Your wealth does not live in one account: reading the family balance sheet

Affluent families rarely have a portfolio problem. They have a coordination problem: entities, trusts, real estate, a family business and concentrated holdings, each advised separately, each taxed differently.

The first deliverable of any serious relationship should be a single family balance sheet: owned assets, entity assets, trust assets, business interests, liabilities and expected transfers, with the tax character of each layer made explicit.

Once the picture exists, sequencing becomes possible: which gains to realise where, which entity should own the next purchase, which gifts move value most efficiently, and which decisions belong to the next generation.