Putting The Family Into Family Wealth Management

I have spent the last 17 years working with families, with the intention of helping them manage their risks and meet their financial goals.

Most of those goals include creating enough wealth to live out a comfortable life when your income is going to be derived mostly from your savings (or pension plans).

The most successful of these folks, hands down, are the ones who started saving early. It's never too late to start saving, but you will have the easiest time of it if you get going when you are young and the compounding curve in front of you is long.

So we encourage our clients to involve their kids and grandkids as soon as they possibly can and include them in the "family plan". There is something that clicks when you see how putting away (and making a regular habit of it) a few thousand dollars can compound over time to get you into the many millions of dollars goal range.  It is really quite impactful for a conscientious "20 something" to see. I watch their eyes go wide when we show them the possibilities.

Get them started early and in all likelihood, they will achieve earlier independence as well ( a little less burden on your retirement plan).

We handle plenty of multi-generational families and have everything from newborn's RESP's to teenage "in trust for" accounts, which at age 18 become the property of the named child / grandchild and can be a staring point for TFSA contributions, arguably the greatest savings vehicle available because of the tax treatment (there is no tax) on the growth.

Importantly, this usually becomes "untouchable" money, not because we won't let them, but because they get the chance to see it grow, over time and get used to it and there is a psychological effect, wanting to let it continue.

Is it a little extra on our plates (smaller portfolios, additional Wealth Forecasts, less cost-effective for us)? Probably, but in the grand scheme, that is what we are about: the family and helping steward multi-generational families to financial success.

Thanks for all the great feedback...

Please keep it coming...

scott@highrockcapital.ca