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At some point, most families ask if they should have a family meeting, recognizing the importance of providing a forum for sharing news, concerns, opportunities, and challenges in an open and direct way. Family meetings are often seen as a great place to learn, whether the topic is investments, business, legal matters, or the family itself. Further...

Statistics show that teenagers are more likely than any other age group to be in an automobile accident. In several tragic incidents, the use of a cell phone was involved. Some accidents, however, simply reflected the teenagers’ lack of driving experience. As a parent, you can help your teenager become a safe and skilled driver by setting a good ex...

If you are wondering how it is possible that everyone in your family is offering an excuse for missing the family meeting date, then it is time for some new ideas or approaches to turn these meetings into events that no one wants to miss. How? By planning a purposeful family event that also happens to include the family meeting. In addition, it wil...

This handbook is designed to support families connected through wealth understand the importance and value of family meetings. It provides the concepts, tools, and resources with the intention of helping them optimize their family meetings and build towards a more cohesive, resilient, adaptive family.

Poorly structured family meetings that lack a clear purpose and agenda can do more harm than good. Failing to get buy-in from all family members can cause irreparable damage to relationships, despite the best of intentions. There are five key tips for holding a successful family meeting, which is an essential ingredient for managing wealth across g...

As high-net-worth investors discuss plans for charitable giving and investing with their financial advisors, it is absolutely crucial for them to be on the same page in terms of the outcomes desired, both financially and philanthropically. For this reason, advisors and their clients need a set vocabulary of terms going into the first meeting. Only ...

Even if you are not yet ready to share the family's wealth numbers, communicating your intentions to the next generations promotes family harmony and is a best practice for successfully sustaining and transferring family wealth. It may also be time to schedule a family meeting for this purpose. There is no right way to conduct this meeting, bu...

Everyone has a relationship with money. However, money itself is neutral as a tool used to get what you need and want. And yet it impacts nearly every aspect of life, beginning with how parents teach their children about money. From this view, there’s also a need to recognize its resulting effect. While money is powerful, you are in charge of that ...

Across the world, philanthropy is undergoing a transformation that offers both exciting opportunities and complex challenges. With so much in flux, emerging donors and established funders are seeking new models not only for funding strategies and impact measures, but also for organizational design and management systems that will serve them well in...

For most families, a large part of multigenerational success hinges on how they approach challenges and create opportunities. In unprecedented times of social distancing and school closures, there are ways you can use this unexpected “family time” to your advantage, including enhancing education for younger generations and foster family communicati...

As parents, you hope your kids will become safe and courteous drivers. But, it will not happen on its own. Learn the 10 things you can do to help them become safe drivers.

All parents have reasons for why they do or do not share their wealth with their children, and neither option is without challenges. The key for parents is to find the balance between sharing everything and sharing nothing while also passing along the skills required to ensure their children become responsible inheritors and/or beneficiaries. ...

This issue brief examines the kinds of decisions that family foundations often face and sets out practical, easy-to-apply guidelines for ensuring that the foundation’s decision-making methods vary appropriately, as conditions and circumstances change. It includes factors to consider when selecting a decision-making method, guidance on how to commun...

Just as government and businesses require sound governance to do their work well, so too do families—and their philanthropy. The Family Governance Pyramid provides a model and framework for philanthropic families that is even more relevant and necessary today than when it was first introduced nearly two decades ago. This article by the National Cen...

Governance is the framework that helps you establish decision-making principles, policies, and practices. Understand the process and value of building a strong governance structure. This primer is the third in a series of seven about the Family Giving Lifecycle by the National Center for Family Philanthropy, comprising of seven inflection p...