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Collaboration
The good, the bad, and the ugly of ego, economics, and expectations
When it comes to collaborating with other advisors, the wisdom and ability to humbly acknowledge your limitations, your confidence in the skills you bring to the planning arena, and your clarity about opportunities created for your team members are equally important mindsets. This article highlights the benefits of working together with other advisors and offers solutions for overcoming three common barriers to collaboration.
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Latest Post: Money Talks
Why it’s difficult to discuss wealth and how to begin...
Financial conversations between spouses and family members are some of the toughest discussions facing affluent families. This article takes a brief look at why these conversations are so difficult, and how to break the ice to begin healthy and consistent communication.
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Preparing Heirs
The difference between giving and empowering
Many self-made families worry about the impact wealth will have on their adult children. Some worry the children will lose their motivation in life. Others fear discord among siblings inside or outside a family business. Historically, estate planning used legal structures and specific language embedded in trusts to put controls in place. Maybe if the kids don’t receive the wealth until they’re old enough to handle it, things will work out alright.
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Teaching & Learning with Grandchildren
Harnessing the Gift of Perspective
It seems all around us, people are talking about how time flies. Each calendar year seems to pass more quickly than the previous. Even when we’re taking time to enjoy our days and grow intellectually, life seems to progress at warp speed. Fortunately, amidst all this, many of us still find time to take mental pause and retain perspective on challenges, changes and achievements.
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Tending to Your Non-Financial Planning
Setting money aside, what is the future of your family?
Most successful people have planned for the future of their financial resources through the use of investments, insurance and legal documents. Fewer have tended to the non-financial aspects of planning for the future of family, reputation and contribution.
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The Value of Adopting a 100-year Mindset
In our culture today, we tend to tip our heads down a bit. We look to the relative short term – one year, five years or ten years out. This vantage point compresses things. It disallows room for the incredible impact one can have on life, business and family if our mindset reaches farther forward – 100 years or more.
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What is Wealth Management
What happens when many firms and institutions use the same words to mean different things?
In the past few years, a new term has come into vogue in the financial services industry. Many individuals, firms and institutions describe their services as Wealth Management. However, if you peer beneath the surface, you’ll see that companies using the same words define their actual service offerings quite differently.
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What's in a Gift
The lost art of participation
In our society, the act of giving or gifting has become somewhat clinical. We give because a Hallmark holiday shows up on the calendar, or because the tax code looks upon us more favorably if we gift at certain intervals. Or, we gift because an organization approaches us and pleads its case. Giving or gifting becomes an item to check off the long task list of daily life. We sometimes bypass the social dynamic and the sheer enjoyment that could have accompanied the action.
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Why Families Should Ask Their Advisors to Collaborate
As we discussed in the previous article, estate and financial affairs for established families are highly complex. Each of the disciplines – tax, legal, investment, insurance – are inextricably linked. And, planning can actually change after it’s executed, even if the family doesn’t touch it. This is due to the dynamic nature of the tax code, legal structures and the financial markets. Ongoing compliance and accuracy must include true collaboration among your various advisors.
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Helping Young People Create Vision
What happens when children and grandchildren learn how to develop their own life vision?
If you’re reading this article, you’re likely an over achiever – someone who has built businesses or organizations to a point of extreme size or success. Somewhere along the way, either consciously or subconsciously, a vision likely contributed to your drive, focus and achievement. Some people are born with a natural inclination to set goals and work intentionally toward them. Others derive life-changing value from having someone model and mentor them on how to develop and work toward their own life vision.
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Teaching Young People about Philanthropy
Begin with gratitude
In our adult lives, we’re often naturally inclined toward philanthropy. Whether we give our time, talent or financial resources, doing so is a response to feeling grateful for our own good fortune. Many who have succeeded in business and career feel that much has been given to them to make their success possible – mentorship, training, education and opportunity. We find ourselves wanting to give back – applying gratitude to restore the equilibrium.
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