Jason Howell Company — FAMILY Wealth Management

Who we serve

For the generation that will inherit it

Assets transfer automatically. Judgment does not. We work directly with the next generation — on their own terms and often in their own meetings — so an inheritance arrives with the context and the skills to hold it rather than only a balance.

What tends to be going on

Every estate plan transfers assets. Almost none of them transfer the judgment that produced the assets, and the gap between those two things is where most of the difficulty in inherited wealth actually lives. A well-drafted trust can move a large sum to someone who has never been part of a conversation about what it is for.

Parents usually understand this and are unsure how to act on it. The two failure modes are familiar: say nothing, on the theory that knowing the number will dissolve the child's ambition, or say everything at once, generally at the worst possible moment. Neither is a plan. Both are a decision made by default.

What tends to work better is graduated and boring. The next generation is brought into specific, real decisions before they are responsible for all of them — a charitable allocation they help direct, a portion of a portfolio they follow, a family meeting where they have a role rather than a seat. The point is not the amount involved. It is that the first time they exercise judgment about family money is not the day the money arrives.

This often means meeting the next generation separately. An adult child in their thirties will ask questions in their own meeting that they will not ask in front of their parents, and those are usually the questions worth answering.

What we focus on here

  • 01

    Their own meeting

    Next-generation work happens directly with the next generation, on their terms. It is part of the family engagement rather than a separately billed relationship.

  • 02

    Graduated exposure

    Participation in real decisions — a charitable allocation, a portion of a portfolio, a role in a family meeting — before responsibility for all of them arrives at once.

  • 03

    A written reference point

    A family mission statement is most useful when a contested decision arrives. One everybody agrees with but that settles nothing is decoration; one that clarifies whether to fund a business or keep a property is doing its job.

Common questions

When should we tell our children what they will inherit?

There is no single right age, and the more useful question is usually how rather than when. Families tend to do better introducing the next generation to real decisions gradually — a charitable allocation, a family meeting with a defined role — so that judgment is practiced before responsibility arrives, rather than disclosing a number in one conversation.

Do you work with our children directly?

Yes, and generally in their own meetings. Adult children raise questions privately that they will not raise in front of their parents. Next-generation education is part of the family engagement rather than a separate relationship with its own fee.

This page describes how Jason Howell Company works with families in this situation. It is general information, not investment, tax, or legal advice, and it does not account for any individual circumstances.

Most families are more than one of these

That is usually the point — the situations overlap, and the decisions in one change the answers in the others.