Greycourt - Pittsburgh, Houston, Portland

Greycourt is a premier provider of financial advisory services to wealthy families and select endowments. They have what look like some interesting white papers - primarily related to money management / investment analysis ...


Some that may be of interest include:

• Family Investment Partnerships
  Many wealthy families are familiar with family limited partnerships used to discount the value of intra-family gifts. But limited partnerships can also be used as investment vehicles, and this strategy offers many advantages. This white paper discusses family investment partnerships, which represent a kind of private, family “mutual fund” for family members and other family units such as trusts or foundations.
  
• Taming Your Trust
  When families consider the prospect of having to establish appropriate provisions in trust instruments for spouses, children or future generations, they naturally approach the matter with trepidation. There is, first of all, the problem of attempting today to design provisions that must work well many years, perhaps many decades, into the future. There is the further problem of dealing with intra-family emotions and stresses that tend to interfere with otherwise good judgment. Finally, there is a natural tendency to be intimidated by the legal and tax complexity that appears to surround the arcane world of trusts.
  
• Philanthropy in Estate Planning: Balancing Charity against Personal Spending Needs
  Many wealthy clients have philanthropic goals, but few receive sufficient guidance regarding how best to balance these goals against personal spending needs. Deciding how to distribute wealth can be a complicated and often emotional process. As a result, investment advisors need to understand their clients’ wealth-distribution preferences and must help quantify potential investment risks associated with different levels and forms of gifting. By helping identify who bears residual investment risk under varying gifting regimes, investment advisors can ensure that their clients’ wealth is distributed in a way that fits their client’s individual, family, and philanthropic ambitions.
  
• Establishing a Family Office: A Few Basics
  Many families who have experienced a significant liquidity event will consider setting up a family office. The purpose of this white paper is to discuss the reasons families consider establishing an office, to describe the typical duties of such offices and to suggest a basic framework for designing and setting up a successful family office.