While wealthy families prefer to pass nearly two-thirds of their wealth to their children, grandchildren and other heirs, they grapple with a fundamental question: Can their wealth benefit their generation and be passed on to future generations while also having a positive impact on those future generations? Experience shows that sustaining family wealth is indeed possible when families begin to see their wealth not only as a series of activities that need to be performed, but also as an enterprise that needs to be managed.
Family Governance
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Over the next 15 years, the youngest of America’s Baby Boomers will turn 65, and waves of small business owners across the country will get ready to cash out. Sales of Boomer-owned small businesses and wholesalers are expected to reach an apex by the end of the decade. And finding time to plan for the future can be hard—especially for wholesalers, who face intense competition, market consolidation, and day-to-day operating pressures. Thinking 12 months ahead can feel uncertain, and planning for next-generation ownership can feel even more daunting.
Under 35s are creating more companies, with higher headcount and greater profit ambitions. They show strong interest in the new economy, but not exclusively, and prefer diversification across their investments. Dubbed as the “Millennipreneurs,’ these are business starters from ‘Generation Y,’ born between 1980 and 1995, also known as Millennials. Each Millennipreneur has started an average of 7.7 companies, and 78 percent of successful Millennipreneurs come from families with a history of running their own businesses.
Although high-net-worth families and individuals recognize the importance of instituting formal family governance structures, doing so presents a complex task. For families who are committed to creating a flexible and durable system of governance, the benefits are lasting.
How do you prepare younger family members to manage their wealth well and flourish in their own lives and in the family enterprise? Every family is challenged to find creative ways to engage family members in the process of learning—about the family and what it values and owns, as well as what it takes to care for these human and financial assets.
The concept of “making an impact” is not new. Families of substantial wealth and philanthropy have long had an intertwined history. So it is no surprise that, when 2020’s tremors hit, families of exceptional wealth stepped up in ways not only addressing the pandemic but also tackling deeper societal issues. FOX Chief Operating Officer Glen W.