Family Wealth: 5 Essential Questions

Having listened to many families of wealth and seeing their family situations, for better or for worse, it does appear that money can impact also for better or for worse. After creating their wealth, entrepreneurs then are concerned about investing, but their overriding concern is the impact on their children. How will the new money affect them? 
Actually, it worries them deeply and we have all heard stories of families who had wayward next generation due to the wealth. What should a wealthy family do?

Listening to entrepreneurs who have sold their business and received an eye watering amount of money, I notice that the great families tend to ask themselves these six questions. 

1.       What is really important to our family?

2.       What are our family’s true assets?

3.       What should I do to guide and support the life journey of each of my family members over time?

4.       How wealthy do I want my children to be?

5.       Do I feel any responsibility to society?

You might also ask what sort of family do you want to be? What do you want - both with family legacy or family stories? Even the answer from your children might be – "meh" – and that says a great deal.

What legacy do you want to leave your children? What about a legacy left for society? Deciding where you want to go with your financial success and why you want to meet those goals will get your strategy going. Determining how to get there and which legal arrangements to use are secondary tactical decisions.

Your financial wealth a is wonderful vehicle to help your family do a shared goal.  In my experience, families who go through this process achieve better results – financially and emotionally.

By the way, my definition of a successful family is one that knows who it is, what it stands for and where it is going. Successful families manage themselves deliberately.  There is a lot at stake for families and each family member. If you and your family can define what is significant, before doing, then your next generation have an excellent chance of thriving.

A staggering amount of wealth has been created in the USA and inheritances given, foundations endowed and legacies created.  The wealthy family is trying to find this other dimension more and more.

The other question, after answering "what is important", is what will be the impact on my children and heirs? I often think that the second question is more important. It is also far more unpredictable. It is why you want to know the life lessons of the best entrepreneurs and how they have managed their family wealth.

 

Christiane Amanpour honoured for her media stories dedicated to Peace

Christiane Amanpour was honoured by Daughters for Life at a gala dinner held at The Carlu in Toronto. She took the opportunity to give the message of peace and to see others as human and not "the Other".

Christiane knows first hand about politics and the power it holds over behavior. She is Iranian and was educated in Britain, during her youth.  This early experience of different cultures, and not quite fitting into the community, gives her a deep insight into belonging and how politicians can warp their people's minds.

Christiane Amanpour, CNN, and Jacoline Loewen, UBS Bank (Canada)

Christiane has an admirable career and here are a few reminders of her assignments around the world to the hot spots of the world:

During her early years as a correspondent, Amanpour was given her first major assignment covering the Iran–Iraq War, which led to her being transferred in 1986 to Eastern Europe to report on the fall of European communism.

1990:

Following Iraq's occupation of Kuwait in 1990, Amanpour's reports of the Persian Gulf War brought her wide notice while also taking CNN to a new level of news coverage.

1992:

On 22 December 1992, during the Bosnian War, Amanpour was reporting from Kiseljak, not far from Sarajevo.e Amanpour, CNN Global Head of Media,

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More Billionnaires are self-made, and fewer come from the finance industry

More billionaires are self made and fewer are from the finance industry. The USA is a good country for growing new billionaires, but that may be because they are transparent about their wealth, as compared to Russia or other countries or geographic regions.
The philanthropy by the super wealthy is admirable too. The Bill Gates foundation, for example, seems to fund many of the early stage companies here in Canada. 

According to the UBS Billionaires Report, compiled by UBS and PwC, the "new [US] billionaire is different", writes On Wall Street, quoting John Mathews, Head Private Wealth Management UBS Global Wealth Management USA. More and more of them are self-made, and fewer come from the finance industry, the report says. The US created a total of 53 new billionaires in 2017, 26 percent of whom were female, compared to 12 percent of all North American billionaires. Only nine new billionaires came from the finance sector, compared to 20 in 2012, while 40 percent came from the consumer and retail industry. Besides record wealth levels, the report points to an upcoming massive generational shift in wealth between generations, with USD 3.4 trillion in wealth set to be handed over to a new generation in the next two decades. Judy Spalthoff, Head Family and Philanthropy Advisory Americas UBS Global Wealth Management, notes that the passing on of vast wealth takes careful preparation and can be a years-long process encompassing a vast range of issues. "It's not enough to only consider the transfer," she says.

Citywire writes that Asia is recording far stronger growth, however, with UBS estimating that China alone creates two new billionaires every week.

Le Monde writes that the outlook is not all fair sailing, however, with Josef Stadler, Head UHNW UBS Global Wealth Management, warning that "the risk of a trade war between the United States and China could [...] disrupt economic growth in both countries, and consequently the resulting wealth creation."

The UBS Billionaires Report has attracted a vast volume of media coverage from a broad range of outlets across different regions. These include a CNBC interview with Josef Stadler, a Bloomberg interview with John Mathews, as well as articles by the Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Reuters, Barron's, South China Morning Post, The Business Times, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Handelsblatt, Spiegel Online, Manager Magazin, WirtschaftsWoche, Les Echoes, and Quartz.

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Tech Centers opening in India

FinTech is popping up everywhere, in America and other countries India, with new technologies being introduced daily. Dean Hopkins, head of OneEleven, says he is the PhD of Global Scaleups and he is opening Canadian tech incubators around the world. He was in London last week opening the newest OneEleven tech incubator.

Dean Hopkins, OneEleven, Toronto, Canada

As Dean says, "Keeping ahead of FinTechs and how they could potentially disrupt bank business practices is critical. It is becoming a critical skill to be able to assess technologies and bring them on board to mix or replace legacy systems."

Not easy to do.

Some banks are increasing their strategy to develop their own tech centers to access the best new FinTechs and their hot shot founders. These centers are springing up in developed  cities such as Toronto and London, but also emerging countries are benefitting:

"UBS has opened a second tech center in the Indian city of Pune, reports Verdict. It is the fourth in the country, with a further two located in Mumbai. The new UBS tech center will focus on the development of Neo, UBS's cross-asset platform, while also monitoring applications and data for the bank. "We want to benefit from the huge demographic dividend which India has. When we started our journey with risk management in 2015, the first product from the Pune site gave us a lot of confidence to grow our footprint In India," comments Harald Egger, Head Group Sourcing UBS. "

"The Times of India quotes Egger as further explaining that UBS is looking to hire computer scientists in India, but is facing tough competition. "The Indian talent landscape puts us in direct competition with our vendors," he points out.."

In China, female billionaires are growing in number.

Billionaires Report

According to the UBS PwC Billionaires Report, the total wealth controlled by the world's billionaires rose by more than 19 percent year-on-year in 2017, to USD 8.9 trillion, reports CNBC. The driving force behind the trend is Chinese wealth creation, the report says, with the country creating two new billionaires every week last year. The number of female billionaires is also growing strongly, particularly in China, where their number grew by 13 percent last year, outstripping global growth in female billionaires, which stood at 11 percent. One key difference, explains Josef Stadler, Head of UHNW UBS Global Wealth Management, is that "we see in China entrepreneurial female billionaires, whereas in Europe and the United States there are more females who inherit, but then get into entrepreneurial activities as a result."

The UBS PwC Billionaires Report 2018 shows that the combined wealth of China's billionaires surged 39 percent to USD 1.12 trillion last year, which is more than double the gains reaped by their peers in the US and Europe, whose collective fortunes increased 12 percent and 19 percent, respectively. John Mathews, Head of UHNW Americas UBS Global Wealth Management, says that "we're in a new gilded age," with "unbelievable and unprecedented wealth" in China. Some of the wealth gains may be illusory, however, cautions Bloomberg. The report showed that roughly half of China's new billionaires saw their wealth dip below 10 digits by the end of the year in 2017, a trend that is continuing in 2018.

The US remains the largest concentration of wealth worldwide, and is still the home of innovation, John Mathews, Head of UHNW Americas UBS Global Wealth Management, says on Monocle24's The Bulletin With UBS. According to Mike Ryan, UBS Chief Investment Officer Americas, the major takeaway from the Billionaires Report is that the figures represent the rise of China. Josef Stadler, Head of UHNW UBS Global Wealth Management, points out that China no longer copies innovations from elsewhere, but exports its own innovations out into the world. Judy Spalthoff, Head of Family and Philanthropy Advisory Americas at UBS Financial Services, discusses the importance of the growing number of women billionaires, and the importance of succession planning.

Neue Zürcher Zeitung am Sonntag writes that Chinese authorities are increasingly scrutinizing the country's ultra-wealthy, and cracking down where they suspect wrongdoing. They cite the example of high-profile actress Fan Bingbing, who disappeared for months before making a tearful public confession, admitting to tax evasion and promising to repay CHF 130 million. Banks can easily get caught up in the mix, the paper says, citing the current example of a UBS employee asked to remain in Beijing and assist investigators in matters unknown. UBS Group CEO Sergio Ermotti has assured that this has nothing to do with either the bank or the employee, but several other banks quickly issued China travel bans to their staff, the paper notes.


If you would like a copy of the report, please contact me at jacoline.loewen  at  ubs dot com

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