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One of the most discussed topics is to what degree entrepreneurial and vital drive and “hunger” are determined by nature or by nurture. That is, can drive and hunger be taught and developed with the proper education, incentives, influences, or conditions? With a closer look and analysis based on existing literature on the topic and interviews with ...

Whether you and your family split financial responsibilities or delegate them to one person, it is critical for your family members to have access to all your financial information. Use this guidebook created by Northern Trust to detail the location of important documents, accounts, and plans. Designed as a fillable and easy-to-update resource, it ...

Family wealth preservation is not guaranteed simply by effectively managing a family’s wealth. The most successful multigenerational families all share five key attributes. FOX Foresight keeps you up to date on our latest thinking about matters affecting Enterprise Families. It gives you our forward look on what we're learning from our members a...

The perennial question facing financially successful families is how to preserve the family and its well-being beyond the first generation. It isn’t the size of wealth that determines the family’s ability to build successful Enterprise Family—it’s realizing you have something worth preserving and setting a goal to maintain the family’s financial, s...

Families are becoming more complex, but a shared family vision and strategy are becoming easier to define. Business-centric families are becoming enterprise-centric and risk assessment is more sophisticated. Having impact in the future will require new strategies and new ways of thinking. The Family Office of old will need to make substantial adjus...

In this 2019 Foresight article, we explore how family enterprises face an increasingly uncertain and risky world owing to developments in the economy, geopolitics, financial markets, technology, and industry competition. We review a wide range of general and specific strategies to mitigate systemic risks.

The dramatic growth of the family office industry in the 1980s was sparked by new liquidity running through hundreds of business-owning families. In an effort to preserve and expand their wealth, they needed a professional financial office so they could focus on broadening their business endeavors or living unencumbered lives. Over the past 40 y...

Enterprise families are unique because they share ownership and stewardship of more than just family businesses. In addition to co-owning operating companies, they are the guardians of family legacy, family trusts, shared philanthropy, and joint properties. As leadership moves from founders to siblings to cousins and family priorities change, the d...

At some point, your family wealth may be so complex, or a significant transition happens that starts a process to form an independent family office outside of the business. Whatever the reason, separating family wealth management from the business should be considered an evolutionary process and starts with your family gaining consensus to establis...

For many business owners, their tax accountant has been with them for years, and therefore understands the business, along with some aspects of the industry, key employee roles, and family dynamics at play. In addition, a tax accountant who is viewed as a trusted advisor is in a key position to help a family-owned enterprise think through some of t...

Families of wealth often want to help their relatives financially but are justifiably concerned about what those individuals will do with the money and how having access to significant sums might affect their values and behavior. While making family trust distributions is a way to provide discretionary income, it’s a framework that gives the truste...

Retirement is supposed to be “our time”—when we’re no longer spending the better parts of our days building a career or raising kings (or both). But for a lot of women, that’s not how retirement plays out. Research reveals that women aren’t as confident about enjoying retirement as men. Part of that answer lies in financial education. With this ...