The Family Council

Conscious of the limited amount of time available, it is important to do the right thing. Tools and methods need to be in place allowing for the family to have enough bandwidth to deal with sudden complexities that arise. If all the mental bandwidth is used to deal with standard processes, these sudden complexities will be insufficiently dealt with. We devise these tools and methods to help our clients regain the strategic initiative.

A family intent in creating dynastic wealth needs to create a strong glue to keep the family together. Without this glue, the centrifugal forces will pull family members into different directions and, ultimately, the splitting-up of the wealth to the family members. Whilst this is not necessarily bad, keeping the wealth together does provide for economies of scale (diversification, fees and access to know-how) that should not be underestimated. By forming a family council, the family can together create a vision of how the family is to pass on their wealth to the next generation and how to start the process of having family members participate in creating the dynastic wealth of the family for future generations.

Most families want to give back to the community and support their causes they believe in. On the other hand, society also expects a certain level of patronage from the families. The struggle often is to balance the wants and the needs of philanthropic giving, resulting in a sense of not truly knowing what the philanthropic engagement is good for. Next to a pure financial engagement, a more entrepreneurial approach can be taken in giving and supporting new ventures that focus on an altruistic or philanthropic purpose. The more involved families experience a greater feeling of joy and gratitude than from a transfer made to a charity.