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  • As families accumulate wealth, their financial affairs often become more complex. That’s a shame. Investors may establish investment holding companies, family trusts, donor-advised funds, private foundations, insurance structures, and multiple investment accounts. They may hire several investment managers, tax advisers,…

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  • The qualities that help an entrepreneur build wealth are often easy to admire. Initiative, confidence, persistence, decisiveness, and a willingness to take calculated risks can turn an idea into a successful enterprise. Entrepreneurs learn to solve problems quickly, operate with…

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  • A family office helps wealthy individuals and families manage the responsibilities that come with significant wealth. Investment management may be part of that work, but it is rarely the whole story. A family office can also coordinate accounting, tax reporting,…

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  • A family office becomes useful when managing wealth begins to resemble managing an organization rather than a personal investment account. This does not necessarily mean that a family office manages an excessively complicated financial structure. The complexity may be relatively…

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  • The term “family office” used to mean something quite specific: the organized people, processes, records, reporting, and decision-making structure that helped a wealthy family manage the complexity of its financial life. A family office was not simply an investment strategy,…

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  • Family office investors often face a surprisingly basic problem: they don’t always have a clear, consolidated view of what they own. Assets may be spread across personal accounts, holding companies, trusts, registered accounts, charitable foundations, privately held investments, custodians, bank…

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  • Are you leveraging the full tax benefits of your family foundation or DAF to make the greatest philanthropic impact? Many wealthy Canadian investors have holding companies and family foundations. Over the course of a generation, some investments have accumulated large…

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  • Many ESG investors want to know whether their investment decisions are actually making a difference. It’s one thing to say that a portfolio is values-aligned, fossil-fuel-reduced, or lower-carbon. It’s another thing to measure the impact in a disciplined way. For…

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  • The data is clear, and the debate is largely settled: indexing and passive investing are on the rise for very good reason. Most active managers fail to beat their passive benchmarks. When investors also consider fees being paid, the underperformance…

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  • Much of our work involves organizing, validating, and reporting on complex financial information for the families we serve. We gather data from investment statements, custodians, accounting records, spreadsheets, manager reports, and other client documents, then turn that information into clear…

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