Survey: Wealthy families not as concerned about infighting

Marcus Baram
Author Marcus Baram
Marcus Baram is a contributing editor at Crain Currency, where he covers the intersection of finance and politics. Prior to joining Crain Currency, Baram was a staff writer at Fast Company and an editor at Huff Post. He has also written for outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, and Vice. Baram is an expert on economic policy and has a deep understanding of the ways in which politics shapes the global financial system. In his role at Crain Currency, he brings a unique perspective to the complex and ever-evolving world of finance. With his keen analysis and clear writing, Baram helps readers make sense of the important issues impacting the economy today.
Jun 28, 2023
4 months ago
family_office

Wealthy families seem to have drawn closer together in recent years – maybe due to the pandemic or being spooked by the on-screen antics of the Roy family in HBO’s “Succession.”

That’s at least according to a new family wealth study by the multi-family office Stonehage Fleming, which found that family infighting is no longer the No. 1 threat to maintaining wealth. That’s a sharp difference from the firm’s 2018 study, which found that “family disputes” were listed as the top risk for nearly 70% of its clients. Now it’s not even among their top five concerns, reports Spear’s, which got an early preview of the forthcoming study that surveyed more than 200 family office clients around the world.

Wealthy families now see their long-term wealth more threatened by political risks, taxation, a lack of planning, failing to engage with the next generation and “the whole economic environment.”

Their biggest concerns: wealth management performance, in light of the pandemic; the war in Ukraine; and lingering inflation.

Another interesting finding: the number of clients who preferred sustainable investments — “actively including a values-based approach into their portfolio decisions” — has dropped from 75% to only 21%.

Mona Shah, the head of Stonehage Fleming’s sustainable-investment offering, told Spear’s that such a switch in investments could have an impact on their clients’ tax liability and other challenges. The firm “received more and more feedback that clients wanted a way to start to drip-feed their financial capital into sustainable investments, without doing it in one fell swoop.”

Marcus Baram
Author Marcus Baram
Marcus Baram is a contributing editor at Crain Currency, where he covers the intersection of finance and politics. Prior to joining Crain Currency, Baram was a staff writer at Fast Company and an editor at Huff Post. He has also written for outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, and Vice. Baram is an expert on economic policy and has a deep understanding of the ways in which politics shapes the global financial system. In his role at Crain Currency, he brings a unique perspective to the complex and ever-evolving world of finance. With his keen analysis and clear writing, Baram helps readers make sense of the important issues impacting the economy today.