Wealth Preservation & Intergenerational Transfer

Once wealth is created, the objective shifts. We help preserving families structure allocations for real returns after inflation and tax, define drawdown discipline, and prepare the next generation with clarity and confidence.

What we do for you

• Real-return oriented strategic asset allocation
• Concentration reviews and diversification frameworks
• Currency and geography diversification for global families
• Governance conversations across generations
• Documented drawdown and gifting discipline

How we work

1. 01Define preservation objectives and time horizons
2. 02Design a real-return oriented allocation
3. 03Structure disciplined drawdown and gifting
4. 04Engage the next generation in reviews

The problem changes once wealth is created

The behaviours that build wealth — concentration, conviction, leverage, reinvestment — are rarely the behaviours that preserve it. Once a family has enough, the dominant risk shifts from failing to grow fast enough to permanently impairing what already exists. That shift is easy to state and surprisingly hard to act on, because the habits that produced the success are the ones being asked to change.

Preservation is not the same as caution. A portfolio held entirely in low-yielding instruments loses purchasing power steadily and predictably, which is a form of impairment even though it never shows a loss. The task is to hold enough growth exposure to outpace inflation across decades, while ensuring no single event can do lasting damage.

Concentration is the risk that actually matters

Most significant wealth is created through concentration — a business, a professional practice, a property portfolio, an employer's stock. That concentration frequently persists long after it has stopped being necessary. When the concentrated asset is also the source of income, the family's balance sheet and income statement are exposed to the same single risk.

We map this explicitly: what proportion of net worth sits in the concentrated asset, what proportion of income depends on it, and what a severe adverse outcome would mean for funded goals. Diversifying away from a successful holding is emotionally difficult and frequently the single highest-value decision available. We approach it gradually and with attention to tax and timing, rather than as an abrupt exit.

Liquidity as a defensive asset

Adequate liquidity is what prevents a temporary problem from becoming a permanent one. Families who are forced to sell assets during a downturn, because a business needs capital or a tax demand arrives or a medical event occurs, convert a paper drawdown into a realised loss.

We size a liquidity reserve against real scenarios rather than a formula: the working capital cycle of the business, known tax outflows, the deductible and gap on health cover, and any personal guarantee that could be called. That reserve stays in genuinely liquid instruments and is not counted as part of the growth portfolio.

Structural risks beyond the market

Market volatility is the risk most discussed and rarely the one that causes lasting damage to a substantial estate. The more consequential exposures tend to be structural: a personal guarantee on business borrowing, an unclear ownership record on inherited property, a nomination that has never been updated, inadequate professional indemnity or health cover, or a succession plan that exists only as an assumption.

We audit these alongside the portfolio, because a well-constructed investment plan sitting behind an unaddressed structural exposure offers less protection than it appears to. Where legal or tax expertise is required, we coordinate with specialists rather than opining ourselves.

Multi-generational continuity

Preserving wealth across generations depends at least as much on the family's shared understanding as on the portfolio. Where the next generation has never been part of the conversation, transitions tend to be abrupt and decisions poor. Where they have been included progressively, continuity is far more likely.

We are happy to include adult children in review meetings, to explain how the portfolio is constructed and why, and to serve as a point of continuity when the relationship passes to the next generation. Having worked with families since 2006, this is increasingly the part of the practice we find most consequential.

Risks & important considerations

• Preservation strategies reduce but cannot eliminate risk; all market-linked investments carry the possibility of loss.
• Holding capital entirely in low-yielding instruments carries inflation risk, which erodes purchasing power over time.
• Diversifying a concentrated position has tax consequences that should be planned with a qualified tax professional.
• Structural exposures such as guarantees, title and succession require legal advice, which CONFI does not provide.
• Mutual Fund investments are subject to market risks. Read all scheme related documents carefully before investing.

Frequently asked questions about Wealth Preservation & Intergenerational Transfer

More questions are answered on our general FAQ page and in the Knowledge Centre.

Who this typically suits

Not sure where you fit? Our seven-step process begins with a discovery conversation before anything is recommended.