Family Wealth--Keeping It in the Family: How Family Members and Their Advisers Preserve Human, Intellectual, and Financial Assets for Generations Hardcover – June 1, 2004

As member of a family that is spread on three continents (North America, Europe, and South America), as well as a professional who works on restoring communication and relationship, I highly appreciate and recommend the integrative, intelligent and compassionate approach of James E. Huges Jr. to family wealth management.It is the only book I have found that addresses wealth management in holistic and systemic manner.James Hughes makes sure from the very beginning of the book that the reader understands that:"A family's wealth consists primarily of its human capital (defined as all the individualswho make up the family) and its intellectual capital (defined as everything that eachindividual member knows), and secondary of its financial capital."I find fascinating that in a world where every single thing tends to be quantified and often reduced to its monetary market value, a famous specialist in coaching families on how to preserve their wealth begins by saying that the financial capital is SECONDARY to the physical and emotional well being, the ability to pursue happiness and the education/knowledge of EACH of the family members.The author goes on to say that every family he has observed was successful in preserving its wealth when it followed "the five virtues of truth: BEAUTY, GOODNESS, COMMUNITY and COMPASSION" (capital letters are mine)."Families who preserve their wealth successfully", says James Hughes, "reflect these virtuesin their relationships both with family members and with all persons outside the family.I am convinced that without this spiritual component a family cannot succeed in preserving itself,since its values system will fail and with that failure will come its disintegration."I could give a workshop only about the immense value of this book, but I am aware that amazon customers would rather read the book itself, rather than read a long review about it. I would like to end my review by pointing to what is, in my opinion, one of the crucial issues in family wealth preservation: the family governance.James Hughes has the brilliant idea of using Aristotel's description of various forms of government: aristocracy/kingship/queenship; oligarchy; democracy; and dictatorship.In my own work with family members who have difficulties relating to each other, and consequently fail to preserve their wealth, I am very much interested hearing the answer to the following question:what is the form of governance used in your family?In conclusion, I highly recommend James Hughes' "Family Wealth-Keeping It in the Family". It is a source of inspiration for all families, as well as for counselors, consultants and executive coaches.

This is a rather different and important book about wealth. The philosophy of keeping wealth, in its many forms is discussed and suggestions made as to how this may be achieved. The role of the family and the importance of all members of the family and of the extended family each bringing their skills to the meetings which are held on a regular basis is explained. Many books are written on how to make money, with few concentrating on the vital importance of keeping wealth which a family already possesses. Each member of the family can contribute by bringing their own ideas and strengths to these meetings. Children can be brought up learning about the importance of family wealth and the need to work together for the benefit of all. It is a book which provokes much thought. I found it to be repetitious to some extent, but the author may have used this technique to emphasis the importance of bringing different skills which each member of the family possesses to benefit themselves and all members of the family. In the world of today we, especially in the west, have moved away from the extended family thereby loosing the benefits of often huge concentration of skills present amongst family. Family Wealth is about each member of a family contributing their individual and special skills. These may be skills other than making money. To survive and prosper, families need to have many attributes such as good health, street wisdom, detailed interest in the wider world, interest in the geo-political world and the impact which this could have on family. It suggests looking to the future and preparing younger members of family to hold positions of gradually increasing responsibility whilst learning the wisdom of the elders. All members of the family may move through life bringing their special strengths. Doing this, aids accumulated wealth to remain in family hands. It allows the strengths and knowledge of the younger family members to be valued and the strength of the family to continue. This method of family unity promotes strength of a solid foundation against an increasingly difficult world.

Studying this book and sharing copies of it with some of my cousins really opened my eyes to the potential in my extended family. We don't have substantial financial wealth, though there are a few deep pockets. We have several people in my generation who have achieved outstanding success in life, including one who's a major general in the Army and another who is a star on Broadway.More than that, we have six generations of people who are used to knowing each other and working together because of a piece of recreation property that my great-grandfather bought 100 years ago.That property has kept us together for 100 years but it won't be enough for another 100 years. This book got me thinking about what we can do for the next 100 years, and I see lots of opportunity to develop the "human capital" in this family and to back those things with financial strength.Most of all, this book stimulated my thinking "outside the box" and provided the springboard for family discussions that will let my siblings and cousins and I create something with the potential to keep making this family stronger for another half-dozen generations.For that, I think buying this book was probably the very best family investment I could make.

I really enjoyed most of this book, although toward the end it says these principles are mostly beneficial for very large fortunes, I think most families could learn from the concepts.