The Inheritance Podcast

Today we are exploring the evolution of the family enterprise with one of the foremost experts in the field, Peter Moustakerski. As the CEO of  Family Office Exchange , Peter sits at the center of a global network of over 400 ultra-high-net-worth families. In this interview, we break down the five stages of family office growth — from the early-stage business family to the advanced enterprise. We...

Today’s guest sits at the unique intersection of Manhattan’s fashion history and the high-stakes world of venture capital. Ed Goodman is the grandson of Edwin Goodman, the man who built the Bergdorf Goodman empire at 58th and Fifth. But Ed’s story isn’t just about inheriting a legacy; it’s about the evolution of American business. In this episode, Ed takes us inside the decision to sell the family...

“I don't think the system, the family system, can thrive until you focus on the individual.” Jill Shipley is one of the most thoughtful people working today in the family wealth space.  She has been working closely with substantial families for years and has many interesting takes on family unity, prenups, secrets, and baggage, how to train wealth advisors, and what the shows Succession and Bi...

Today we have a special guest, veteran family enterprise advisor Fredda Herz Brown.  I’ve been wanting to interview Fredda for a while because she is a leader in the space, and her career goes back to the roots of the current theory and practice of family wealth advising.  She talks about the evolution of family systems theory going back to Murray Bowen and Nathan Ackerman, the collaborative natur...

In this special episode, we gathered three leading voices to share practical guidance on what makes a family office truly work. Kirby Rosplock , PhD (Tamarind Partners and Tamarind Learning), Scott Saslow (One World Investments), and James E. “Jay” Hughes Jr. (James E. Hughes Foundation) discuss clear purpose and governance, the right balance of family and independent talent, defining the true “cl...

We have a special treat today, an interview I conducted live with Jay Hughes at the recent Southeastern Family Office Forum, or SEFOF, in Atlanta.  SEFOF is a remarkable non-profit family office and family enterprise network that is now 14 years old.  I had a wonderful time there and met many nice folks.  My thanks to Brian Hughes, Bryn Monahan and Betsy Brown and all the volunteers for making thi...

Christian Stewart is a consultant in Hong Kong who started Family Wealth Legacy to help successful Asian families establish communication platforms and decision making structures for their family enterprise.  Christian works with enterprising families as a process consultant, coach and family meeting facilitator. He helps families to form their own family council, family constitution and family po...

Keith Whitaker is an educator who consults with leaders and rising generation members of families with significant wealth. We had an interesting conversation touching on Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, but also on Keiths long practical experience working with the wealthy.  We talk about the cycle of the gift in families, the concept of magnificence, and his work on books with Jay Hughes, Paul Schervish...

“Generativity is the human impulse to nurture, to do good things for the next generation and to see myself, my life, in a sense, being extended through the possibilities in my children and grandchildren.” Today, in conjunction with the James E Hughes Jr. Foundation, I’d like to present my interview with one of Jay’s longtime collaborators John A. Warnick.  John A., as he is known, is the founder o...

George Marcus wrote a book you probably haven’t heard of, but should.  It is called Lives in Trust and it was published in 1992 and is $146 on Amazon right now.   Professor Marcus is an anthropologist who studied tribes in Tonga and then applied what he learned to study dynastic wealth in families starting in Texas.  The book has great essays on the HL Hunt family, who tried to corner the silver m...

Today we are speaking with Gunther Weil.   Gunther has known some of the 20th century’s most interesting psychologists including Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow, Gordon Allport, Timothy Leary and Henry Murray as well as such names as Tony Robbins and Eckhart Tolle.  We talk about them, his journey in and out of the psychedelic world, and his later work with Jay Hughes and John A Warnick at the Purpose...

“Families that are failing spend all their time on power.” Today's guest is Jay Hughes. Jay and I had a deep and fascinating discussion about the development of the elder in a family, the importance of the midlife crisis, and transcendent values.  We also discussed many great pioneers in the family wealth field like Joanie Bronfman, Charlie Collier, and Peter Karoff, and we also talked about M...

Today we are speaking with once again Dr. James Grubman , an internationally recognized consultant to families of wealth, family businesses, and the advisors who serve them.  He is the co-author of one of the buzziest books of the year called Wealth 3.0:  The Future of Family Wealth Advising along with Dennis Jaffe and Kristin Keffeler, who I have also interviewed previously on this podcast.  I wa...

Jonathan Pageau is a French Canadian icon carver, public speaker and YouTuber exploring the symbolic patterns that underlie our experience of the world, how these patterns emerge and come together, manifesting in religion, art and in popular culture. He's also the editor of the Orthodox Arts Journal and host of the Symbolic World blog and podcast.  I was looking for someone to talk about Spiri...

Today I am very pleased to have Chip Fisher, CEO of Fisher Wallace Laboratories and head of Ursus Advisory, a peer to peer consultancy for young adults with inherited wealth. Chip is an inheritor himself, and also an accomplished entrepreneur and philanthropist.  He is currently CEO of his third company, Fisher Wallace Laboratories which makes medical devices, but he has also branched out into pri...

Our interview today is with Eric Schoenberg, who is one of the very few people deeply exploring inherited wealth in academia, and we cover his own inheritance and family life, why he became interested in studying wealth, economic concepts like the bequest motive, revealed preferences, and the wonderfully named “spite clause” as well as Eric’s considered thoughts on why people do what they do with...

Today we are talking to Tony Guernsey, former national head of Wilmington Trust wealth management, a longtime senior banker at JP Morgan, founder of the UBS US private bank. Tony wrote an unpublished memoir called Divas, Icons, and Felons with his wisdom and great stories from his distinguished five decades managing money for many wealthy and famous clients such as Steve Jobs, Jay Chiat, and Chris...

Today we are talking to Kristin Keffeler, author of the very insightful new book Myth of the Silver Spoon. We talk about the emotional and psychological clutter around money, the confusing messages we get about wealth, positive psychology, and how to integrate a healthier identity. Kristin is a consultant and founder of Illumination 360, a firm at the forefront of a global shift in family wealth a...

Paul Sullivan is on a mission to rethink fatherhood, and he is doing it with thousands of parents. Paul is the bestselling author of two books, Clutch: Excel Under Pressure , and the Thin Green Line: The Money Secrets of the Super Wealthy . We talk about his decade of studying the wealthy for the New York Times, fatherhood, teaching children about wealth, and the community of lead dads he is build...

Coventry Edwards-Pitt is the author of Engaged Healthy Wealthy and Wis e, and we will be talking about the challenges of inheritors in love and marriage, self-actualization, the stumbling block of prenuptial agreements, and the desire to break free from the constraints of onerous wealth management infrastructures. Covie is a Partner and the Chief Creative Officer of Ballentine Partners in Boston....

Today we are talking to Jamie Weiner, author of the book The Quest for Legitimacy.  We talk about his research project with Russ Haworth, which listened to inheritors and their stories of growing up in prominent families.  We talk about the shadow of the founder, alienation, Alfred Adler, and how to break through isolation.   Jamie is a psychologist and the co-founder of Inheriting...

Today we are speaking to Lewis Lapham, author of the book Money and Class in America - Notes and Observations on Our Civil Religion. We talk about his views on wealth, growing up in a wealthy family, and how Donald Trump showed up at his book party in 1988. Lewis was the longtime editor of Harper's Magazine, and author of over a dozen books. He is currently founder and editor of Lapham’s Quarterly...

“We're tainted by the worldview and the wish fulfillment about wealthy people and feelings about what is fair and good in life.” Dennis Jaffe and Jim Grubman take on the dilemmas faced by inheritors and those who acquire wealth in a seminal paper in the psychology of wealth back in 2007. We discuss historical ways people have looked at money in families, how individuals cope with inheritance and h...