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Few problems are as vexing and seemingly impossible to resolve for families, advisors and trustees as the active alcoholic or addict, particularly those who continue to use after treatment. While low recovery rates for treatment and subsequent relapse may be understandable in the aggregate, on the individual level the experience is frustrating and ...

One of the things we’ve learned is that a family contract can be a valuable tool to help families build trust and avoid conflicts. We’ve also found that for a contract to work well, everyone who signs the contract should have a say in how the contract is written. That doesn’t mean you will get everything you want and, as you proba...

A family office and advisor team working in the best interest of the family first and foremost requires (1) working with and depending upon multidisciplinary colleagues, (2) collaborative management of the practice areas with appreciation for pragmatic give-and-take resulting in a better overall plan, (3) recognizing that team members are not ...

This document outlines 12 of the most common questions posed by couples prior to engaging in a prenuptial agreement.

It is easy to understand why the American underclass has almost insurmountable obstacles to living the American Dream. What may not be so obvious is how difficult it may be for the wealth inheritor to live the American Dream.

Some believe you must sacrifice family relationships for success in a family business. But in fact, focus on the family doesn’t drain business success — it enhances it. That is one key finding of a new global family business survey conducted by EY with research partner Kennesaw State University’s Cox Family Ent...

Having an entrepreneurial culture can help nurture a family legacy by providing pathways for family members to invest in new enterprises and regularly recharge the wealth for future generations. Although it may be challenging to re-energize a family, a dynamic culture of growth can flourish within a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem. A family inte...

Helping your children learn to become financially self-sufficient can be one of the most satisfying jobs of parenthood. By “forcing” your children to make choices about how to spend limited resources, you’re creating opportunities to help them find their interests and passions and discover what is truly important to their happiness. The more you ca...

How and when should wealthy parents educate their children about their assets and potential trusts? Having “The Talk” about wealth is a topic that provokes uncertainty and delay. Avoiding the exchange, however, only compounds the difficulties. Anxiety and reluctance about this conversation are understandable given the many risks as...

There are no easy answers when it comes to prenuptial agreements, but understanding the fundamentals will help ensure that the agreement is ultimately fair to all parties, achieves the family’s objectives, and will withstand any future challenge. This article provides tips, advice and a number of options when it comes to setting up a pr...

Family businesses are an essential source of prosperity and stability to both our global economy and our society. The characteristics and practices of large, long-lived family businesses serve not only as a model for other family businesses but also for all companies that aspire to maintain an entrepreneurial spirit, innovate and maintain growth. T...

Families experience significant and sometimes difficult changes over the years as elders pass on and new family members grow into leadership roles. What worked for a two-generation family with five members may not work when the family reaches the fourth generation and now involves multiple households with varying wealth structures.The word “c...

Learning and practicing the basics of money management can have a profound impact on a young child’s life. What parents often overlook, even those who are investors themselves, is taking the education to the next stage once their children get older—say, around age 11 or 12. At that point, it may be the right time to start a conversation about inves...

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...

The obvious reason to encourage wealth in a free society is that the lure of becoming rich is what motivates many talented people to put those talents to use in the service of human betterment. The world has been infinitely enriched by people who started out poor or middle class but who became rich by building something extraordinary.