Family Wealth: Keeping It in the Family--How Family Members and Their Advisers Preserve Human, Intellectual, and Financial Assets for Generations (Bloomberg Book 34)

I believe that many families could strengthen their family governance practices by implementing a trustee reaffirmation system.

What are the issues a family mission statement needs to address to define the family’s purpose, vision, values, and goals?

FAMILIES WHO RECOGNIZE with ritual the important passages in their members’ lives seem to fare better at overcoming the shirtsleeves proverb. This should not be surprising, since the creation and practice of rituals marking important developmental steps in the life of a human being are at the core of successful tribal life.

CONTROL WITHOUT OWNERSHIP expresses a way of thinking, a philosophy. This concept, when practiced, powerfully assists a family to overcome the proverb “Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations.” Control without ownership means that each family member adopts the idea that “I am the owner of something if I control it, even if I am not the le

But families attempting to overcome the “Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations” proverb should define short-term as twenty years, or one generation; intermediate as fifty years, or two generations; and long-term as one hundred years, or three generations. This difference of view profoundly affects the nature of the assets and liabilitie

the family balance sheet measures human and intellectual capital as well as financial capital. The family balance sheet is an attempt to measure how well a family is managing its human capital. A family balance sheet is an addition to, not a substitute for, a family financial statement. A family wealth management business, like every other financia

THE FAMILY BANK provides a means for a family’s wealth to be leveraged by making loans available to family members on terms not available commercially.

The assets of a family are its individual members. (D) The wealth of a family consists of the human and intellectual capital of its members. A family’s financial capital is a tool to support the growth of the family’s human and intellectual capital. (E) To successfully preserve its wealth, a family must form a social compact among its members refle

Families who understand that the growth of their human capital is the first priority of their long-term wealth business have their priorities right.