In putting together the FOX Guide to Family Education, we were able to identify a number of innovative strategies to enhance owner engagement and foster an ongoing education program for family members: 1. Central Website for Family CommunicationSuccessful families recognize the importance of keeping the family connected. Many rely on a f...
Evolving from Business Owner to Financial FamilyFamilies held together by a family-controlled business share a feeling of pride about the business. Their identity as a family is tightly woven into the fabric of the business that houses the history of their hard work and success. Many entrepreneurs who have enjoyed the challenge of buildin...
It was the best of times. It was the…best of times (sorry Dickens). With significantly raised values since the economic downturn of 2008-2009 and rents at record highs, many of our real estate clients seem to be in fantastic positions to capitalize on a truly fairytale moment for commercial property. In spite of, or perhaps because of, this strong ...
The more I learn from working with families, the more I realize that the relationships they have with their advisors are just like dating. One of the most important commonalities is the need to build trust, and letting someone in on all your secrets and vulnerabilities is scary. But if you don’t, the relationship won’t last and you’ll possibly miss...
Family businesses in America generate 50% of the jobs, 64% of GDP and account for 61% of all privately owned businesses. While family businesses are very important to the economic growth of our country, they are not given proper consideration when new laws, regulations and restrictions are imposed by legislators and other government bodies. While m...
On May 18, 2016, the Department of Labor (DOL) updated the Fair Labor Standards Act and expanded overtime eligibility for millions of American workers by increasing the minimum salary employers must pay workers to maintain their exempt status. The new minimum salary level outlined in the DOL's Final Rule equates to roughly $913 per week, or $47,476...
When I was heading up consulting for FOX, I had the pleasure of spending a morning with the staff of a large family office at their three-day retreat in the wilderness of northern Wisconsin. I was there to share some FOX wisdom and best practices, and found it invigorating to be with a group of engaged professionals. Not only did the family support...
Pricing at multi-family office firms is under pressure.That is one of the key findings in the 2016 FOX Wealth Advisor Benchmarking Study. Advisors are losing pricing power with their family client prospects, and have been for several years—there has been a 15% drop in the pricing of wealth management-related services for ultra-high net worth client...
I was recently chatting with longtime FOX member Richard Bakal about the upcoming FOX Family Enterprise Experience workshop. Over the course of our conversation, it became clear that Richard had a very clear grasp and understanding of the Family Enterprise concept, and so I asked him if he would write a few words describing it. To my great pleasure...
At the inaugural FOX Global Owners Forum, I described the evolution that business-owning families experience—and the increased complexity they encounter—as they become family enterprises. Here is a short video that explains what I mean when I refer to Enterprise Families: [[{"fid":"21356","view_mode":"default","fields":{"format":"default","ali...
When considering an allocation to emerging markets, investors are almost universally seeking growth.Emerging economies have, indeed, significantly outperformed developed economies, with a GDP growth differential of over 4% per year during the decade from 2006 to 2015, based upon IMF data. For the past few years, however, emerging markets have been ...
In my previous blog post, “Is the Multi-Family Office Pricing Model Broken?”, I noted that there has been a 15% drop in the pricing of wealth management-related services for ultra-high net worth client prospects since 2012. Since then, I heard back from several of you asking about how advisors plan to respond to these changes in the market.Their re...
There are few speakers more compelling than Mellody Hobson.Hobson (president of Ariel Investments, chairman of the board for DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc., director of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. and Starbucks Corporation) is one of the most innovative thinkers and prominent leaders in the business world today. She is a young, dynamic, a...
While I was working as a consultant for FOX, the topic of leadership succession was often on my mind—particularly whenever I was working with a multi-generational family to facilitate the process for the family’s leadership transition.So for those of you thinking about leadership succession, here are five things to know before embarking on the jour...
How important is cybersecurity to you?If you’re like many family offices, it’s up there as a top priority: in the latest FOX benchmarking survey on family office technology, data security was cited as the top technology concern of FOX members. But what is your office doing about it?FOX benchmarking has found that family offices’ focus on cybersecur...