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Just as every successful company has a well-conceived business plan, it should have an equally well-conceived information technology strategy. And the two should link directly with each other. At its most fundamental level, an IT strategy allows a company to support and improve its key business capabilities by better enabling the functions that underlie those capabilities. These functions range from growth-focused ones to operational efficiencies and include human capital, finance, regulatory compliance, and the digital delivery of services, to name just a handful of functional areas.

One of the main components of investment management is an Investment Policy Statement (the IPS) that serves as a strategic guide to the planning and implementation of an investment program. It is a road map that defines roles and responsibilities and lays out directives for keeping investments aligned with a stated purpose. A good IPS includes several key components, customized to each individual, family or institution. It’s simple enough, yet often overlooked.

For the fourth consecutive quarter, financial markets suffered a bout of sudden and dramatic volatility. This time it was the Brexit vote which triggered negative market reaction. After the UK's surprising election results were announced on June 24, global equity markets sold off, the British Pound fell to a 30-year low, and worries re-emerged over the health of various European banks and the EU itself. Financial markets quickly absorbed the surprise outcome of the U.K.

UK economic growth had already slowed from around 3 percent in 2014 to around 2 percent before the EU referendum due to slower global growth, but the vote to leave the EU is likely to lead to a significant further slowdown. UK growth is now projected to slow to around 1.6 percent in 2016 and 0.6 percent in 2017. The main reason for the slowdown will be a decline in business investment, particularly from overseas in areas like commercial property.

Based on a FOX Research, the average family office spends about 32 percent of its time on financial administration and reporting. That’s almost 17 weeks a year spent on collecting, verifying, analyzing, and consolidating financial information. For some family offices, these jobs took up as much as 75 percent of their time, which left them with little time to contribute to the true strategic objectives of a family office. The good news is that there is a better way, but first it's important to examine where family offices are going wrong.

Families are often overwhelmed by the complexity and sense of burden that comes with managing all the component parts of wealth across generations. More concerning, though, is the lost opportunities and the loss of capital that results from not getting it right. But owning and managing significant wealth does not have to be difficult, and learning from the ten most common mistakes that a family office investor makes can help the process become easier.

A family constitution—the rule book that defines the vision and principles of a family’s wealth strategy and acts as an operating model—should be as unique as the family itself. The key to developing an appropriate family constitution is not in the ultimate output, but in the collaborative process of developing it. In working together, families often uncover factors which bind them together. However, the process can also elicit confronting discussions about what really matters to individual members.

The United Kingdom's Brexit vote was shocking but not surprising. Polling prior to the vote consistently showed a close contest, with "Leave" often in the lead. The Brexit outcome created uncertainty for the financial outlook and markets. Some broad themes have emerged since the vote and may carry over to other markets. Learn more about what investors need to know on the impacts of Brexit.

At times of high uncertainty, the dissemination of information can create more confusion than clarity. The downside of today’s media model has been on prominent display in the days since voters in the United Kingdom cast their Brexit vote, expressing a wish to depart the European Union. In the aftermath, analysts began to project a wide range of separations occurring within regions and countries. It was as if the map of Europe were heading back to its standing of 400 years ago.

Avoiding the issue of succession planning is much easier than starting a conversation about handing over the reins to other family members. But avoidance does not defer the inevitable, and it puts family harmony and wealth at risk. As patriarchs and matriarchs of wealth families confront the issue of succession planning, there are seven questions families must address if they want to avoid a failed wealth transfer.