Fiscal Unequals and Household Philanthropy

Our blog post this week was written by Gena Rotstein, CEO of Dexterity Ventures Inc., and recent graduate of the Calgary FEA Program. Societal demographics are shifting. Women make up 50% of the North American population and almost the same for the workforce. A growing number of these women are taking on upper management roles (37% of upper management positions) 1 and as a result, women are becoming the primary bread-winner in a family. As such family dynamics and household financial management processes and norms are evolving. Various studies...

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Retaining Clients through Generational Transition

          This short article from Financial Advisor magazine may appear to be insignificant in the big picture but exemplifies a serious and noteworthy problem in the representation of professional advisors in mainstream media publications. Firstly, the article oversimplifies a complex subject which applies to most family enterprises, and secondly suggests that advisors incorporate multigenerational planning for the sole purpose of retaining clients or “assets” in the firm. Thirdly, it is not serving to contribute or...

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Commonly Held ‘Best Practices’ For Family Firms Are Not Necessarily True

Family Business Magazine’s article, Using and Abusing Family Business Research from the Autumn 2009 issue, is written by noted academic and family business researcher Joseph H. Astrachan. He has clearly outlined a number of key challenges for family businesses, and addresses whether or not scholarly research has proven solutions to these challenges, warning that “[a]necdotal evidence should be taken with a grain of salt.” Many of his points will come across as controversial to some family enterprise advisors or consultants. Key excerpts from...

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The Value of Trust – Study of Investor Services

This 2013 joint study “should be of great concern” to members of the investment profession, since it signals several fundamental problems in the financial services industry according to investors, and is threatening the very integrity of investment management and capital markets, according to authors of the study CFA Institute and Edelman.                Strong returns alone are not enough to earn trust on behalf of investors – and trusting an investment manager...

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