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“Why can’t we all just get along?” If you say that often, perhaps it’s time to find the answer. People who work with successful families know that financial resources, social status, career or educational opportunities and even intact marriages do not guarantee family harmony. All families are subject to conflicts, pressures...

Something significant occurs when people are in a dispute, especially an angry one – they stop communicating. Or they communicate primarily in an aggressive or passive aggressive manner. Effective long-term dispute resolution practices require the parties in a dispute, or potentially in a dispute, to learn how to listen actively, show underst...

The process of effective dispute resolution requires the participants to be able to identify four types of communication and conduct: passive, aggressive, passive aggressive and assertive. A goal of dispute resolution is to encourage assertiveness in communication and conduct.Passive communication and conduct, such as silence, sulking and other for...

As we enter the ninth year since the Federal Reserve Bank slashed interest rates in response to the Great Recession, many Wealthy Families are looking for ways to deploy cash into the fixed income markets. This comes at a time when most market pundits are predicting that the Federal Reserve Bank will finally begin to raise interest rates at the sch...

Last week, markets were caught on the wrong foot by the latest package of measures by the European Central Bank (ECB). There was no headline increase of monthly asset purchases, which are currently at EUR 60bn. Since then, investors have grown used to ECB President Mario Draghi over-delivering, earning him the nickname “Super Mario”. Wh...

The real estate industry is going through an unprecedented phase of institutionalization as it formalizes processes, outsources noncore activities and takes proactive steps to managing increased regulatory oversight. This trends report for the coming New Year provides some surprising changes in the real estate private equity market. Some of t...

Geopolitics aside, economic data outside the United States displayed modest improvement based on ‘flash’ purchasing manager surveys for Europe and Japan, which pointed to stronger activity, Quantitative easing (QE) by the European Central Bank (ECB) and Bank of Japan (BoJ) have supported both economies, although recent signs of soft inf...

It is a common understanding that when investing in international assets, there are two sources of risk, first, the volatility that comes from the underlying asset itself (typically equities or bonds) and second, the volatility of the currency in which the international asset is denominated versus the base currency of the portfolio.Institutional in...

The economic outlook may be better than many think, with U.S. growth in 2016 likely remaining well above the long-term trend of 1.5 percent. The economy is expected to grow near 2.6 percent, with the household sector and residential investment being the two primary drivers. The recent Washington D.C. policymaker agreement, which resulted in a lifti...

There is rarely any dissension over the assumption that future investment results are shaped by present-day conditions. Underpromising, or assuming future returns will fall below historic averages, may appear unduly pessimistic. Yet, adversity is best confronted when it is expected. With prudent expectations and some guidance, your investment portf...

It can be surprising to hear that just 30 percent of families successfully sustain their wealth beyond three generations. The reasons for wealth transition failures are generally personal rather than technical—resulting from a breakdown of communication within the family, inadequate preparation of heirs, and lack of a shared family vision. Su...

Global technological advances could signal the dawn of a robot revolution as automated mobile machines move beyond the factory floor into our everyday lives. This white paper discusses the financial and social benefits advanced robotics could bring to the global economy.

Market analysts believe that the current economic expansion might be one of the slowest on record. This commentary takes a look at the pros and cons of the global economy and how its sluggish recovery is changing monetary policy within the central banks, creating a low rate of return on investments, and making the value of higher-risk assets on the...

This detailed analysis offers 9 key insights into the latest global economic trends that include:Weak U.S. growth is expected to be a temporary phenomenonBetter consumer confidences signals stronger growth in JapanAdditional Monetary policy stimulus is driving the Chinese stock marketsStronger credit growth is pointing to a Eurozone upswing &n...

Russia is becoming a very attractive destination for Chinese investors primarily due to its natural resources and the capacity of the domestic market. However, there is a significant disconnect between the attractiveness of the Russian market and hands-on knowledge of it: 91% of major Chinese businesses find the Russian market attractive, but less ...