When legacy feels distant and the next generation stays silent, could a simple council be the key to unlocking your family’s future?
In the complex world of family wealth, managing transitions and preparing the next generation can be a make-or-break moment. But what if the real solution lies not just in preserving wealth, but in empowering the next generation to take over the reins and lead?
Enter the Next-Gen Council—a structured space where younger family members can step up, engage, and claim their voice. As a partner to family offices across borders and generations, we often see successful families use councils to bridge generations while transforming their family’s legacy from the inside out....
https://www.bernstein.com/our-insights/insights/2026/articles/how-next-gen-councils-are-revolutionizing-family-office-wealth-management.html
The deepest questions wealth raises are rarely financial—and the wisest families know it.
https://www.bernstein.com/information/resources/2026/pdf/wealth-beyond-measure.html
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act: One Year Later, What Really Stuck?
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Apr 30, 2026 | Family Businesses, Family Owned Business By Kristen D. Matteoni
Among the leading domestic jurisdictions, Nevada has emerged as a premier destination for high-net-worth families seeking flexibility, tax efficiency, asset protection, and long-term dynasty planning. While states such as Delaware, South Dakota, Alaska, and Wyoming are frequently included among the so-called “Big 5” trust jurisdictions, Nevada offers a particularly compelling combination of advantages that merit careful consideration. This paper explores the “Nevada Advantage” through the lens of tax planning, trust flexibility, and legal protections – highlighting why many business owners are increasingly looking West.
Read more at https://familyenterpriseusa.com/family-businesses/the-nevada-advantage-strategic-trust-and-tax-planning-for-the-modern-family-business/
Families who build successful businesses spend years thinking about succession. They devote significant attention to ownership transitions, governance structures, tax efficiency, and the long-term financial stability of future generations.
Yet in conversations with founders and family business owners, another concern often surfaces—one that has little to do with financial structures and more to do with their children.
Many parents who have spent decades building a business quietly wonder what that success might mean for their children.
The concern sometimes emerges in a blunt form. As one founder put it to me, “How do we avoid raising trust-fund babies?”
Behind this question lies a serious worry shared by many successful families. At best, “trust-fund babies” refers to heirs who grow up entitled, complacent, or disconnected from meaningful work. At worst, it describes situations where inherited wealth gradually erodes discipline and purpose, sometimes leading to destructive outcomes—financial recklessness, substance abuse, or fractured family relationships.
Many founders recognize a difficult reality: the conditions that helped them build a business—necessity, responsibility, and the pressure to succeed—may not exist for their children.
Read more at https://familyenterpriseusa.com/family-businesses/the-hidden-risk-in-family-business-success/
Nancy Westgate-Sytsema got an early start building the skills she would need for her career as a CPA and, later, as co-president of her family’s business.
Nancy, Jerry, and JJ Westgate made a pact: they would sell the business before they’d let it damage the family. That commitment shaped every decision that followed.
“When Nancy was a little girl, she would go trick or treating and come home and make a spreadsheet of how much candy she got, sorted by size and type,” recalls Jerry Westgate, her father.
Today Nancy and her brother, JJ Westgate, are co-presidents of Wesco, a Michigan-based chain of more than 50 gas stations and convenience stores known for their fresh donuts.
“The Wesco fuel and convenience stores are just a delight to go into: They’re clean, they’re orderly, and they have good food,” says Joe Schmieder of The Family Business Consulting Group.
The business is complex, involving transporting fuel, managing real estate and getting fresh food to each store every day. And Jerry is proud of how his son and daughter are managing it.
“They’re selling more product and fuel that I ever was able to,” Jerry observes. “The company is growing. It’s a beautiful thing.”
Read more at https://www.thefbcg.com/resource/managing-business-for-family-harmony-wesco/
By Kate Barnwell, Stephanie Brun de Pontet
An advantage of private business ownership is the freedom to make your own decisions, innovating and improvising to create success. Family employee compensation is one tool family leaders can use to improvise solutions to challenges unique to family businesses. For example, how to fairly employ your children or how to entice the next generation to leave outside careers to return to the family enterprise.
In some cases, family leaders use employment compensation to “take care of the family” without connecting this to business success. While these approaches can work in the short term or under a particular leader’s control, we observe that over time, they prove to be incompatible with growing a successful business and sustaining family ownership.
Read more at https://www.thefbcg.com/resource/paying-family-in-a-family-business-where-good-intentions-create-hidden-risks/
By Michael L. Fassler, Seth Lapine
In our advisory work with family enterprises, we regularly support families as they navigate the transition from sibling ownership and leadership to cousin ownership and leadership. Among the many transitions in the life cycle of a family business, this stage is often the most complex — and the most consequential. When approached with intention, however, it offers a powerful opportunity to establish the conditions for long-term, multi-generational continuity.
History matters. The ease or difficulty of the sibling-to-cousin transition is strongly influenced by how effectively the enterprise previously transitioned from founder control to sibling partnership. When the shift from single-leader authority to shared sibling governance is supported by clear structures, decision-making processes, policies, and productive communication norms, families are far better positioned for future success. When these elements are absent, unresolved issues often resurface with greater intensity in the cousin generation.
Read more at https://www.thefbcg.com/resource/the-siblings-to-cousins-transition-preparing-your-family-enterprise-for-multi-generational-continuity/
Family businesses continue to be a vital part of the US economy, combining long-standing heritage with a forward-focused mindset. Yet, PwC’s 2025 Family Business Survey reveals a marked slowdown in growth for US family firms compared to recent years and global peers. This signals a shift from rapid expansion to emphasizing operational resilience, governance evolution, and sustainable value creation amid ongoing economic volatility.
Against this backdrop, family businesses are recalibrating priorities—reinforcing core operations, protecting margins, and evolving governance to weather economic headwinds while preserving their legacy. PwC’s Family Business Survey 2025 delves into these trends, offering in-depth insights and practical guidance from specialists across leadership, innovation, and governance. Explore how family enterprises can adapt, compete, and thrive amid today’s complexities, ensuring continuity for generations to come.
Relatively Speaking_ What Every Family Business Needs to Know About Employment Law(5174488.1).pdf
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