Successful entrepreneurs are often control freaks. But they can’t control whether their children can take over the business or the assets and keep them growing. Entrepreneurs may be visionaries, but sometimes it takes an external advisor to identify choices that they might otherwise overlook. Transferring full control of an operating asset to children isn’t the only option. Neither is continuing the way things have always been done just for the sake of it. The drive…
The cobbler’s children go barefoot: Advisors don’t spend enough time thinking about their own succession and exit planning. Like most people, many are too involved in the day-to-day work. But like family businesses, exit planning for advisors is not just a financial transaction, but is also the chance to leave a legacy. The wealth management industry is ‘old’ – the average age of financial advisers today is about 55, with 20% of them 65 or…
With many people forced into #remotework and/or #shelterinplace, it is essential to understand the impact of the family dynamic on a business. Besides the obvious space and time-management issues, conflict in family business happens differently, therefore must be resolved differently. Disputes within a family don’t escalate suddenly. They are often built on years of relationship sentiment that is latent or suppressed. With the current #pandemic the triggers for those conflicts can easily be fast-tracked and…
Here’s another goody from the archives. With the US elections in the news, there is talk of generational shifts in the electorate (which will take some time still to have a significant impact), and with the further polarisation within the US, the way political affiliations have come between friends and family members. This fascinating NPR podcast discusses how political preferences are driven by hidden moral frameworks. The nation is often described using the family as…
A successful wealth transition means the family stays intact and they maintain control of the assets. Ideally, you’d like both. Some families can only achieve one, and some end up with neither. People often setup their estate plan so that it will avoid tax and preserve wealth, but they’re really not paying attention to the impact of their plan on the next generation. The biggest risk to their assets is not the market or the business or…
For a business founder, their ”investment” in the business is multi-dimensional: financial and emotional. Selling the business isn’t just an event, it’s a journey. So argues the author of this article, an author, advisor and figure in the wealth management industry. There is a lot of commentary at the moment about business owners selling and transferring what they have built. It is an emotional and challenging process and the field is littered with stories of…
There are several good reasons why family enterprises should care about making active efforts toward gender equity. If they want family members to be involved, their talent pool is limited, so why waste 50% of their potential? A more diverse leadership team will reap the same benefits that have been noted in the non-family business world. Finally, family cooperation, collaboration and harmony are important to families, so excluding women from paths to leadership can lead…
Different places around the world continue to deal with the challenges of COVID in different ways. Whether they are experiencing a second wave, or varying degrees of opening up, many of the challenges and opportunities are still present. The issues that have arisen through the pandemic are primal, and place the fragility of life in sharp relief. Our instinctive responses also also primal: fight/flight/freeze, and we can remain locked in such states for a prolonged…
Studying failure is far better than studying success because it’s easier to avoid doing the wrong things than mimic the good that others are doing. Here are some of the ways things can go awry: Families and businesses don’t grow at the same rate. From the third (and sometimes second) generation onwards, the family often grows faster than the business. What happens if many family members look to the business for employment or supplementary income?…
In times of chaos, economic uncertainty, and the crushing burden to lead the family’s assets out of the fire, the need for governance grows even stronger. Too many families consider family governance as a side dish – a pesky bug that wants to take away all the attention and resources from the main priorities which are revenues and operations. There is also an emotional side to effective family governance which is often overlooked by the…
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