Family Wealth Management & Planning

Chances are your financial concerns span out beyond yourself. How to best support a spouse, children, aging relatives, and close friends is often top-of-mind and something we can help you address. 

Whether it’s financial advice for a child graduating college or analyzing healthcare coverage for aging parents, we are here to partner on the many issues that impact you and yours. Our intent is to free up more of your time, help you support those you love, and create a legacy for future generations. 

Aligning Family Assets and Aspirations

Over time, we have seen what works well (and not so well) in family dynamics and multigenerational wealth transfer. LNW was founded in 1967 as a trust company to serve the Laird and Norton families, still our majority shareholders and into their eighth generation as business owners and entrepreneurs. 

We call our approach Wealth Regeneration®, because it weaves together all aspects of wealth – human capital and financial capital – to promote desired outcomes through lifetimes and across generations. 

Wealth Regeneration focuses on wealth planning and investment management, based on a deep understanding of your values and priorities, including preparing children or grandchildren for a substantial inheritance based on their unique abilities, skills and interests. 

Addressing Intergenerational Concerns

Your financial responsibilities may extend to both the younger and older generations within your family. We work with you to put in place plans that balance the demands on your time, resources and energy, while working to achieve your goals. Often, seeing all that is possible allows for clarity in decision-making and removes much of the stress caused by being pulled in so many directions.

Advising & Supporting Younger Generations

Our team of wealth advisors have long partnered with parents and grandparents on age-appropriate conversations and activities that engage children and help them develop financial awareness and responsibility. Drawing on proven techniques used by LNW wealth managers, as well as prominent teachers and consultants, we can work with young people as well as the entire family to foster skills essential to financial well-being in tune with each person’s unique abilities and preferences.

Trusts for Wealth Transfer and Control

A well-structured trust is one of the most effective ways to control how your next generations interact with wealth in a way that is positive for all involved. By well-structured, we mean aligned with family needs, values and goals, as well as assets and finances. Trusts are also a way to create a meaningful family legacy in the community.

Of the many accounts you can set up for children or grandchildren (such as 529 Plans for education or custodial bank/investment accounts), none provide the wide-ranging benefits of a properly structured trust. Contrary to the common perception that trusts spoil children, we have seen that trusts can be tools for teaching and preparing young people to handle wealth responsibly, as well as a solution for heirs uninterested or irresponsible when it comes to their finances.

Estate Planning for Multigenerational Wealth

Estate planning is not only an effective strategy for distributing property upon death, it also provides protection for your assets during your lifetime, including during potential disability or incapacity. Whether you want to maximize inheritance for your heirs, keep the family business in the family, or leave a philanthropic legacy, we help to align your estate plan with what you and your family aspire to and value. 

LNW Family Office Services

For families with significant multigenerational wealth that entails higher levels of complexity, LNW provides extra support via dedicated family office services. These services are tailored to fulfill family members’ unique needs and preferences, while also ensuring the family’s overarching goals are sustained and pursued. Key aspects of LNW family office services: 

• Service by a highly skilled, interdisciplinary team
• Integrated planning and coordination with third-party advisors 
• Development of family mission, vision and values
• Tax strategies, estate gift transfer planning and support
• Philanthropy and legacy planning support
• Multigenerational wealth planning, next generation education and stewardship
• Comprehensive and custom reporting for both individual and common family goals, including assets not managed by LNW