You may need a check-up. More specifically, a Middle-Market Family Office Check-Up.
A Middle-Market Family Office is designed to help business owners and families with a net worth of between $25 million and $250 million. It was designed by P.J. DiNuzzo, founder and lead consultant of DiNuzzo Middle-Market Family Office and author of the Wall Street Journal bestselling book, The DiNuzzo Middle-Market Family Office™ Breakthrough: Creating Strategic Tax, Risk Cash-Flow and Lifestyle Options for Successful Privately-Held Business Owners and Affluent Families.
To determine whether a Middle-Market Family Office Check-Up might help you, ask yourself the following three questions.
1. Are you a successful, closely held business owner or an affluent family?
A Middle-Market Family Office best serves business owners and affluent families with a net worth of at least $25 million (this helps to ensure that the advanced wealth planning strategies can make enough of an impact to justify your time and cost). These businesses and families exist in a position where a single-family office does not make sense financially. Single-family offices typically serve families with a net worth of $500 million or more. Consequently, single-family offices are rarely optimal for a significant demographic: successful closely held business owners and affluent families who are below the $500 million ultra-high-net-worth threshold.
But what if you are a business owner or wealthy family shy of the $500 million mark wanting or needing the same or similar single-family office advanced wealth planning solutions regarding your tax mitigation, estate planning, asset protection planning, risk management, philanthropic and next-gen guidance, and assets, liabilities, and cash flow management?
The Middle-Market Family Office and its Check-Up, are a powerful way for successful closely held business owners and wealthy families who do not meet the criteria for having a single-family office to achieve the same or comparable results. All too often various professionals such as wealth managers, lawyers, and accountants underserve their clients and fail to give the level of care necessary for their net worth. Or, they may treat people with a net worth of $25 million the same as someone with a net worth of $2.5 million, which inevitably leaves the business owner vastly underserved, in this case by a factor of 10.
2. Are you receiving the bespoke level of guidance and possibilities your family needs and deserves?
First, do you have professional wealth managers advising you and your family? If so, consider the level of care they are giving you. Most ultra-high-net-worth wealth managers and financial advisors only focus on managing money and providing life insurance, and some lend money. Your needs are likely much more comprehensive and complex.
Are you satisfied with the skills and expertise you are receiving or do you want or suspect that you need more? Again, many ultra-high-net-worth wealth managers and financial advisors market themselves as providing a higher level of skills and expertise than they really provide. Thankfully, there’s a way to test this.
P. J. DiNuzzo urges business owners and affluent families to consider the following factors when it comes to their wealth management. “First, consider the level of experience and specialization of the professionals serving you,” P. J. DiNuzzo explains. “Second, evaluate how many services you would conceivably receive. Third, ask your provider how coordinated the team of professionals would be if you work with them. Fourth, have your provider detail how many goals your professionals would help you achieve.” This will determine the level of care you are receiving and the level of care you need. If you do not have satisfactory answers to each question, your current financial situation, as well as your legacy, might be in jeopardy.
3. Have you checked your family’s footer and foundation in the last year?
The Middle-Market Family Office Check-Up is a holistic evaluation of key details in your family’s footer and foundation. It helps provide a 360-degree view of the most important aspects of your world and gives you practical action steps to manage, grow, and protect your wealth during your lifetime and for generations to come. Here is a list of the broad categories that the Check-Up evaluates and analyzes:
- Cash flow
- Investment strategy
- Tax mitigation strategies
- Wealth planning
- Risk management
- Asset protection strategies
- Retirement and independence strategies
- Legacy and next-gen guidance
- Philanthropic guidance
Have you checked on all, most, or even any of these in the last year? Last five years? Put differently, are you well-positioned with your financial affairs to handle everything important to you? What about the legacy you want to leave for your children and grandchildren (and beyond)? This is one of the most influential outcomes of your Middle-Market Family Office Check-Up; the legacy you can pass down to future generations.
Can you confidently say that all of these categories are optimized to your satisfaction? If not, you may consider working with an elite team providing options and guidance to identify dangerous gaps, “dark corners,” and potential opportunities for you and your family.
Russ Alan Prince is the executive director of Private Wealth magazine and chief content officer for High-Net-Worth Genius. He consults with family offices, the wealthy, fast-tracking entrepreneurs, and select professionals.