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When it comes to buying a new home, there can be many unknowns. However, uncovering the issues and hidden risks earlier in the process can help you make a more informed buying decision. As part of your lifestyle and property management best practices, there are four important questions—including matters of insurance and geographical risks—that should be asked to help reveal the full story of a home before purchasing it.

From phishing emails and identity theft to fraudulent money transfer requests, cybercriminals continue to find new ways to target individuals and their assets. This fundamentals checklist and recommendations can help protect you, your family, and your assets.

2020 was a year of diverse risks marked by a global pandemic, a record number of storms, catastrophic wildfires, and ongoing threats to people and property from other perils, including cyber risks. When “unprecedented” is the new norm, there is a need for thoughtful risk management and insurance protection strategies as families and family offices adapt to the changing risk landscape.

Even the most well-run, retirement plans can be the target of an excessive fee claim, which can cost millions of dollars to defend and/or settle. Being prepared and taking the necessary steps—including obtaining fiduciary liability insurance—can help reduce the claims, mitigate the exposure, and protect against potentially devastating loss of personal assets.

Minority owners of a business face unique challenges. With limited or no control over the management and governance of a business, minority owners can be unfairly left in the cold or squeezed out. However, deliberate preparation and negotiation at the initial stages of the business can set up minority owners with the necessary tools and formation agreement to eliminate or reduce many of these difficulties and even avoid future conflict.

Unlike businesses with a single controlling owner or several owners, a 50/50 business by its very nature is ripe for disagreement between its owners. Owners of a 50/50 business will need to proactively consider how to handle disagreements when setting up their business venture and drafting their operating agreement, shareholders agreement, or partnership agreement. In a 50/50 arrangement, there are ways owners can negotiate and draft the company’s governing documents to anticipate four common areas of disagreement.

Your employee benefits plan is likely one of your organization's largest expenses and one of your most important for attracting and retaining employees. To help you prepare for open enrollment season, this checklist will assist with your compliance obligations.

Over the last five years, cyberattacks have moved away from targeting millions of dollars in a single attack to targeting transactions of $100,000 or less at smaller organizations. With limited security and lack of awareness, family offices are attractive targets for cybercriminals. By taking a business-minded approach and understanding the strategy and methodology driving prevalent cyberthreats, family offices as a risk manager can more clearly identify vulnerabilities in their cybersecurity protocols and risk profiles.

In a rapidly evolving virtual world, many family offices are revising or creating document retention practices to make sure they have secure access to critical personnel and family financial records. Through a series of FAQs and a checklist of what documents to retain, you can ensure that you have an up-to-date document retention policy as part of your document management process that will help mitigate concerns over data security and loss of key information.

Media is a great tool for storytelling. Photo albums can reveal ancestral details, documents can highlight past events, and film can rejuvenate old memories. All these items contribute to your family’s legacy. Although we see the value in this irreplaceable media, few of us are doing enough to protect it. That is why we are exposing the top threats to your physical media to show what you can do to protect it for your family legacy.