Wealth Technology is now ‘Fit for Purpose’

Do you have any idea how many wealthy families have every aspect of their wealth portfolio effectively managed on a single digital platform which:

• Sets out the entirety of their asset portfolio, from market traded and private equity investments, through business interests and real estate to classic car and watch collections.
• Provides instant analysis with ‘slice and dice’ reporting of every aspect of their wealth
• Delivers consolidated reporting alongside detailed drill downs for every single line item in their portfolio
• Acts as a repository for all relevant supporting documentation relevant to every asset or investment - from legal documentations and registry details to tax, corporate and trust structuring advice and correspondence.
• Provides layers of viewing privileges which can be accessed by relevant individuals and advisors from family members to Trustees, Corporate Administrators to family office staff.

NOT MANY

Over the last twenty years of working with wealthy families and their advisors I would say that the lack of adequate financial reporting systems within wealthy families was the No 1 unresolved issue carrying the greatest risk to the families’ wealth.

What does the typical private wealth administration system look like?

• Huge quantities of disorganised paperwork
• Unstructured data and document management on disorganised computer systems
• Critical risk of systems failure due to over dependence on key staff / advisors
• Over reliance on complex excel spreadsheets which are not part of an integrated system
• No live data analysis
• No timely reporting
• Poor information flow between all stakeholders
• High risk of total system failure

The reality is that things tick along without the threats to financial wellbeing being undiscovered UNTIL the sh*t hits the fan. And at that point..it’s too late.

What could possibly go wrong?

I have witnessed plenty of issues which have crystallised internal ‘armaggedon’.

• Death or critical illness of key family member
• Market Collapse
• Bank calls on lending security
• Conflict and relationship breakdown with trustees and professional advisors
• Key staffer ‘going rogue’

The search for solutions

Over two decades I have seen many organisations come and go with technology ‘solutions’ to this problem

• Millions spent on bespoke platforms (rarely works due to implications of ongoing maintenance and development demands)
• Adapting institutional level platforms - can work with pure (listed) Financial Investments but high cost, limited ability to tailor to specific needs and wholly unsuitable for wider portfolio interests.
• Excel Spreadsheets - the default which enables everyone to ‘revert to the mean’ - things “kind of work” but wholly inadequate on so many levels

I have yet to see a system that delivers genuine solutions to the challenges of managing and reporting the portfolio assets to each family wealth stakeholder in a way that is fit for purpose.

UNTIL NOW

In fact, a little like London buses, after waiting for many years to see a genuinely impressive technology platform which meets the needs of wealthy families (in the $30m to multi $bn range), THREE come along all at once.

Well, that’s not quite true. I was recently asked to review this landscape for a wealthy family and following a period of research I discovered three platforms which have emerged from the barren wilderness of failed solutions to deliver, each in their own way, something which finally looks to provide the answers the world of wealth has been looking for.

• Platform 1: Most suited to ultra wealthy ($100m) families particularly those with a strong emphasis on ESG, Impact and Sustainability
• Platform 2: Most suited to families with a heavy bias on Real Estate (from Development Management to Rental Portfolios)
• Platform 3: A game changing tech platform that delivers everything across a spectrum of levels from families with single digit millions to multi $bn family offices

These are the kinds of platforms that allow everyone to engage at a level that is most appropriate to each stakeholder - from family members wanting to check out their portfolio whilst grabbing a coffee, to a team of professional advisors and family office executives executing a significant portfolio transaction.

These platforms deliver.

The Panacea is here!

If you would like to learn more about the options available to manage the affairs of your family or client , please don’t hesitate to contact me.

[email protected]