Thursday, October 4, 2012

How about a "miniature" family office?

FAMILY OFFICE might be relativley new here in Singapore, however, at the rate we are moving, more family offices could be setting up here in Singapore due to our favourable economic environment.
Briefly, Family Office is not for everyone. It is targeted mainly for the Ultra-High Net Worth (UHNW) whereby a team of dedicated financial specialists would be managing an expecting assets of $100,000,000. We need good and quality people to manage the fund and making sure that wealth is maintained and transferred generation after generation. Besides expertise in their fields, fiduciary duties need to be uphold too. So it is not for the planners-on-the-street. 

While searching for information in this area recently, I've found the discussion group at LinkedIN is really a great way to search for relevant topics to hear views from different perspective.  

Here is the as follow:
http://www.linkedin.com/groupItem?view=&gid=852417&item=ANET%3AS%3A169714863&trk=NUS_RITM-title
and the respective article for discussion

IN this article, the writer has mentioned many benefits of setting up a family office. In addition, the 2 main types of family office could be modelled. As Investopedia explains, "There are two types of family offices, single family offices and multi-family offices sometimes referred to as MFOs."



PERSONALLY, 
"I feel that the Family Office is not just managed by a group of financial specialists, it is also managed by other non-financial experts. Besides the concierge services & financial services provided, there is medical and healthcare services that could further value-add to the family. I feel that no single talent specific be able to make the necessary decisions, instead a credible board of specialists in various field should come together to work for the common goal for the family. Best is to engaged the next generation to be trained and groom them into the respective office bearers. This might be the best proposition where they have the best interest at "heart"."

HOWEVER, I believed that I, rather we, have the solution for this UHNW. At the current firm that I working with, we do have the essential and necessary resources to set up a decent "miniature" family office. We could start small. "The journey of thousand miles begins with a single steps - Lao Tzu."

For such office to be set up, the appointment of chairperson would naturally be one of the business owners. He would be tasked to appoint the financial specialists to work out the financial objectives based on time and needs and what do they want to achieve. Besides profit making for their business, these Business Owners would be thinking how are they going to pass on their business to their successor so that they could get to enjoy their retired years. It is not just about building wealth and wealth enhancement, searching for the most appropriate and efficient way to transfer this wealth to their respective heirs and beneficiaries. Of course, at times things might not go on as planned. Situation changed. Hence, risk management or contingent plan need to be in place. 

You might want to refer to 2 of my earlier blogs on funded succession plan as follows:

IN addition, at the end of the day, we are not passing on the financial wealth to their heirs or successors, but also the wealth of values they have received from their pre-successors. A finale note, food for thoughts: "Is the money be safe with our children or will our children be safe with the money?" What's your take?


Monday, October 1, 2012

Acronym explained in my blog....

ACRONYM Explained...

Terminology in Financial Planning at times can be quite confusing at times, and I could like to attempt to explain some of the common acronym used in my daily financial planning practice, training and coaching.

7CAPITAL - stands for 7 aspects of financial planning which I've developed and the financial planning terms associated with. They are Creation, Accumulation, Protection, Investment, Tax-effective Transfer, Annualized (Retirement), Leverage. The following link further explained my concept on 7capital: http://chewhockbeng.blogspot.sg/2012/08/the-building-block-of-7capital.html  

DOME - Diagnosis, Objective, Method & Evaluation. DOME is the building block of the financial planning practice of 7capitalist, just like one has define their Mission, Vision and Goal. DOME sets the foundation of our financial advisory model. In each of these letter, it is further defined.

Firstly, "Diagnosis before prognosis is malpractice" which define D
Follow by O which represents Objective and we set SMART goal. As the old adage, nobody plan to fail, but fail to plan. So we decided to plan with "End in mind". 
Next, M represents the Method in financial planning. To be precise, it is a procedure, the process we follow to assist our clientele to achieve their financial goals. I call it HEARD. In financial advisory, we understand that our client want to feel that they have been heard regards to their concerns and issues, and definitely do not want to be "hurt" while making these important financial decisions. Based on client's perspective, H is the first step in the financial planning process which I call it "homework". The homework defines the client's current financial status, concerns, and their  desired goals. As for our "homework", it defines our financial planning experiences, the credential and our professions. E is the financial planning interviews which is Engaged constructively by both parties, i.e. client-adviser relationship. After the interview engagement, we need to Analyse the information gathered to come up with appropriate Recommendations for the plan to be implemented. Of course, the whole process will be Documented so that the financial plan would be the basis for monitoring the financial well-being on a on-going concern. Once, I heard it from someone who says "Never underestimate how much people just want to feel that they have been heard; once you have given that chance, they will hear you." Impactful? isn't it?

The last letter, E, of DOME is Evaluation. We can only inspect what we expect. No surprises and we seek to be transparent and upfront in our dealing to deliver "WYSIWYG" - What you Seek is what you Gain, in our financial planning approaches.



SMART - stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-bound. 

SABO - is another acronym which I have created to help our client to understand their plan implementation. S is the solution we have created for the client and the Advantage of the plan being recommended. And the many Benefits that associated with, should the plan be implemented. Of course, all this will be pointing to the Objective of the plan being discussed when we set the SMART goal during our interview and engagement.    

iFAćè It aims to equip financial consultant with the investment and insurance know-hows and to create a unique service deliverables for their clientele base. It is a 8-12 weeks skill-based program. More information could be found @ http://chewhockbeng.blogspot.sg/2012/08/iface-independence-financial-advisory.html

PIE - it is not an expressway. It means 3Ps, 3Is & 3Es. Here how it goes; we are seeking responsible well-being to earn a decent Income to fund for their Insurance plan so that thereafter we can create wealth through Investment planning. With Premium payment, we can ensure Protection plan is in force so that any extra money available can create wealth to generate Profit. All these are made possible with our combined years of Experience and financial Education training to help our client to generate Earning in their financial plan. And we strongly believe that good business comes with good Ethics!

Finally, CbFC - it is not any financial designation. It is just something which I aspired to be for our clientele. I call it the "Certified Behavior Financial Coach".  The True Wealth Concept is built upon on 4 important values, i.e. Clarity, Balance, Focus & Confidence. More details could be found here @ http://chewhockbeng.blogspot.sg/2012/07/trained-to-be-financial-consultant-with.html


I hope these 7 (rather 8) concepts have heighten your understanding towards the acronym used in my blog. Thank you.