INSIGHT

Generational wealth planning for family offices

Kris Marney • June 13, 2025

Generational wealth planning is about more than just managing investments or maximizing returns. It’s a holistic approach to ensuring that your family’s values, vision, and resources endure—empowering not only your children, but your grandchildren and generations beyond.

At BPM, we understand that every family’s story is unique. Our family office team partners with multi-generational families to develop tailored strategies that go beyond traditional wealth management. We focus on aligning financial planning, estate planning, and family governance, so your wealth becomes a tool for opportunity, stability, and shared purpose.

In this guide, we’ll explore how thoughtful generational wealth planning can help you protect assets, minimize estate taxes, foster financial responsibility, and prepare the next generation to steward your family legacy.

What is generational wealth planning?

Generational wealth planning is the process of building, preserving, and transferring family wealth—and the values that come with it—across multiple generations. Unlike wealth management, which centers on investment portfolios and financial products, generational wealth planning takes a broader, more strategic view.

It integrates estate planning, tax strategies, family governance, philanthropy, and financial literacy to ensure that wealth remains a positive force for your family’s future.

For many family offices, this means:

Defining a clear family mission and shared values to guide decision making.
Establishing legal structures such as trusts or wholly owned subsidiaries to protect assets and facilitate the succession process.
Developing a succession plan for family businesses, ensuring that younger generations are prepared to lead and manage.
Creating a comprehensive financial plan that addresses cash flow, balance sheets, and long-term financial goals.
Proactively managing estate taxes, gift taxes, and other tax liabilities to maximize the transfer of wealth.
Providing financial education and leadership development for young adults and future heirs.

Generational wealth planning is about more than passing down assets—it’s about empowering future generations to make informed decisions, preserve wealth, and continue your family’s positive impact.

By taking a proactive, strategic approach, families can navigate market volatility, evolving tax laws, and changing family dynamics with confidence and clarity.

And with the support of a dedicated family office like BPM, you can plan for your wealth to serve not just one generation, but many.

The foundations of strong multi-generational wealth

At the heart of any successful family wealth plan is a shared sense of purpose and clear family values. Defining your family mission gives every member—across multiple generations—a reason to steward wealth responsibly and make decisions that align with your collective vision.

One of the most effective ways to keep your family aligned is by creating a family constitution or mission statement. This document should reflect what matters most to your family, from supporting charitable causes to growing a family business or fostering entrepreneurship among younger generations. When your family values are clear, it becomes easier to make decisions about managing family wealth, transferring wealth, and preparing heirs for future responsibilities.

Open communication is also essential. Regular family meetings create a space for honest conversations about financial goals, succession planning, and the roles each family member will play. These meetings also help address sensitive topics, like estate planning or the succession process for a family business, before they become sources of conflict.

By encouraging transparency and active participation, you empower both older and younger generations to contribute to the family legacy and make informed decisions together.

Why you need a strategic plan for your family’s wealth

Strategic planning is the backbone of generational wealth planning. It’s how you turn your family’s vision and values into actionable steps that protect and grow your wealth over time. This process starts with comprehensive financial planning—an approach that goes beyond investment management to address every aspect of your family’s financial situation.

A robust strategic plan brings together a team of financial advisors, estate planning attorneys, and tax professionals who understand the complexities of managing significant wealth. By coordinating their specialized knowledge, you ensure that your family’s wealth planning covers everything from cash flow management and balance sheets to risk management and tax efficiency.

Visibility is key. Consolidated financial reporting gives your family a clear picture of assets, liabilities, and progress toward your financial goals. This transparency helps you make informed decisions, adapt to changing circumstances, and support the next generation as they step into leadership roles or take on greater financial responsibility.

Strategic planning also means being proactive about market volatility, evolving tax laws, and the unique needs of your family business or wholly owned subsidiary. By regularly reviewing your plan and updating it as your family grows and changes, you ensure your approach to wealth preservation remains relevant and effective.

Legal structures and tools for wealth preservation

Preserving family wealth across generations requires more than a solid investment plan—it calls for robust legal structures and thoughtful strategies that protect assets and ensure a smooth transfer to future generations. Let’s look at some ways you can do that.

Trusts

Establishing trusts is a core component of multi-generational wealth planning. Trusts can help you manage family wealth, protect assets from market volatility or legal risks, and provide a clear path for transferring wealth to the next generation. Whether you’re looking to minimize estate taxes, set aside funds for charitable giving, or ensure young adults receive support at the right time, the right trust structure can make a significant impact.

Life insurance

Life insurance is another tool that can help protect wealth and provide liquidity for estate taxes or other obligations. Combined with legal structures like family foundations or charitable trusts, life insurance can also support family philanthropy and your broader legacy goals.

Business legal entities

For families who own businesses, succession planning is essential. We guide you through the succession process, helping you prepare heirs, define leadership roles, and develop a plan that supports both business continuity and family harmony. This may include setting up wholly owned subsidiaries or family limited partnerships to streamline management and protect against unforeseen challenges.

We understand that every family’s situation is different. Our team works closely with you and your advisors to design legal structures that fit your values, reduce tax liabilities, and empower your family to thrive for generations.

Tax-efficient wealth transfer strategies

Wealth transfer is deeply complex (and personal), especially when you consider the sobering reality of how easy it is to lose your generational wealth over time without the right plan, processes, and education in place.

Estate planning

A comprehensive estate plan typically starts with wills, trusts, and powers of attorney. These documents provide clarity around your wishes and help avoid costly disputes or delays. But effective wealth transfer also means staying ahead of changes in tax laws that could significantly impact your family’s financial situation.

Our professionals work with you to identify opportunities to minimize estate taxes, such as lifetime gifting strategies, charitable giving, and the use of generation-skipping trusts. We also help you manage the impact of gift taxes and ensure you’re making the most of available exemptions and deductions.

Education planning

Education planning is a vital part of tax-efficient wealth transfer for family offices. In addition to traditional tools like trusts and gifting, strategies such as funding 529 plans or making direct payments to educational institutions can offer meaningful, tax-advantaged ways to support future generations.

Contributions to 529 plans grow tax-free and can be front-loaded or even owned by a trust, reducing your taxable estate while empowering your family with educational opportunities. Direct tuition payments made to schools are also excluded from gift tax limits, making education planning a smart, flexible component of your overall wealth transfer strategy.

Business succession planning

For families with significant wealth or complex assets, such as family businesses or multi-generational investments, we provide guidance on structuring ownership and succession to reduce tax burdens and support long-term stability. This might include creating diversified portfolios, leveraging family offices, or establishing legal entities that offer both control and flexibility.

We believe in empowering families with knowledge and options. Through regular reviews and open communication, we help you adapt your plan as your family grows, your goals evolve, or new tax laws emerge. Our goal is to give you confidence that your wealth will be preserved, your legacy honored, and your family empowered—today and for generations to come.

Educating and empowering the next generation

Passing on wealth is only part of the story. Preparing the next generation to manage family wealth with confidence and responsibility is what truly sustains a family legacy.

You can empower the next generation by providing:

Financial education tailored to real life: Host family workshops or invite financial advisors to lead interactive sessions on topics like budgeting, investing, and understanding balance sheets.
Early involvement in decision-making: Involve young adults in family meetings, especially when discussing philanthropic initiatives or business succession planning, to build financial literacy and help them understand the family mission and values.
Mentorship and leadership development: Pairing younger family members with seasoned relatives or trusted advisors can accelerate their growth.
Clear communication about expectations: Set transparent guidelines for roles, responsibilities, and the succession process. This clarity helps minimize confusion and fosters a sense of ownership among future heirs.
Encouraging responsible stewardship: Give the next generation opportunities to manage a portion of family philanthropy or a small investment fund, allowing them to make decisions in a real-world setting—with guidance and support.

By focusing on education, mentorship, and open communication, families can prepare heirs to protect wealth, make informed decisions, and carry forward the family legacy with pride.

Get personalized, people-first family office support

At BPM, we believe that managing family wealth isn’t just about numbers—it’s about people, relationships, and your unique vision for the future. We combine deep technical knowledge with a personal touch, empowering families to make decisions with clarity and confidence.

Ready to take the next step in your family’s generational wealth journey? Connect with BPM’s family office team to start building a plan that empowers your legacy and protects what matters most.