India is the second-fastest-growing economy in the world and set to overtake China as the fastest-growing one by 2015. The key to hedging risks may lie in leveraging economies such as India's, which has had massive investment in the development of economic and financial infrastructures and offers strong, domestic consumption-led growth.
Families of wealth need to work diligently to maintain online privacy to avoid having personal information go astray or be used against them. This includes discussing the appropriate level of privacy as a family, using network privacy settings, limiting personal information available online, and monitoring children's use of social networks.
Even firms without official Facebook pages and company blogs need policies in place to address potential issues, such as employees' personal use of social media or maintenance of the firm's website. Ignoring social media-related compliance issues can expose a firm to SEC administrative penalties, a damaged reputation, or worse.
Long-term care insurance can help wealthy families with a number of issues when a family member needs extended care. These include privacy through care coordination and staff training; improved family relationships with a written plan of care; liquidity and tax issues, and estate planning by allowing gifts as planned despite medical costs.
Facebook can be a great way to connect with friends and family, grow a business, and send invitations to events. But be wary and protect yourself with stringent security settings. Don't give out password clues or information about the year or place of your birth, vacation plans, or home address. And never use Facebook as a confessional.
Real estate can play an important role in a well-diversified portfolio. Current valuations support allocations to private real estate vehicles versus public real estate vehicles. Furthermore, current risk-return expectations favor investments in opportunistic real estate over core real estate.
Private equity investing is not without its challenges. However, long-term returns argue for exposure to this asset class for sophisticated investors. The most important considerations are structure of the investment program, access to top-tier performers, and knowledge about emerging private equity firms.
The lifetime credit shelter trust offers a way to lock in the benefits of the increased lifetime gift exemption of $5 million per person, as provided in the Tax Relief Act of 2010, without giving that much away immediately. One spouse can set up the tax-sheltered trust for the other without paying any gift tax, or they each can set up a trust of as much as $5 million for each other.
Staying focused on a single family may seem like an easy and less risky option in the wake of Dodd-Frank. However, the competitive climate will make it increasingly difficult to bypass the efficiencies and economies of scale that come with managing more families.
The author makes the case for investment in transportation companies, citing increasing global trade, the outsourcing of increasingly complex supply chains to third parties, the rise of e-commerce, the fuel and environmental efficiency of railroads, and infrastructure upgrades of mass transit systems.