A crucial part of the process of course is having a panel of expert judges with the experience and knowledge to assess the entries. We will therefore be profiling the judges taking part in coming weeks.

Here is Sara Hamilton, chief executive and founder of Family Office Exchange. She reflects, in her own words, on the characteristics of successful, 100-year families and looks forward to serving the “clients of the future” in these families in 2014 and beyond.

Over the past 25 years at FOX, we have been fortunate enough to have worked with most of the families who have not experienced “shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations’”.  It isn’t the size of the fortune that determines a family’s ability to build a successful family enterprise. The secret is recognizing that you have something worth pursuing collectively and setting goals to maintain the private family capital for multiple generations into the future.

Enterprise families understand that decisions they make today impact the family, business, financial and philanthropic capital for generations to come. Some of these families still own the operating business and work hard to manage their roles within the family and the business. Others are generations beyond the family business who have found creative ways to foster bonds of affinity and entrepreneurship within the family.

All of these 100-year families have several things in common. Our research with Dr Dennis Jaffe and the team at Wise Council in 2013 yielded the following characteristics of families who have defied the odds:

·         Shared purpose and values: not just about the money

·         Family community across generations

·         Professionally managed business and financial activities

·         Continual adaptation and resiliency

·         Free choice to remain partners

·         Active development of human capital

·         Commitment to give back to the community

Every family can be an enterprise family. The beauty of this approach is that it can support the interests of all family stakeholders - with a lot of creativity, flexibility and follow through on the part of the family.

As I think about the next 25 years at FOX, I know that it is critical that we understand the clients of the future within these families. These next generation family members who have grown up with a global economy and 24/7 technology have different expectations of their advisors and for their wealth. Our research in this area in 2014 will help us support this next generation and their advisors as they endeavor to construct their own 100-year legacies.