UHNW Institute Maps Family Wealth Territory

Previously published by Family Wealth Report on May 5, 2020.

The US-based think tank, the UHNW Institute, is charting the territory confronting wealthy families and advisors with a new guide – The Ten Domains Of Family Wealth. (See the Institute’s own announcement here.)

The product of brainstorming by the organization’s members and led by one of its faculty advisors, Dr Jim Grubman, the domains set out the fields that families and advisors must grapple with, ranging from the kind of relationships clients have with advisors, through to social impact and philanthropy. Dr Grubman is also a family wealth consultant, based in Boston, Massachusetts. He chairs the content and curriculum committee at the Institute. 

“This is about helping families know what questions to ask advisors and for advisors to know what they need to be doing in this space,” Dr Grubman told Family Wealth Report in a recent call. 

The approach sets out the knowledge advisors need to have in the areas of competence and what they need to offer clients. With detail comes accountability and, ultimately, a better outcome for both sides, Dr Grubman said. The domains also designate the subjects and issues which ought to be offered to and discussed with clients.

Over a period of several weeks what the different domains should be were hammered out, producing a total of ten. “We refined them and got lots of feedback. This now seems pretty robust,” Dr Grubman said. 

The ten domains are as follows: The Advisor-Client Relationship; Integrated Financial Management; Estate Planning and Legal Issues; Risk Management; Governance and Decision-Making; Leadership and Transition Planning; Learning, Development, and the Rising Generation; Family Dynamics; Health and Well-Being, and Social Impact and Philanthropy.

The project reflects how the UHNW Institute, formed last year by a number of wealth management industry luminaries and a non-profit, wants to push best practice in the North American industry and do so from the vantage point of actual clients. Family Wealth Report is exclusive media partner and has already published a number of the Institute’s papers. 

This news service discussed the Ten Domains Of Family Wealth in a video interview with Dr Grubman HERE.