Hello Friends,

Let’s spend ten minutes together on family wealth. Sharpening our perspective on how to deploy our resources for better impact, wellbeing and flourishing for the people that we care most about.

Family Wealth = Resources (Human Capital + Relational Capital)

In my new role as CEO at Pinnacle, I see my most important role as empowering my teammates’ trusted advisor actions with our clients. Our 70+ Dealing Representatives typically have well over 200 clients each, so they only have time for the clients that take their wealth success seriously.

Like all professionals, we help those the best that want to help themselves

But you don’t know what you don’t know. So given that I have begun to think deeply about applying the wisdom of the giants of the family wealth industry  to everyday Canadians, I wanted to start with the recent and seminal description of the Ten Domains of Wealth by the Ultra High-Net Worth Institute.

Surely, if the top ten topics of wealth for the UHNW community could apply, I was on the right track.

These top ten topics are the starting point for people that want to examine the key areas to address in their family wealth strategy. Strategy maps the tactics required to align goals with outcomes.

As you read these ten tactic topics ask yourself, do I feel like I’m making progress on this topic? Is it a gap in my knowledge, attention and approach?

The Ten Domains

1) Growing your money

Yes, wealth management’s historical focus is still critical. It’s not the be all end all though. Wealth goal setting. Financial budgeting. Improving your ability to make smart financial and investment decisions. These are critical skills to build and sustain financial resources. There is no doubt that financial stability is the most important goal we all have.

10 Domains Name: Financial and Investment Management

2) Planning the last phase of life

Being remembered favourably by your loved ones is real legacy, not a brick with your name on it or a pot of money. But legacy overlaps personal and wealth goals. Estate planning and in general planning out your aging process is a critical domain. The benefit of facing your fears and addressing this topic? It brings enormous peace of mind and improved quality of life when handled effectively.

10 Domains Name: Estate Planning and Legal Issues

3) Protecting what you have

Managing risk requires effective collaboration of the legal, financial and insurance professional fields and a clear family goal set that downside risk protection is worth investing resources (time and money) into.

10 Domains Name: Risk Management

4) Making an impact

How you give back matters and finding your unique way to make a difference generally-speaking happens with charitable giving, supporting causes with your time, or finding ways to invest in your community.

10 Domains Name: Social Impact and Philanthropy

5) Setting Family Rules

Wealth is sometimes an important opportunity (a family investment or a cottage for example) for creating structures, rules and/or guidelines to help your family work well together and create safe space when conflicts arise.

10 Domains Name: Governance and Decision-Making

6) Taking Care of Yourself

Yes, your physical, mental, and emotional health is critical within wealth management and has the key byproduct of improving your family and business relations by showing up at your best. Designing your income and wealth strategy by properly prioritizing your health takes courage.

10 Domains Name: Health and Well-Being

7) Family Relationships

Family dynamics are tricky and wealth plays a big role in how family members communicate and relate. This topic always comes up informally with advisors and during times of conflict but should be attended to intentionally and  proactively.

10 Domains Name: Family Dynamics

8) Leadership

Leading wealth requires building a great outside team as well as building your own skills up. Just when you feel well-prepared the biggest task arises:  leadership transition. Timing the family wealth leadership transition well has a big impact on the wealth. We all know of stories of transitions too late in life or poorly designed transitions to ill prepared future leaders. The enormous downside risks here can all be easily mitigated.

10 Domains Name: Leadership and Transition Planning

9) Learning and Growing

Family members must build skills, gain knowledge, and prepare for the future. Regardless of your level of wealth there is no greater learning to gift kids than financial literacy. Although ultimately the goal should be ownership literacy.

10 Domains Name: Learning, Development and the Rising Generation

10) Working with Trusted Advisors

And we end with the biggie: build strong, effective partnerships with the people who help you manage your wealth. Balance your own leadership with assigning total or partial leadership responsibilities to one of the advisors on the team.

10 Domains Name: Family Advisory Relationships

Conclusion: the Family Wealth Equation | Family Wealth Perspectives

FW = R (HC + RC). I’ve used this equation for the entire 3 years of this blog. It’s still the most important perspective. If there were only one domain to address in family wealth the whole equation would be this: Family Wealth = Financial Resources.

Given my focus is now towards the Pinnacle community, I think it is time to change something that has been bothering me for awhile. This blog should be called Family Wealth Perspectives, not Family Office Perspective. So, here’s my chance to change things.

Hello Friends,

New beginnings. The term fits the situation it describes so darn well that it has become a meme. What makes a new beginning? This beginning happens to be running a business in an industry that I never previously considered.

One year’s pinnacle is another year’s foundation

I won’t cover this story’s prelude but it is amusing to me how important every step of the journey is, even when you don’t see the connectivity until you look back. This story starts with events that happened throughout my entire career and true to form, collides my legal career with entrepreneurism. But like Star Wars, I’ll hop over those prequels.

The story really starts this summer, when I was visiting Darvin Zurfluh, an old business acquaintance (and now partner and friend). He spoke about feeling diluted as an entrepreneur because he was running two businesses. The earlier of the two businesses and the one that built his wealth, was in need of a new leader and a change in direction.

I did not know he was referencing me as the change agent that day.

He made a light-hearted comment about my acquisition of his business that summer day at his lakefront beach, as two of my daughters played in the sand. I thought it was merely a playful comment between entrepreneurs. The kind of thing people say that are always balancing the extreme efforts of the entrepreneurial gig with the primary success factor entrepreneurs’ regularly hold to the highest regard: the control of time.

So when, a few weeks later, Darvin reached back out in earnest, I began to realize how serious he was. It was at that point that I recognized that there would be a great opportunity in entering this new business and Dear Reader, that’s when I actually took an entire day to reflect and reset.

I did not yet have the vision for myself running this business that I’ll describe next and specifically, I could not see how it aligned with my definition of success.

The big difference between the business and my prior definition of success? Pinnacle Wealth serves thousands of accredited investors across Canada, and I have always seen my greatest fulfilment when serving a small group of people that I really care about. For a day there, the difference in impact felt too far to bridge.

How our labels of ourselves shape us

I saw myself as a ‘family office guy’. I labeled my ability to make an impact as a focus on those very high net worth families. But I came to realize that the label was getting in the way of something I feel very strongly of: wealth philosophy is for almost everyone.

I often hear in response to this blog that the topics only lightly resonate when one of you dear reader’s say something like ‘Hoffs, I like your writing, but my wealth is not that big’. This always makes me wince, because:

–> any amount of wealth transitioned between generations contains the issues and opportunities I think and write about; and

–> pursuit of transitional wealth, a pursuit of so many people, has an enormous impact on one’s day-to-day life, even if there is not yet wealth to transition.

I have always held this key perspective yet also always needed to shed the family office focus to make the greatest impact.

What is Pinnacle Wealth?

My new opportunity will bring my perspective to the thousands of investors served by Pinnacle Wealth. Pinnacle historically focused on the importance of private investments within investment strategy.

The vast majority of our 10,000 clients, around 99.7%, have less than $5M in investable assets. This became a big indicator to me that many Canadians seek investment advice atypical of the traditional wealth management world.

The vision is to bring high quality wealth advice to our community. Our unique reward is finding the right balance of illiquid private investments; the historical strong suit of Pinnacle. Private markets are a growth area in the traditional wealth management world, they call them “alts” or “alternatives” and this has been our primary focus at Pinnacle for 14+ years.

To best picture what we are, compare us to a real estate brokerage house. Instead of buying and selling homes, our 70+ brokers across Canada buy and sell private investments. These folks lead with these private investments but do a lot more than that for their clients. They are wealth advisors, and one of my big focus areas is supporting their continuing journey as the talented trusted advisors within strong advisor ecosystems that their clients want and need.

A sidebar about the private markets and capital formation

At Pinnacle Wealth, we have a 14 year history of delivering differentiated returns from the stock market. Sometimes for good, sometimes for bad, there have certainly been some painful lessons along the way. Not all asset managers within the private markets, it turns out, are capable of building successful investment businesses that meet their targeted returns. But as founders of this regulated industry 14 years ago, when the term Exempt Market Dealer came into being and we were one of the first to register for the status with the Securities Commissions across Canada, we have seen pretty much everything. I plan to rely on that collective wisdom  as we expand to deliver on all aspects of wealth management.

When doing my due diligence, I checked in with the Alberta Securities Commission about Pinnacle, our principal regulator. I was very pleased that they saw how important Exempt Market Dealers are to capital formation. Without the private markets, new local businesses and industries simply do not form. They need capital at various stages of growth to fully form. You will hear me speak about our role in supporting and building the communities we live in and care about and using the term “capital formation” often as a result.

We raise capital for Canadian business ideas at various stages of risk although we rarely if ever venture into venture capital – the most common area of capital formation but the area with the most risk of loss of capital. We have raised over $1.3B for Canadian businesses and historically about half of our raise has been into real estate of various types (multi-residential apartment, commercial, industrial, development projects, etc.)

So here we go – a new beginning

A big one. Coming at me at the right time, I’m the perfect guy for this opportunity. Thank you Darvin for trusting me with your baby – it is hard to hand the reins over as a Founder. Yet he and I know, with me as CEO and with the opportunities Pinnacle has available and primed before I arrived, we are building great things together.

Life as an entrepreneur is winding and difficult, but if you are careful about how you define success, you can find insane fulfilment. Sometimes, that fulfilment will arrive from tried and true routes and sometimes it will meander into new beginnings.

You find chances to serve others in meaningful ways only if you look. Which is why I sign off every blog with:

To the journey,

This month’s blog wouldn’t have happened without Chat GPT; it is heavily heavily edited by me (Grammarly says it is 0% AI which is impossible!) but I could not have attempted to incorporate the 33 blogs without it.

Here is a list of all of the prior blogs that Chat GPT and I prepared to setup this blog:

1. Time is Your Greatest Asset

You can always earn more money, but you can’t make more time. Use it wisely, or watch it slip away.

2. Trusts Aren’t Cages

A trust should empower your heirs, not trap them in a gilded prison. Build responsibly.

3. Entitlement Will Kill Your Legacy

Entitlement is like rust—it corrodes from the inside. Gratitude, on the other hand, builds resilience.

4. People are Compound Interest

Invest in your people—the returns are exponential.

5. Education and Strategy Build Wealth

Your financial empire needs a toolkit: books, conferences, and great advice.

6. Power Requires Purpose

With great power comes… you know the rest. Use yours wisely.

7. Discipline is the Foundation

No tree grows tall without strong roots. Discipline grounds success.

8. Strategy First, Always

Running headfirst without a plan? You’ll burn out. Strategy bridges dreams to outcomes.

9. Impact is the Best ROI

What’s the point of wealth if it doesn’t make a difference?

10. Your Ecosystem Defines You

Strong networks aren’t just nice—they’re necessary. Build symbiotic relationships.

11. Stewardship is About Vision

Being a steward is more than managing assets. It’s about leading with heart and clarity.

12. Simplicity Wins

Complexity is the enemy of clarity. Simplify wealth management.

13. Families are Entrepreneurs Too

Entrepreneurial spirit isn’t limited to business—families can embody it.

14. Perspective Changes Everything

Sharpen your lens, and growth will follow.

15. Wealth Equals Well-Being

If your wealth isn’t improving your life, what’s it for?

16. Culture is a Petri Dish

Experiment with your culture—it’s where growth and success thrive.

17. Control is Influence, Not Chains

Leadership isn’t about micromanaging. It’s about empowering others.

18. Rain Grows Roots

Challenges aren’t setbacks—they’re opportunities to grow.

19. Family Offices Are Legacies in Action

Done right, a family office is a legacy factory.

20. Sacrifice is the Cost of Greatness

Every choice has a cost. Pick your sacrifices wisely.

21. Mentorship is a Superpower

A mentor can shorten your learning curve by decades. Seek them out.

22. Abundance is a Strategy

An abundance mindset is more than optimism—it’s a growth tactic. Use it.

23. Self-Care is Selfless

When you prioritize yourself, everyone benefits.

24. Family Governance is Peace of Mind

Good governance isn’t bureaucracy—it’s harmony for generations.

25. Privilege is Potential

Privilege isn’t the destination—it’s the starting point.

26. Legacy is Built Daily

Your legacy isn’t someday—it’s every choice you make now.

27. Balance is a Moving Target

Well-being is a dance, not a destination. Keep moving.

28. Money is a Tool

It can help or hurt—it depends on how you choose to use it.

29. Ask Yourself ‘Why?’

All the wealth in the world means nothing if you don’t know what it’s for.

Hello again Friends,

FW = R (HC + RC)

33 Nuggets of Family Wealth Wisdom: Lots of Perspectives!

Life’s most important lessons rarely arrive as epiphanies. They show up as struggles, quiet realizations, or even as fleeting moments that disappear if you don’t pay attention. I wrap that whole journey up in what I like to call “perspective” and this blog is my journey of those moments.

When I was in a rut creatively almost three years ago, my accountability coach recommended starting this blog. Now, looking back, I can see how much of my perspective has developed from these blogs. Here’s my current mosaic: 33 ideas that have shaped my understanding of life, wealth, and family legacy.

This isn’t a list (including post-script below). It’s a conversation, a journey. And like any good journey, it needs our most valuable resource to work properly: time.

Time is the only resource we can’t make more of. We can’t store it, pause it, or bargain for extra. So we have to ask: are we using our time in ways that align with what we value most? Productivity is important, but it’s not the same as purpose. Purpose gives time its meaning.

Ah, entitlement. It’s the not-so-silent wealth killer. Gratitude, on the other hand, turns privilege into growth. The goal isn’t to strip privilege away but to guide it intentionally, turning it into opportunity.

Opportunities create growth and personal growth thrives with investment. Not just financial investment, but investing in people. Your team, your family, your community—they’re the multipliers in the Family Wealth Equation of long-term family success.

The challenge and opportunity with wealth requires mastering its complexities. There is perhaps no greater opportunity for wealth creators and stewards. Simplifying the complexity allows us to focus on impact, not avoids overwhelm.

One way to simplify is through family governance. Governance isn’t bureaucracy; it’s clarity. It’s the blueprint for generational harmony. When done well, it ensures that every family member understands their contribution.

The same goes for strategy—clarity before action. Strategy is the bridge from dreams to outcomes, a path that connects altruistic legacy goals to the tangible. And like any good bridge, it needs discipline to keep it strong.

Discipline teaches us that trade-offs are inevitable. Every choice we make is a sacrifice of something else. The question isn’t, “Can I have it all?” but “what is all this money actually good for?”

Sometimes, the hardest sacrifices are those tied to control. True leadership isn’t about management; it’s about influence, trust, and empowerment. The same goes for wealth management. Family offices, quite the buzzword in wealth management, are not for everyone. Start With Why, then determine which core activities should be insourced and outsourced.

By focusing on family wealth strategy, the family legacy will be well-built. They’re built in the questions we ask, the great people we spend time with (especially the mentors we seek), and the mindsets we adopt. A mindset of abundance shifts our focus from scarcity to opportunity, from fear to impact.

From a focus on not losing the wealth to empowering your family’s use of it.

Trusts are far too often misunderstood. Too often, they bind impede instead of empower. But a trust doesn’t have to be a gilded cage; it just has to be deployed with clear and effective strategy in mind.

By far the most important aspect of family wealth strategy is each family’s unique perspective on impact.

Impact is the heartbeat of meaningful work. It’s the reason wealth exists at all. Without impact, money is a tool with weak purpose. A blunt instrument. But used well, money amplifies everything we stand for. It’s a tool for creating flourishing, impact, and well-being.

Most of my favourite metaphors relate to flora. Like any strong plant, we have to make hay when it rains. It grows our roots deeper, our resolve stronger.

Our family and our personal journeys are no single thing. Added up, they are our culture. Culture is a garden. You can plant, you can nourish, but the garden takes on a life of it’s own through growth, experimentation, and resilience. Take the risks to experiment and address your culture nourishing intentionally!

Advisor networks are best thought of as ecosystems. Strong networks develop anti-fragility. Like a forest, there beauty in complex systems that thrive through thick and thin. I believe family wealth systems need a combination of deep roots and broadly spread seeds.

I think of myself as a Spripe (a pet term I use for spoiled-ripe-not-rotten), and like any wealth steward striving to be a contributor, I care about development. Stewardship is a responsibility with a very long development plan. Like Spider-Man says about power, with great wealth comes great responsibility. Stewards should take their development responsibly.

Perspective requires curiosity and collaboration. I hope this blog piques something in your curiosity and if it does, please reach out! Collaboration makes my day. Because I’m not all that fussed about the destination, but I care deeply about the steps we take along the way.

This month’s blog wouldn’t have happened without Chat GPT; it is heavily heavily edited by me (Grammarly says it is 0% AI which is impossible!) but I could not have attempted to incorporate the 33 blogs without it.

Here is a list of all of the prior blogs that Chat GPT and I prepared to setup this blog:

1. Time is Your Greatest Asset

You can always earn more money, but you can’t make more time. Use it wisely, or watch it slip away.

2. Trusts Aren’t Cages

A trust should empower your heirs, not trap them in a gilded prison. Build responsibly.

3. Entitlement Will Kill Your Legacy

Entitlement is like rust—it corrodes from the inside. Gratitude, on the other hand, builds resilience.

4. People are Compound Interest

Invest in your people—the returns are exponential.

5. Education and Strategy Build Wealth

Your financial empire needs a toolkit: books, conferences, and great advice.

6. Power Requires Purpose

With great power comes… you know the rest. Use yours wisely.

7. Discipline is the Foundation

No tree grows tall without strong roots. Discipline grounds success.

8. Strategy First, Always

Running headfirst without a plan? You’ll burn out. Strategy bridges dreams to outcomes.

9. Impact is the Best ROI

What’s the point of wealth if it doesn’t make a difference?

10. Your Ecosystem Defines You

Strong networks aren’t just nice—they’re necessary. Build symbiotic relationships.

11. Stewardship is About Vision

Being a steward is more than managing assets. It’s about leading with heart and clarity.

12. Simplicity Wins

Complexity is the enemy of clarity. Simplify wealth management.

13. Families are Entrepreneurs Too

Entrepreneurial spirit isn’t limited to business—families can embody it.

14. Perspective Changes Everything

Sharpen your lens, and growth will follow.

15. Wealth Equals Well-Being

If your wealth isn’t improving your life, what’s it for?

16. Culture is a Petri Dish

Experiment with your culture—it’s where growth and success thrive.

17. Control is Influence, Not Chains

Leadership isn’t about micromanaging. It’s about empowering others.

18. Rain Grows Roots

Challenges aren’t setbacks—they’re opportunities to grow.

19. Family Offices Are Legacies in Action

Done right, a family office is a legacy factory.

20. Sacrifice is the Cost of Greatness

Every choice has a cost. Pick your sacrifices wisely.

21. Mentorship is a Superpower

A mentor can shorten your learning curve by decades. Seek them out.

22. Abundance is a Strategy

An abundance mindset is more than optimism—it’s a growth tactic. Use it.

23. Self-Care is Selfless

When you prioritize yourself, everyone benefits.

24. Family Governance is Peace of Mind

Good governance isn’t bureaucracy—it’s harmony for generations.

25. Privilege is Potential

Privilege isn’t the destination—it’s the starting point.

26. Legacy is Built Daily

Your legacy isn’t someday—it’s every choice you make now.

27. Balance is a Moving Target

Well-being is a dance, not a destination. Keep moving.

28. Money is a Tool

It can help or hurt—it depends on how you choose to use it.

29. Ask Yourself ‘Why?’

All the wealth in the world means nothing if you don’t know what it’s for.

Hello again Friends,

Hello again Friends, we are into fall and I have noticed the transition back after summer tilts my focus towards family time. As we get busy, don’t forget about those amazing family moments. After all, time is our greatest resource.

The Family Wealth Equation: FW = R (HC + RC)

By using your Resources effectively, they amplify your Human Capital and Relational Capital, and that is how you increase your Family Wealth.

So using your time and money effectively is a consistent focus in family wealth strategy. Today, I want to discuss a fantastic opportunity where your most important resources, your time and money, can overlap resulting in great family wealth gains.

The overlap is where your strategic philanthropy and investment strategy align.

Strategic philanthropy; the intentional use of financial capital towards the philanthropic goals as collectively determined by the family.

Philanthropic goals often involve community; an area I strive to focus on. I recently joined the Advisory Engagement Committee for the Calgary Foundation.** They are helpful when discussing many topics (strategic philanthropy, Donor-Advised Funds, Foundations, charity selection, etc.) although they are no Gena Rotstein when discussing philanthropy.

Aligning philanthropy strategy with investment strategy

Defining your philanthropic goals is fulfilling, even when your time and money is already accounted for, because the clarity adds a lot of value. Take the time to develop the strategy, particularly when the family’s fortune is good.

Philanthropic goals often develop through misfortune. Yet, I think families stand to benefit by stating philanthropic goals during the family’s highs as much as their lows.

I recently completed the investment policies for my holding company. Family values overlap quite seamlessly when comparing philanthropy and investment strategy. I recently defined ‘Impact’ for my holding company’s IPS:

We seek out investments that go beyond financial returns. By investing with intention, we aim to contribute to a future that is healthier, more innovative, and deeply interconnected.

We focus our investment efforts in areas where we see the greatest potential for smaller cheque sizes to make an impact:

• Artificial Intelligence, specifically where innovation can be applied to tackle challenges to our collective well-being.
• Human Connection & Community, supporting ventures that bridge divides, foster meaningful relationships, and strengthen the fabric of the communities I care deeply about.
• Health Care Technology, where larger innovations can be deployed to improve lives, expand access, and elevate the quality of care within niche applications.

Although not all of our dollars are directed towards initiatives that inspire progress and bring people together, we strive to do as much as possible.

My holding company is not a large portfolio by any means, but writing out the Impact Statement above did make me realize a couple of things:

1. that my former actions showed an incessant focus on total return, and that is something I’d like to better balance with investing for impact, and
2. that my shiny bead syndrome is really, really active. I did not have an overarching theme to my strategy. Whatever inspired that month attention.

I look forward to developing a philanthropy strategy and finding the points of overlap; the most obvious one being place-based impact investing.

So whether you look to deploy resources into philanthropy strategically or into impact investing, using your time wisely is critical.

Hello Friends, and welcome back. Let’s spend ten minutes together on family wealth strategy. Sharpening our perspective on how to deploy our resources for better impact, well-being and flourishing of the people that we care about.

Hello Friends, and welcome back. As always, thank you for reading and emailing me with your thoughts!

I have not written for FO Perspective on perhaps the most consistent of topics I hear about, a topic that presents itself in families of all wealth scales. The concern about entitlement is two-fold from my perspective:

1. Entitled kids seem to have a hard time living the family values as well as finding their own moral code, making parents feel unsuccessful in the upbringing, and
2. Entitled kids are disinterested in long-term goals and finding the grit to achieve those goals, making it hard for parents to consider their childrens’ lives fulfilling.

A lack of fulfillment and a lack of success is quite the double whammy! And this is before considering the most-cited issue of entitlement amongst professionals which is that entitlement leads to weaker stewardship principles and then of course the financial resources deplete.

Entitlement is imbalance of privileges and responsibilities

Entitlement is often defined as an expectation of receipt of privileges without corresponding effort. This aligns with how I use the word. However, it was not until I was reading the Gift of Lift by David York that I realized that a lack of effort is not the entirety of the problem. York notes that entitlement exists when ones privileges and rights vastly exceed their duties and responsibilities.

I really like that. I picture the Scales of Justice and privileged stewards like us having a whole lot of weights piled into the rights and privileges side of the scale. Rightfully so, we carry more duties and responsibilities accordingly to maintain balance in our lives.

5G “technology” for overcoming entitlement

I was inspired to write this month’s blog and sharpen my perspective on entitlement as I have been working on a course with a fellow wealth steward.* I sent him my “5Gs for overcoming entitlement” which inspired the project. The 5Gs concept came to me as I was developing a list of tools for overcoming an entitlement mindset. The most important “G” is gratitude, as well as referencing two of the most important tools in strong family cultures which are growth and grit.**

But 3G technology is so last decade. So, with three “Gs” in hand and the world now heavily dependent on 5G technology, I got to brainstorming about other “Gs” that help families overcome entitlement mindsets.

Goodness is an important aspect for overcoming entitlement; the idea being that finding good, virtuous aspects of life and aligning your values with the good will certainly push entitlement out of your family culture.

I have two more great “Gs” and I’ll save the last “G” until 6G technology comes out. For now, the fifth “G” is: gone.

Gone as a tool for overcoming entitlement mindset is the only G that came to be a part of my advice for families from my own conversations. Most of my advice comes from the wisdom of the family wealth industry; I stand on the shoulders of mighty giants. But this nugget I’ll take credit for noticing as a recurring trend in the wealth stewards’ stories. This is why, dear Reader, I’m always so thankful when you share your stories!

Going, Going, Gone

Gone became a recurring theme amongst gritty rising generation wealth stewards when we got to storytelling about their work ethic. In their own minds, what made them work hard when many wealth stewards were less compelled. Surprisingly, many stewards, even from families where it would be remarkably hard to lose the money, told me stories about their being worried that the money could truly be gone in their lifetimes, so they had better develop skills to keep themselves afloat should the disastrous come to happen.

What a remarkable mindset to instil in your kids – that at any time all the good in our lives could be taken from us.

Family Wealth = Resources (Human Capital + Relational Capital)

All Issues of the FO Perspective relate the thought of the month to the wealth equation. Here, the relationship should be obvious. Family wealth, which over time is family legacy, is equal to the product of your resources multiplied by the sum of the quality of your people and their relationships. Your resources, principally your time and money, should be regularly assessed for how well they are being invested in your family.

In the case of entitlement, the key question is how can your resources be deployed to improve your family culture and better balance your family members’ rights and privileges on the one hand with their duties and responsibilities on the other.

I’m reminded of my favourite quote from Spider-Man: with great power comes great responsibility. With great wealth comes great responsibility as well.

Hello Friends, and welcome back to your favourite Newsletter.

Family Wealth = Resources (Human Capital + Relational Capital). A series of quick hits this month…

Professional Trustees

Personal trustees are friends and family typically. They agree to act as Trustee and bring great relationships with the beneficiaries to the table. Trust Companies are the exact opposite; they will have great professional acumen and built-in succession plans, but they lack the same depth of relationship.

Professional trustees are rare but combine elements of both personal trustees and trust companies. I am a professional trustee and so it was with great anticipation that I attended the Independent Trustee Alliance conference in Dallas last month.

It did not disappoint; what I had seen from Dennis Nerland’s professional trusteeship practice was mirrored by many other professionals. I posted my biggest takeaways here.

RipenQuest

I made what I call “pilgrimage” to Jay Hughes in October 2022 (if you don’t know Jay Hughes and you read these newsletters; email me ASAP. You need to know his work). He said so many profound things it is plainly ridiculous, but one statement really stuck with me: Family Wealth has a “medium is the message” issue.

By explaining all of his wisdom under the “medium” of family wealth, he felt like there was a gap in developing the wisdom for another key medium: the trustscape.

I took that guidance to heart and, knowing that there was no book on trusts that I would have enjoyed reading when I was 18 (a common age to be introduced to trusts particularly in the US) I set out to write it.

Well, my news is that the first draft is now complete! I am looking for early readers, please reach out. If you know great editors, I am picking an editor this month.

Family Enterprise Canada Symposium

What a week. It started off with Blackwood Family Enterprises Services’ one day seminar. It is clear that Dr. Moira Somers is a standout in tense family meeting facilitation (and is valuable in non-tense scenarios as well!)

Then, I attended FEC’s Symposium for the first time. This is such an exciting group serving Canadian family businesses. They are also known for elevating the family enterprise advisory industry with their FEA designation.

My favourite takeaway? It is quite possibly that all of the great work that advisors do will not land if it does not meet the family where it is. The range of ownership literacy in families is significant and I have felt the pain of my advice not meeting a family where they were; too focused on logical, complex outcomes in my case and not focused enough on actually helping the family with the big problem they were facing.

Taxes and Family Enterprise

I’m still a tax nerd, naturally. I’ve canvassed around 15 tax law and accounting professionals on Canada’s capital gains inclusion rate change. Without law to interpret at this time, the chances of June 24 being the final date is remote. Although we have seen worse retroactive law being imposed.

So in the efforts I’ve made with families to address this date, I have rediscovered the incessant issue that tax planning can really wag the family dog if left unchecked. Knowing your goals, knowing your family members and knowing your tax risk profile is absolutely critical before reviewing any tax strategies.