More Than Money: A Guide To Sustaining Wealth And Preserving The Family

The commercial wealth management industry today focuses predominately on traditional wealth management issues such as investment management, banking, estate planning, and information management. However, there is compelling, comprehensive research that documents that only 5% of the failures in long-term wealth sustainability in ultra-high net worth families are due to poor investment performance, poor tax planning, poor legal structuring or inadequate advice from traditional advisors. The majority of failures (95%) are due to poor communications and lack of trust among family members, inadequate preparation of the next generation and lack of a shared mission or vision among the family.

Using family values exercises, communication style tools, and checklists on how to select an advisor and how to hold a family meeting, this book will provide families with a model for bringing strategic and tactical planning together in a fully integrated approach that will greatly improve their opportunity to successfully manage wealth over multiple generations and preserve the financial resources and the family’s harmony.

MICHAEL A. COLE is the president and founder of Ascent Private Capital Management of US Bank. He and his team provide ultra-high-net-worth clients with a unique and distinctive suite of wealth management services combining traditional wealth management offerings with cutting-edge wealth-impact services.