Shaking the Trees

Date: Thursday, January 19, 2017
Time: 8:45am - 1:00pm
Location: Minnehaha Country Club
Speaker: John A Warnick

Registration will close at 5 pm on Friday, January 13th.  An accurate list of attendees is needed to plan the collaborative experience that will take place during the event.  Thank you!

How the Power of Collaboration is Integral to Beating the Shirtsleeves to Shirtsleeves in Three Generations Proverb – Are We Planning for Wealth Sustainability or Wealth Dissipation?

In the U.S. we know it as Shirtsleeves to Shirtsleeves in Three Generations.  In China it’s called Rice Paddy to Rice Paddy in Three Generations.  This proverb centered around the difficulties of successfully transitioning wealth and family enterprise is found all over the world.  It’s confirmation of the research and data which show that only a third of family businesses survive into the second generation and only ten percent into the third generation.  There is also research showing that 70% of families experience one or more of six failure events in their efforts to transition wealth to the rising generations of their family.

John A. Warnick has spent twenty years studying the non-technical influences which sabotage carefully designed and drafted wealth transfer and business succession plans.  He will share an overview of the best practices which anecdotal and empirical research suggests are critical for sustainable technical planning.  He will also discuss the importance of a collaborative team in overcoming the non-technical influences which can sabotage technically precise and tax effective planning.  Mr. Warnick will address some of the practical challenges that appear to be barriers to collaboration between CFPs and the other members of the client’s advisory team and suggest strategies to prudently overcome those challenges.  

Shaking the Tree Case Study Film -- The Big Payday

We are honored to present a case study learning experience for CFPs who work with clients who are considering the sale of a family business.  The case study was drawn from actual cases involving multi-generational family businesses.  It is portrayed in a 45 minute film which contains powerful examples of both conscious and unconscious mistakes business owners often make in the sale of the family business

After watching The Big Payday we will sit down in multi-disciplinary tables of six to eight.  90 minutes will be spent discussing questions which have been designed to amplify the collaborative learning experience.  The first half of our multi-disciplinary collaborative discussions will focus on these themes:  What went wrong with the McAllister family and its planning?  What are the root causes for the poor outcome and unintended negative consequences of the planning?  How could this outcome have been avoided through better design, process and advice?  The second half of the small roundtable discussions will focus on the possibility of remediating the damage which was done in the family meeting and the choices made in the technical planning.  Each participant will share ideas on how we should go about that process?  Decanting, reformation, new charitable vehicles or family entities are all within the realm of possibilities that we will study and consider as alternatives to help this family.  Finally, what type of collaboration might best serve the family?  How would the professional advisory team work together to accomplish the desired results and what role can and should the CFP play in that process?  What are the likely challenges we’ll face and pitfalls we will want to avoid.

The final fifteen minutes of this Shaking the Tree Collaborative Learning Experience will draw on the very best ideas and solutions which have surfaced during the roundtable discusses.  

CFP Knowledge Topic Coverage: G62 – Business Succession Planning; H70 – Intra-Family and Other Business Transfer Techniques

Difficulty Level: Intermediate 

About the Speaker

John A. Warnick ("John A") is the founder of Family Wealth Transitions and Solutions, a consulting firm that assists clients and their advisory teams in the areas of Purposeful Planning, Trust Design & Implementation.  Through his own law practice, John A also continues to provide cutting edge services for the design of multi-generational trusts to minimize transfer taxes and avoid state income taxes. 

John A balances his enthusiasm for tax savings with in-depth discovery and insightful questions to insure the planning is congruent with his client’s core values.  He delivers workshops across the nation for estate planning attorneys and financial planners sharing the six paradigms of Purposeful Planning and the Seven Secrets of the Purposeful Trust. 

He spends a considerable amount of his time facilitating family retreats and providing wealth counseling, fiduciary and philanthropic consulting services. He finds immense fulfillment in educating and training children, adolescents and emerging adults in financial literacy, philanthropic service, and holistic family wealth principles.

Prior to launching his own business, JohnA was a partner in the Denver office of Holme Roberts & Owen LLP for almost eleven years after practicing in Nevada and Wyoming previously.

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