TIGER 21

"A fortune handed to heirs who cannot govern it is not a legacy. It is a liability with a long fuse." That line, from TIGER 21 Founder & Chairman Michael Sonnenfeldt, cuts to the heart of what many wealth creators eventually face. Building wealth demands conviction and concentration. Preserving it—and passing it on—demands something different entirely. In this article from Professional Wealth Management (PWM), Sonnenfeldt writes about the shift from "dictator to democrat" inside the family office. It offers a candid look at one of the hardest shifts in multigenerational wealth. Read it here: https://lnkd.in/gdHDzG2e

Building a company and showing up for your family at the same time: Is it actually possible? TIGER 21 Chair Elise Mitchell says this is one of the most powerful questions she hears in her Group. It touches something real. This is the kind of question TIGER 21 Members can ask openly—without judgment, and with peers who truly understand. Elise shares her perspective here: https://lnkd.in/gfXtcy7N

If you could go back in time, what would you have done differently before your liquidity event?    That's a question TIGER 21 Members bring to their Group, leveraging the wisdom of their peers who have gone before them.     On July 20, Chairs Vera Anderson, Reneé Erlich, and Arthur Woods will offer a glimpse into this collective wisdom during our new webinar, Before the Sale: What Founders Wish They Knew—and Would Do Differently.    Join them to hear what founders inside our community wish they had known before the sale—from pre-liquidity blind spots and tax planning to the emotional realities of handing over something you built.    Register here for your link to join us: https://lnkd.in/gMvvq-6D

Last week, the TIGER 21 staff gathered in San Diego for our annual Team Fest, a chance to step away from the day-to-day, strengthen relationships, and reconnect around our shared purpose: building a community of lifelong learners committed to making a meaningful impact on the world. One of the most meaningful moments of the week was the TIGER Cares event, a longstanding tradition that brings team members together in service of the local community. This year, TIGER 21 partnered with Groundswell Community Project to transform surfboards into colorful works of art filled with messages of hope and encouragement. The boards will be used in Groundswell's trauma-informed surf therapy programs, helping women overcoming trauma, abuse, anxiety, and other life challenges to find support, empowerment, and connection through the healing power of the ocean. We're grateful for an incredible week together and proud to support an organization making a difference in communities around the world.

The latest edition of The Family Office Agenda is now available. The foundation of an enduring family office is built on hundreds of decisions made over the years. This edition explores four of those areas that Members have discussed recently within the TIGER 21 community: 🔹 Net worth: How much does it take to justify a family office? The answer is rarely about wealth alone 🔹 Critical relationships, including the one families most often underestimate 🔹 Leadership and governance: Who makes the call when the family disagrees? 🔹 Professionalization: adding rigor without losing the agility that built the wealth Read the full edition here.

Family office leadership and governance are two separate questions. While many families focus on the first, some may not pay enough attention to the second. Leadership is who runs the office day to day: a family member, an outside professional, or a blend of the two. Governance is how decisions get made, and by whom, which becomes especially important when family members disagree. The families who get governance right tend to do three things early: 🔹 Define a decision-making framework up front, not in the middle of a dispute. 🔹 Separate ownership from management responsibilities, avoiding the assumption that family members should also run the family office. 🔹 Build a succession or transition structure that outlasts the current principal. Get the roles right and you have a capable office. Get the governance right and you have one that lasts. Learn more about how TIGER 21 Family Office Groups help single family office principals work through questions like these:  https://lnkd.in/e6VKJtdF

Nearly 2,000 Members. That number tells a story worth paying attention to. TIGER 21 was founded in 1999 by one entrepreneur who realized that the skills required to build wealth aren't the same ones needed to preserve it. That insight resonated. Today, the community spans more than 50 markets across nine countries, with Members' collective assets exceeding $200 billion. The expansion of the TIGER 21 network speaks to the power of peer learning in a vetted, confidential environment. Read more on Grit Daily: https://lnkd.in/gRXMFNSw

Most advisors build relationships with the person who built the wealth. Far fewer build one with the person who will inherit it. TIGER 21 Chair Heather Gilker highlights a family member who often gets overlooked— the spouse or inheritor who statistically will outlive their partner and make new decisions about who stays in their corner. These are the kind of perspectives TIGER 21 Members gain from each other. Watch how Heather put it here: https://lnkd.in/dPeqhg6s

Family offices are professionalizing—but some are doing it at the cost of their greatest advantage: speed. As family offices add institutional layers, decision-making can slow. Governance can become gridlock. The entrepreneurial edge that built the wealth can get lost under process. The families navigating this well aren't choosing between rigor and agility. They're designing for both. This Crain Currency article, featuring TIGER 21 Chair Gil Bonwitt, explores that trade-off: https://lnkd.in/gE7iFDYD

The most overlooked relationships in a family office? The ones no one thought to include. As TIGER 21 Chair Gil Bonwitt shares below, when family members are left out, they don’t go away. They just operate outside the room. Watch the full webinar, Critical Relationships: Navigating Family, Influence, and Control Across Generations, here: https://lnkd.in/gPWDFeJR