When a Trigger Event Touches the Financial Captain

Trigger events in families are created by illness, divorce, death, or disagreements and happen in every family. These are terribly sad events that can rock a family. The family may see them coming, but often, they are not prepared for their impact.  When one of these events directly touches the financial captain in a family, an additional set of issues emerges. 

In addition to the emotional rollercoaster expected from such trigger event, the family’s financial leadership goes into transition.  As prepared (or unprepared) as the new financial captain is for their new role, the magnitude and volume of decisions will challenge them.  This can cause them to feel a mixture of loneliness, inadequacy, discomfort, and general stress.

A new financial captain typically turns to the technical professionals involved with the family and its finances. (attorneys, financial planners/wealth advisors, accountants, executive coaches, etc.) This group of specialists will provide answers to many of the technical questions but often is not trained specifically in helping the new financial leader in their role as captain.

The new financial captain will find their responsibilities as equal parts visionary, technician, mentor, administrator, and arbitrator. This individual, who typically has just been thrust into this role, will be expected to negotiate all this. On the very same day, one family member may ask for money that was promised to them while another will complain that the distribution methodology is unfair. Managing the different family members will take patience, thick skin, and love.

Delante is an ally during this transition. The new financial captain will want an experienced, capable, and compassionate individual to help navigate through all these decisions. To truly be trusted and effective, this individual must be independent from all the previous business arrangements and be both capable of and available for providing support to the new financial captain helping him/her navigate both the technical and personal side of financial leadership.

Delante is not a technical advisor, but rather a well-educated and trained sounding board prepared to help the new financial captain, manage the technical advisors, adhere to the vision and values of the greater family, interact with individual family members, review & advise on key decisions, and generally support the financial captain with the myriad of challenges that are on the way.