On Thursday, September 22, 2016, Clifford Swan Investment Counselors hosted an educational talk in the Stewart R. Smith Board Room of The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. Entitled “Preparing Families and their Businesses for Tomorrow,” the speakers were Linda Davis Taylor, the Chair and CEO of Clifford Swan, and Gene Gregg, Jr., of Pasadena law firm Hahn & Hahn. Linda specializes in all aspects of wealth transition including family education, governance, and philanthropy. Her book, The Business of Family: How to Stay Rich for Generations was published in 2015. Gene is the Chair of Hahn & Hahn’s business practice group and has several decades of experience counseling and representing businesses of all types from their inception to sale.
Family businesses represent the aspirations and achievements of one or more generations. A major objective for these families is to make sure that their businesses last beyond the typical two generations while, at the same time, avoiding conflict among family members.
From succession planning to a potential sale of the business, many families may not recognize the questions they need to be asking. Of those who do understand the questions, most are not fully prepared to answer or address all of them. Successful family businesses thrive for generations when they have both a business strategy and a family strategy in place before a transaction or transition occurs.
Linda and Gene’s session addressed some of the common questions that families and family businesses face, and strategies that enterprising families use to answer those questions in order to protect their families and their wealth.
