The scene was set for the latest in a series of topical family business themed workshops, this one was in partnership with Lamont Pridmore on the sometimes ‘thorny’ issue of wealth management planning.

The room had a real diverse and interesting mix of businesses and the banter between father and son Graham and Chris Lamont added to the dynamic of the delivery. Conversations were productive from the start with issues ranging from the DNA of the Family Business to preparing your life wealth plan, many questions were raised, especially over the coffee break! The workshop served to highlight some important (and for some, quite difficult) conversations family businesses need to have about their financial security and wealth protection. As with all these workshops ‘Chatham House Rules’ apply, so everyone there could rest assured that they were in a safe and confidential environment and feel able to talk about their ideas, issues or concerns.

For me, what came out of the day was a real sense of purpose; those attending went away with achievable goals which would help them to plan how and what they wanted their business to deliver. The value of these workshops cannot be underestimated. This session explored how they could discuss issues such as expectations in terms of current or future renumeration, dividend payments and pension planning with other family members.

Attendees were also encouraged to have the difficult conversation with family members about whether their business is making enough money to support the remuneration and pension needs of the various generations in the longer term.  If not, they also heard some suggestions about how to take action now to improve future profits and protect the family and the business for the future.

These workshops are a direct result of the feedback I receive from family businesses Not every topic suits everyone and that’s fine, as the great thing about forming trusted partnerships for the family business network is that we can be flexible with what different people or companies want or need.