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March Headlines
Family Continuity and Governance
Industry Trends and Issues
Integrated Planning
Investment Planning
Lifestyle
Risk Management
Strategic Philanthropy
Family Continuity and Governance
How to Make Family Meetings Work
Family meetings offer an open forum for sharing news, concerns, opportunities and challenges. They also provide a way to collaborate on decision-making and to educate younger family members on family finances and traditions. In this white paper, Calibre explores the reasons to hold family meetings and ways to make them work well.
Industry Trends and Issues
Family Offices Allocating More to Private Equity
Family offices have been increasing their allocations to private equity, a trend that’s likely to continue according to a study by the European Venture Capital and Private Equity Association. The report also found a strong preference for investing in buyout funds and evidence that the number of family offices will increase as more company owners retire.
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U.S. Investments in German Companies Increase
German companies are shifting to overseas ownership – with the largest group of foreign investors coming from the United States. That’s according to a report from Dresdner Kleinwort, a German investment banking firm. U.S. investors owned almost 18 percent of German equities by 2007, up from only 2 percent in 2001, according to the report.
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Increased Taxation May Drive Out Non-Doms
Proposed tax increases for non-domiciled UK residents could have a serious impact on the nation’s economy, according to a research paper by Stonehage. The authors conclude that these tax revisions could cause non-doms to leave the country, leading to lost tax revenues, lost income, lost growth and lost philanthropic support.
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Integrated Planning
Choosing the Ownership Option for Private Trusts
Private trust companies can protect and enhance a family’s wealth, but the ownership options need to be weighed carefully. In this article, Michael Stanford-Tuck of Bermuda-based Appleby Global discusses such choices as the non-charitable purpose trust, the Cayman Islands’ STAR trust and the British Virgin Islands’ VISTA trust.
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Investment Planning
Think Globally, Act Locally
Taking a global approach to equity investing makes sense, but using global equity managers to implement this approach can be problematic, says a white paper from Greycourt & Co. The paper examines the concept and argues for a middle ground between true global investing and a more localized approach.
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Building Alternative Investments into Portfolios
Alternative investments are an increasingly necessary element in high-net-worth portfolios, according to a research report from Fortigent. The author, Scott Welch, builds the argument for alternative investments, analyzes the appropriate allocation and explores the challenges of implementing alternatives in different-sized portfolios.
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Limited Predictability with ECB Bank Lending Survey
While the ECB Bank Lending Survey provides useful insight into banks’ lending behavior, it is not a foolproof indicator. This research paper by Deutsche Bank examines the bank lending survey’s predictability and urges caution, concluding that the survey is only moderately successful at forecasting future lending standards and loan demand in the euro area.
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Strong Performance of Equities Unnoticed
A large percentage of private investors may be underestimating how well equities perform. A survey of private investors across the United Kingdom by Santander Asset Management UK found that 91 percent of the investors failed to identify equities as the best-performing asset class in 2007.
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Hedge Fund Launches Slowing
While the number of hedge funds continued to increase in 2006, the growth rate is slowing compared to the late 1990s and early 2000s, according to PerTrac Financial Solutions’ 2007 PerTrac Hedge Fund Database Study. The researchers found an 11 percent increase in the number of single-manager hedge funds and a 21 percent increase in the number of funds in hedge funds.
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Real Estate Market Off to Slow Start
Look for European real estate transaction volumes to be down 25 percent in 2008 compared with 2007, according to a European capital markets bulletin from Jones Lang LaSalle. Much of the downturn is expected during the first half of the year, due to falling values and slow investment activity. However, buyer opportunities are predicted to improve later in 2008 as prices correct across sectors and markets.
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Lifestyle Management
Wealthy Business Owners Want to Work
Affluent business owners often are eager to continue working but typically fail to prepare adequate succession plans, according to PNC Wealth Management’s 2008 Wealth and Values survey. Among those surveyed, 43 percent want to work until at least age 70, a rate twice as high as that for individuals who don’t own businesses. But only one-third of wealthy owners have written succession plans in place.
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Risk Management
Users Have a Role in Online Banking Security
While banks need strong online security systems, Internet users need to help in making sure online banking is secure by using anti-virus software, according to a report by Deutsche Bank. The researchers found that more than 30 percent of Internet users in Germany do not bank online because of security concerns.
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Strategic Philanthropy
Collaborating with Social Entrepreneurs
Social entrepreneurship cuts across disciplines to tackle social, economic and political issues and create sustainable change for the greater good. This issue of Global Giving Matters takes an in-depth look at this approach, reporting on the challenges that social engineers face and the opportunities for philanthropists to move the field forward.
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Wealth on a Philanthropic Mission
Socially responsible investing lets investors use their investment capital for advocacy – to advance a social cause or a values-driven position. In this paper, the Threshold Group defines SRI, shows how it fits into wealth management and provides points for families to consider in exploring whether to consider this approach for their investment portfolios.
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