Managing family wealth can become considerably more complex when family assets are held in multiple currencies. This situation can arise simply because the family has an international footprint or because the family makes a conscious effort to diversify risk by holding assets pegged to different currencies. Unfortunately, support for tracking assets in their native currencies has been missing in most … Read More
AICPA Innovative Practitioner Award Finalist
The AICPA’s CPA.com site recently announced the finalists for the 2018 Innovative Practitioner Award. Among the 6 finalists is David Butler, who was nominated in connection with his adoption of Complex Interests software. We are super proud of David and hope that you will vote for him here. (Voting is open through September 15.) You can read more about David’s … Read More
The Enemy of Stewardship: Part 2
In part one of this series, we established that the stewardship of complex family wealth a) is important, b) is a job that requires some work, and c) like many important endeavors falls victim to procrastination. We further identified that fear (of a death in the family or of mismanaging an asset) is a necessary and effective motivator to cause … Read More
Does your family have a ‘Business Continuity’ plan?
In the life cycle of a company, there comes a moment when management steps back and assesses the risks facing business operations. Invariably, one of the topics raised during this assessment is business continuity. The discussion almost always starts like this: “what if [enter catastrophic disaster scenario here] happens, how would our business be able to continue?” Often, this discussion … Read More
Who is the steward of your family’s wealth?
At Complex Interests, we spend a lot of time explaining what stewardship is and why it is a vital component in the preservation of family wealth. In all of this analysis, one theme that should become clear is that stewardship is not that valuable as a concept; it is only truly valuable as a practice. For a family to successfully … Read More
What Complex Interests is not
Historically, family wealth software options have generally fallen into two buckets: investment reporting software, and accounting software. Let’s examine the role of each in the management of complex family wealth. Investment Reporting Software Imagine that you manage investments for a high-net-worth family. There are probably three questions that are top of mind to you and the family: How are we … Read More
What is a family office?
A typical middle class family in the United States has need for financial and legal advice but probably doesn’t need to form a family office. That family may engage the services of an accountant, an attorney, and a financial / investment advisor. It is likely the time spent by all of these advisors would not exceed 30 hours in any … Read More
What is a “Concern” in the context of Stewardship of Family Wealth
When we discuss stewardship of family wealth, the question often arises “so, this is all about tracking investments?” The answer is emphatically “no!” Rather, stewardship involves tracking the important legal and financial relationships that impact (or have the potential to impact) the family. When we boil down “important legal and financial relationship” to one word, the word we arrive at … Read More