The UHNW Institute’s Ten Domains of Family Wealth

The UHNW Institute’s Ten Domains of Family Wealth

Here at The UHNW Institute, we firmly believe in the importance of educating and empowering the individuals and firms who advise ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) families. The ultimate mission is to help families make the best possible choices for the complex needs that arise across generations. To assist advisors in developing and fine-tuning their expertise, we have compiled the Ten Domains of Family Wealth.

The Ten Domains of Family Wealth offers a comprehensive framework for understanding the issues UHNW families face and the skills required to serve their needs. The Ten Domains model recognizes that integrated UHNW wealth management extends far beyond the realm of investments, taxation, risk management, and legal matters alone. The model highlights the full range of skills and services needed to help financially successful families prosper. The model also underscores that competencies for excellent family-advisory relationships are a central, unifying domain integrating all the other factors.

The Ten Domains of Family Wealth encourages families and advisors to move beyond the boundaries that separate different types of professionals such as the estate planning lawyer, the tax accountant, the risk management analyst, and the portfolio manager. The model supports the recommendation that UHNW professionals organize their work in integrated ways to deliver services to individual clients and families.

To facilitate understanding of the newly updated Ten Domains of Family Wealth, we have three explanatory materials now available:

• The first of these resources is a concise overview of the recently revised Ten Domains with a new graphic showing the updated model. This update incorporates improvements developed in the past two years as we have worked with the model in multiple settings.
• The second is a detailed look at the framework through the case scenario of the “Medford Family.” This case example demonstrates each domain through the lives and needs of an UHNW family in the US. There are guides in the text where individual domains illustrate the comprehensive nature of the framework.
• Third, for those advisors and families interested in learning about the model in greater depth, we present detailed domain descriptions listing the representative knowledge areas, skills, and competencies recommended for UHNW advisors in each of the Ten Domains.

Access the overview here, the case example here and the detailed domain descriptions here.

If you are interested in becoming a member of The UHNW Institute so you can access these resources and more, please do not hesitate to contact us.