most public market strategies have remained focused on “women in leadership” metrics at the senior management and board of directors’ levels, the field of gender equity investing has expanded to encompass ...