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The following blog post is a contribution from AIG, a Thought Leaders Council member of the Family Office Exchange.It’s a common problem: A family receives a serious offer to sell their business for a very attractive price. They want to sell quickly, lock in their gains and use the proceeds for retirement and philanthropic pursuits. However, the bu...

We are pleased to announce an improvement in the FOX Benchmarking Study for 2013.Since much of the data does not change from year to year, we are going to limit the study to those sections that do change annually and split it into smaller, single-topic modules that will be spaced throughout the year. Our intention is to make it easier for you to pa...

At every conference, there is a concept or word that stands out and becomes the catalyst of discussion at breaks and meals. Other speakers pick up on the term to demonstrate how their topic ties to this theme of interest.At the Family Office Exchange (FOX) Wealth Advisor Forum in Miami this year, the stand-out word was "courage." It was initia...

Every year at this time I get questions from our members about shared family vacation homes. "How are other families scheduling usage?" "How are expenses shared?" "How should we handle family members that can no longer support their ownership expenses?" And the list goes on and on. Many wealthy families see shared property as a good way of enc...

Managing investments remains a primary reponsibility of family offices. According to our 2013 FOX Investment Survey, investment professionals comprise nearly a third of the average family office staff. Meanwhile, they draw on a number of different actors in the planning and decision making process with 67% utilizing an external consultant, 57% usin...

The job of advising the wealthy necessarily veers into the realms of the personal. Wealth advisors are as much family counselors as they are portfolio managers or financial planners. Issues like leadership succession or engaging the younger generations touch on such sensitive topics as aging, mortality, sibling rivalry, drug addiction, and divorce....

Millenials, or Gen Y, are a hot topic among wealth advisors these days and for good reason. As the industry ages, firms’ long-term success depends on being able to attract and retain the next generation of advisors. According to the Pew Research Center, the generation born between 1982 and 1993 numbers 77 million. That’s larger than the baby boomer...

A majority (56%) of family offices have a governing board, according to the 2012 FOX Family Office benchmarking Board Report. Fifty-five percent of those with a governing board include external advisors, though outside advisors make up only 17% of all board members. Most family offices lack a strategic plan or risk management process, and less than...

Businesses consistently cite the ability to attract and retain top talent as among the elements most critical to their success. This remains true today despite persistently high unemployment rates as many critical jobs go unfilled. But in many respects, hiring effectively is as much about bringing in the right cultural fit as it is about skill set....

On June 26, 2013, the Supreme Court of the United States issued two groundbreaking opinions regarding same-sex marriage. The rulings will substantially impact financial and estate planning for same-sex couples living in jurisdictions that recognize same-sex marriage. In the following interview, we talk to Susan Von Herrmann of FOX Thought Leaders C...

The following blog post is a contribution from HUB International, a Thought Leaders Council member of the Family Office Exchange.I was recently visiting New York with my family. We had just returned from dinner and were relaxing in our hotel room when my daughter asked me to pass her cell phone to her. As I did, I noticed that she had been communic...

There is a startling statistic in the recent FOX Benchmarking Report: Technology in the Family Office. Ninety-seven percent of family offices claim to have developed a disaster recovery plan. It is heartening to see that firms have adopted this best practice. It is only fitting, considering that family offices are providing critical wealth ma...

The following blog post is a contribution from Ascent Private Capital Management of U.S. Bank, a Thought Leaders Council member of the Family Office Exchange.The windfall of inherited wealth often comes with feelings of guilt and elation, isolation and confusion. Learning to be comfortable with inherited wealth is a process; a process of movin...

Systems security and finding a software solution that integrates financial data across multiple functions rank as family offices’ top technology concerns, according to our latest study "2013 FOX Family Office Benchmarking: Technology in the Family Office." The respondents' sensitivity to security applies to both the data itself and communication of...

The following blog post is a contribution from Ascent Private Capital Management, a Thought Leaders Council member of the Family Office Exchange.In today’s fast-paced world of technology, we seldom stop to reflect on the legacy of our grandparents and great-grandparents. And not just what they left us in their will. How often do we ...