The data is in! See what family owned businesses are saying about today’s challenges and opportunities.
This webcast, titled “Smart Strategies for Family Business Success,” is hosted by Pat Soldano of Policy and Taxation Group and Family Enterprise USA. The session features four experts from Rockefeller Global Family Office, Shirley Quackenbush, Robert Panetti, Ryan Coulson, and Michael Misciagna, who present a holistic approach to managing family wealth, businesses, and relationships.
The presentation is divided into three main sections, each addressing a critical component of family business longevity:
The Alignment of Family Values
Shirley Quackenbush, Managing Director, discusses how the Rockefeller family’s success over seven generations was not solely due to financial planning but also intentional empowerment and shared values. She provides four key recommendations for other family businesses:
Ask Difficult Questions: Foster trust and open dialogue so the next generation feels heard.
Find a Common Family Theme: Transition from a parent’s protective stance to a collaborative role with the next generation.
Provide Consistent Financial Education: Empower every family member with the knowledge to make wise financial decisions, regardless of their direct involvement in the business.
Define a Family Legacy: Find the “glue” that keeps the family unified, which can be principles and ideals rather than a specific cause or large foundation.
The Nuances of Financial Planning
Ryan Coulson, Senior Wealth Strategist, shares a case study of the “Smith family” to illustrate the tension between minimizing estate taxes and maintaining sufficient cash flow for the founders. Using the example of a wealthy family with a $64 million estate, she demonstrates:
The dangers of a “tax-first” approach, where an attorney’s plan to use the full estate exemption would have left the founders “cash poor.”
The effectiveness of a holistic strategy that combines a gift with a sale of the business (using an intentionally defective grantor trust, or IDGT). This approach ensured the founders maintained a steady income stream through a promissory note while still significantly reducing their future estate tax liability from a projected $35 million to just $8 million.
Capital Formation and Business Transitions
Mike Misciagna, Head of Investment Banking Coverage, offers insights into the role of investment banking for family businesses. He explains that his team was created to provide owners with unconflicted advice on their largest asset—the business itself. He contrasts the common assumption that all business owners want to sell with a more nuanced approach, focusing on two specific scenarios:
Bringing in Outside Capital: For a business owner who wants to retain ownership but needs capital for growth or a transition to the next generation.
Seeking a Strategic Partner: For situations where the next generation is not interested in taking over the business, and a strategic partner is needed for its future direction.
About Quackenbush Panetti Wealth Partners
Life’s grandest visions require thoughtful plans. At Quackenbush Panetti Wealth Partners, we’re focused on meeting the dynamic needs of each client, adapting to how those needs unfold over every stage of wealth. Our team is able to provide solutions to your unique challenges, while providing an elevated level of service.
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The need for fact-based reporting of issues important to family owned businesses and protecting a lifetime of savings has never been greater. Now more than ever, successful families and family owned businesses are under fire. That's why Family Enterprise USA is passionately working to increase the awareness of issues important to family owned businesses built on hard work, while continuing to strengthen our presence on Capitol Hill. The issues we fight for or against with Congress in Washington DC include high income tax rates, possible elimination of valuation discounts, increase in capital gains tax, enactment of a wealth tax, and the continued burden of the gift tax, estate tax and generation skipping tax.
Family Enterprise USA promotes generationally owned family business creation, growth, viability, and sustainability by advocating for family businesses and their lifetime of savings with Congress in Washington DC. Since 2007, Family Enterprise USA has represented and celebrated all sizes, professions and industries of family-owned enterprises and multi-generational employers. It is a bi-partisan 501.c3 organization. Family foundations can donate.
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