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Over the past 30 years, families have worked hard and invested enormous resources to create the plans and structures that promise to carry the family into the future and ensure its long-term success. The vast majority of these investments have focused on the quantitative disciplines that serve the family’s financial capital – the collective discipl...

Research indicates that multigenerational involvement is the single most important factor in sustaining family wealth into the third generation and beyond. Furthermore, the families that most successfully integrate younger members into their family operations seem to share the same philosophies and core values. It’s a family enterprise mindset that...

There are few issues in family business that create more conflict and tension than the employment of family members. The complexities involved and the breakdowns in communication and trust can contribute significantly to the alarmingly high rate of failed intergenerational transitions in family business. The good news is that there is a way for fam...

Many families recognize the importance of preparing future family leaders for the responsibilities of wealth through education programs. It’s a process that needs to be cultivated over many years in a thoughtful and planned manner. However, far too often the next gen education programs fail to get off the ground or maintain momentum. Family members...

At the start of a family enterprise journey, there is often a patriarch (or matriarch) who was both an entrepreneur and a leader who overcame uncertainty or adversity to create something very special with the potential to last for many generations. For the families seeking to sustain their legacies, there will come a time for the patriarchs to move...

Governance is a word often misunderstood by families and family offices, but it is essential for a long-lasting family legacy. Strong governance establishes a process for decision-making and conformity within a multi-generational family to promote communication and strengthen unity, helping to preserve wealth and solidarity for future generations. ...

A large and growing cohort of next generation (next gen) investors in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) are preparing to take on the responsibility of managing their family’s wealth and take on an active role in maintaining sustainable generational success. While there is no standardized playbook for establishing family sustainability, next gen investors and...

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. ...

Each family’s legacy is as unique as the family itself. It can be a bloodline, a name, heirlooms, a legal entity or family stories, myths, and artifacts. In this fourth and final report in the series on family business succession, key insights are shared on the important role that legacies play in uniting the core purpose of the business with the f...

Whether knowledge is shared around the dinner table or in a boardroom, starting family member education early puts a family office in a strong position to strengthen the family’s legacy. While the education program would likely depend on family characteristics, there are three topics that should be part of the curriculum: basic financial literacy, ...

Family wealth encompasses more than the financial capital of the family. From a multi-generational and family sustainability perspective, it’s about thinking beyond the private wealth and incorporating a holistic approach that prepares the human capital, enhances the intellectual capital, and builds the appropriate governance framework. This shift ...

Sustainability is now a business imperative across the world, as much as it is a stewardship one, and those companies that fail to adapt may struggle to compete in a new, low-carbon environment. Fortunately, for many family businesses, the drive for sustainability is already a road well-traveled. Their experiences and the progress they’re making on...

We all want our children and grandchildren to be critical thinkers and to find their own way in the world. But we often want them to also adopt the family’s values and, in some cases, the responsibilities of running a family business. When those two goals are mutually exclusive, it can be a challenge to chart a course that embraces the future witho...

At our Family Office Exchange (FOX) Rising Gen Leadership Programs held in February and June, we noticed developing themes from our next-generation attendees. It became clear their needs and concerns were coalescing around three emergent areas. In this article we’re presenting a simple engagement pipleline to guide families and rising gen on their ...

Strategy is often thought of as an art form—an unstructured, intuitive exercise propelled by inspiration and brilliance. However, just like finance, operations, or marketing, strategy is a functional discipline with tools, frameworks, processes, best practices, and metrics. This checklist is end-to-end process for developing and executing a comp...