Family offices were designed to centralize wealth management for families across investments, taxes, and administration. Yet, as the largest wealth transfer in history unfolds, many family offices are realizing that what worked for today’s generation may not be enough for the next.
The Challenge of Transition
Family offices excel at handling the immediate needs of their founding generation—cash flow, investment administration, and reporting. But transitions across generations bring a different set of challenges:
- Different goals and priorities: Heirs may have different lifestyles, values, and philanthropic ambitions than their parents.
- Complex governance issues: As the family tree grows, decision-making becomes more layered and harder to navigate.
- Tax and estate law changes: Under current law, the federal lifetime estate and gift tax exclusion is $13.99 million per person in 2025, and is scheduled to increase to $15 million per person on January 1, 2026, with ongoing inflation indexing. Planning conversations may shift from “will the exemption drop” to “how do we use the higher exclusion thoughtfully,” including basis, income tax, and governance considerations.
Without proactive planning, these shifts can create tension, misalignment, and even the erosion of wealth over time.
Where Finley Davis Private Wealth Can Help
At Finley Davis Private Wealth, we recognize that families evolve, and their planning needs to evolve with them. Our role is not to replace family offices but to complement them, helping ensure that structures are designed to withstand generational shifts.
Our approach focuses on:
- Legacy and philanthropic alignment: We help families clarify what they want their wealth to achieve, ensuring that charitable intentions and family values carry forward.
- Cross-generational structures: We collaborate on strategies that support both today’s and tomorrow’s family leaders, from trusts to governance frameworks.
- Adapting to change: Through our Aspire, Assess, Achieve, Advocate process, we aim to build flexible strategies that can adjust as laws, markets, and family dynamics shift.
Preparing for What’s Next
The Great Wealth Transfer is not just about assets. It’s about preparing families for the responsibility, opportunities, and challenges that come with them. Family offices that embrace outside partnerships can strengthen their ability to serve multiple generations with evolving needs.
Finley Davis Private Wealth partners with families and their advisors to help them protect what has been built and thoughtfully prepare for what is to come.
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Investment Advisory Services offered through RiskBridge Advisors, LLC d/b/a Finley Davis Private Wealth (“RiskBridge”) (RB) or Lion Street Advisors, LLC (LSA),registered investment advisers with the SEC. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Securities offered through Lion Street Financial, LLC (LSF), member FINRA & SIPC, through Finley Davis Financial Group, Inc. (FDFG). RB and FDFG are not affiliated with LSA or LSF.
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