Planning ahead is the most important thing you can do to protect yourself and your family. Besides protecting your home from a possible burglary, it is important to think about your personal security. This article offers 28 tips for preventing a break-in and another 13 for keeping family members safe.
In the wake of SEC regulation, the best course of action for every family with a family office is to identify promptly the most desirable options for bringing their family into compliance by March 30, 2012 and, at the same time, helping it to turn arid compliance dollars into an optimal structure for achieving its long-term value.
The new regulatory requirements stemming from the passage of Dodd-Frank will certainly be a costly addition to the reporting framework of the alternative investment industry. However, this new era of heightened regulatory and compliance procedures also brings the potential benefits of financial stability and investor protection.
This guide covers wealth management and tax planning strategies to consider before year-end and into 2012. Topics include tax management, wealth transfer planning, education funding, philanthropy, retirement, liabilities management, insurance, business owner issues, tax implications of health care reform, and building a strategic plan.
Power failures, IT system crashes, supply chain problems or a flu epidemic can cripple a family office as completely as a natural disaster or terrorist attack. Developing and implementing a business continuity plan can help bolster a family business's defenses against such risks and serve as a first line of defense against losses.
The SEC and Cayman Islands Monetary Authority are establishing mechanisms for ongoing consultation, cooperation, and exchange of information related to the oversight of regulated entities that operate across national borders. Each agency intends to provide the other with assistance obtaining information that is needed to ensure compliance within th...
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission finalized several amendments to the registration and compliance requirements applicable to certain investment companies, including family offices. Family offices that trade futures contracts or even hire managers that include futures contracts in their portfolios would have to register under the Investment C...
As the financial world grows increasingly integrated and jurisdictions share ever more information, taxpayers who continue to hold undeclared taxable accounts are at much greater risk of being discovered. The new voluntary disclosure program may represent the best chance to come clean with the IRS.
The FTC is seeking input on this report, which proposes safeguards for data gathered online and offline from consumers. The three main areas addressed are privacy by design in all business practices, simplified privacy choice for consumers and greater transparency related to company data policies.
The 2010 Tax Act reinstated the gift, estate and generationskipping transfer taxes that were repealed earlier in 2010. The reinstatement comes with increased transfer tax exemptions and favorable rates for 2011 and 2012. Consequently, the opportunity for making new or additional gifts to trusts has never been more favorable.
This white paper examines the need for family office reporting and types of reporting, the challenges in providing such reporting, how to design a reporting framework, the effects of the recent financial crisis and impending securities legislation, typical versus best practice reporting, the role of technology, and outsourced reporting solutions.
In addition to significant savings, cloud computing offers on-demand availability, flexibility and scalability. However, cloud computing is not without its risks. Concerns about the security of data storage and applications in the cloud evidence the need for businesses to protect intellectual property, personally identifiable information and other ...
Entities that do not satisfy the conditions of the new Family Office Rule may continue to operate as a family office until March 30, 2012, when they must register with the Securities and Exchange Commission or change their operations to qualify for exclusion from registration.
According to early results of the 1999 Family Office Exchange Compensation and Benefits Practices survey, a tight labor market in which the most talented professionals are not changing jobs or are being recruited quickly is boosting salaries and increasing benefits. Family offices still have the edge but face increased competition from internationa...
Building and sustaining a team of responsive, compatible employees is one of the keys to a successful family office. In the sports world, professional team managers use a variety of diagnostic tools to enhance their team-building techniques. In the family office, managers can use similar diagnostic tools to gain valuable insights into how groups of...