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Children of wealth must overcome five key challenges to generate a sense of life purpose and a positive and facilitative emotional connection to their money.

Each challenge describes an important aspect of the psychological relationship to the saving, spending, and sharing of wealth. To develop a positive wealth identity, children must resolve conflicts and overcome their vulnerabilities in each area.

Challenge 1: Financial awareness

The most basic and perhaps most ultimately effective strategy for leaders dealing with the challenges of family business is to plan, create and maintain effective communication practices.

As family business member and consultant Vernon Holleman puts it: “Communication is critical. Honest, regular communication about where the business is, how it’s doing, how it’s sort of being run and operated.

Being heavily concentrated in a single area and/or business is often the backstory to the creation of wealth in many family instances. US Trust and Campden Research (1) conducted a longitudinal study on family office investing and found that more than 70% of their sample identified that the source of the family wealth originated from the core family business, with 60% having an ongoing operating business.

The altruistic next generation of family business leaders is the driving force behind families increasingly integrating philanthropy into their business practices, but they want to effect positive change now, rather than leave charity to the family legacy.

Technology is democratising giving and enabling family philanthropists to respond and measure in real-time. However, the Covid-19 crisis has not—and will not—change the fundamental patterns of giving, only exacerbate existing issues.