Articles
Articles
This section contains articles that focus on advisor skills and effective family wealth advising. In these articles we develop our key ideas about the unique nature of UHNW advising and how client relationship skills can be developed efficiently. We regularly add to this library as new articles appear.
Wealthy parents' greatest concern is how to raise responsible children to sustain and use the family wealth wisely for the next generation. Positive parenting is not something that can be accomplished through a trust agreement alone. It needs continual engagement, clear communication and clear expectations in order to foster stewardship instead of entitlement. These activities are outlined by Dennis Jaffe in an article written for the IMCA Investments and Wealth Monitor.
Secrets of Responsible Parenting
- Dennis T. Jaffe PhD. IMCA Investments and Wealth Monitor, September/October, 2011.
The decision for families to move from having a single family office (SFO) to using a multi-family office (MFO) is a complex one and often difficult to implement well. In this article written for the IMCA Investments and Wealth Monitor, Jim Grubman and colleague Jill Shipley of GenSpring review the reasons for considering a change, the risks that must be considered, and the recommendations for making the change successfully.
Helping Families Transition from a Single-Family Office to a Multi-Family Office: Reasons, Risks, and Recommendations
- James Grubman PhD and Jill Shipley MBA. IMCA Investments and Wealth Monitor, September/October, 2011
Effective communication between the client and the advisor is fundamental to the advising process, but in practice these skills have seldom been defined explicitly and are often absent in advisors’ client relationship techniques. We present in this Journal of Financial Planning article an overview of five key skills for learning about clients and opening up sensitive areas safely and productively.
Core Techniques for Effective Client Interviewing and Communication
- Journal of Financial Planning, Between the Issues. October, 2011
Advisors to high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients often attend mostly to the technical dimensions in the client relationship, addressing clients' personal issues or family dynamics only when these seem problematic. Knowing how to identify, assess, and obtain expert services for family dynamics issues improves wealth management while increasing client satisfaction and client service. Understanding how to accomplish this leads to a new level of integration in wealth management services.
In several comprehensive articles, we outline new ways to conceptualize and implement family-dynamics services in integrated wealth management. We also describe for the first time the list of fundamental client relationship skills and family-dynamics services that should be an expected part of integrated ultra-high-net-worth wealth management.
Client Relationships and Family Dynamics: Competencies and Services Necessary for Truly Integrated Wealth Management
- The Journal of Wealth Management, Summer 2010
The Huxtables or the Sopranos? How to Assess a Family’s “Complexity Factor” Early in the Recruitment Process
- Private Wealth Magazine, December 2010
Many studies of affluence find that over 80% of wealthy households have achieved their position within their lifetime. Only about 20% of the wealthy have been raised with inherited wealth. First-generation wealthy families and those who marry into wealth make a journey from the economic culture of their childhood to a much higher economic level. Their offspring have a very different journey to make in terms of their own adjustment to the joys and challenges of inherited wealth. We have explored the different characteristics of acquirers and inheritors in a series of articles, with recommendations for how to approach these issues by the trusted and thoughtful advisor.
Acquirers' and Inheritors' Dilemma: Discovering Life Purpose and Building Personal Identity in the Presence of Wealth
- The Journal of Wealth Management, Fall 2007
Immigrants and Natives to Wealth: Understanding Clients Based on Their Wealth Origins
- Journal of Financial Planning, July 2007