Understanding the psychology of families and wealth

Caroline Garnham
Lawrence Graham LLP
Family Office Congress
2 December 2008

1. Introduction
“Wealth is like fire… if properly contained, it provides warmth but uncontained it can burn and
destroy absolutely.”
For centuries wealth owners have devised ways of preserving wealth for future generations,
whether in trusts or foundations. Over the last few decades the major offshore centres have
been actively competing with each other for this business. The main attraction for having a
trust offshore is for tax mitigation on their legislation on trusts and foundations for
succession. The problem however was that few, if any, settlors knew someone they trusted
who was resident in a suitable jurisdiction to be a trustee. This provided a business
opportunity for the professional trustee.

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