发布时间：2020-04-07
《传承宝典》34
家庭顾问帮您制定传承规划
导语
精心构建的传承规划可以降低家族传承过程中可能遇到的风险，其重要性不言而喻。但是这一最终法宝却往往被家族和家族传承顾问忽视，无法发挥作用。常言道“富不过三代”，但是何以至此鲜为人知。财富传承失败最主要的原因是家庭内部沟通的不畅，追根溯源则是财富传承之前未能做好充分的规划。
现在的经济社会强调风险管理，具体来说，关注银行信用危机和市场信心瓦解时家族企业和其投资组合的脆弱性。因此，越来越多的越来越复杂的风控产品在理财经理的推动下应运而生。长期来看，家族最大的风险其实来自内部，轻则让家族迷失发展方向、造成领导力的缺失，重则导致家族内部战争的爆发，家族成员为取得资产、遗产或领导地位而大打出手。当家族传承至第三代甚至第四代时，很可能家族继承人已经很难理解家族奠基人在创造家庭财富时的工作理念和价值观了。因此，传承规划是家族规避长期风险的最佳方式。虽不能百分之百保证财富能够永远代代相传，但是可以大大提升传承的成功率，家庭成员也能够在追求个人发展的同时享受作为家庭和社会成员的权利和义务。所以为何人们会将大把的时间和精力投入在平庸无奇的风控产品上，却对风控制胜法宝——传承规划熟视无睹？
1. 传承规划缺失的后果
传承规划没有做好的后果多到数不清，大家心里都非常清楚。最典型的莫过于家族掌门人去世后兄弟姐妹间的勾心斗角，或是关于家族企业参与者间“卖与不卖”的无限纷争。谋权篡位随时上演，各种不满现行战略方针的噪声也随之而来：有人支持主推核心业务，就有人倡导激进扩张和多样性战略。不论如何权衡，精力的耗费肯定少不了。家族成员的想法也各不相同。有人希望保留奠基人的创业基调，将家族财富统一管理，投资新兴的高风险高收益项目；有人却对此不以为意，更倾向于由专业的理财经理独立管理。受到以上问题影响的不仅仅是家族企业和家庭财富，家族本身也深受其害，因为各方都需要努力游说其他家庭成员以获得更多支持。很可惜，从往例来看，往往风险最大的选项呼声最高。除家族企业战略制定外，是否有能力管理家族企业也是不容忽视的问题，很有可能家族的下一代继承人没有能力接受运营起如此庞大的家族企业，既无法胜任企业经理也无法胜任企业所有人。如果没有清晰的决策机制，且奠基人未确立明确的企业目标让继承人在此基础上微调，以上所有列出、未列出的风险都将急剧发酵。传承规划的缺失有可能导致家庭分裂，甚至对家族财富的致命打击，所以很难理解为何有些能力强、天赋高的企业家会对最基本的传承原则视而不见，将自己辛辛苦苦一辈子积累起的大笔财富置于危险境地。但是，也已经有人先行一步。
2. 传承规划缺失的背后原因
有人说，制定传承规划过程中最大的阻碍是现任掌门人认为自己可以一直经营下去，或者说不愿意面对“人终有一死”和“无能为力”的现实。实际上，制定传承规划的困难之处远比这复杂，因为有太多艰难的决定在等待答案，有些直关企业，有些掺杂着难以剥离的情感因素，有些还会造成父子间、兄弟姐妹间，甚至夫妻间的分歧。就算这些问题都能解决，也不能保证结果一定是完美的。很多企业家表示，传承财富比创造财富还要难，但是这可能指的是流程化的传承。这种流程会在做决策时完全提出情感因素，因此有可能会导致日后的反目和疏远。因此，事先确定传承标准，可以让过程更加客观，避免让家庭成员觉得某位成员格外受宠。
3. 传承规划与家族治理的关键因素
起草传承规划的第一步当然是从财富的创造者开始，或者继任的家族领袖。但是，这种说法遭到了很多专家的反对，他们认为利益相关度较高的成员也应参与部分制定过程。这些成员应有发言权，与其他制定传承规划的家庭成员一道确定一系列价值规范、家族目标、治理框架等。以上，是第一步的任务。
传承规划中应覆盖三个主要因素：
财富的定义
如何定义财富，只需问自己一个简单的问题“财富是为了什么？”财富是为了后代的生活质量得到保障吗？如果是的话，你应该怎样确保财富能够切实的提高他们的生活质量，毕竟已经有很多研究显示继承遗产缺没有能力支配遗产对继承者反而有害。对于部分家庭来说，很多财富是附着于某项资产上的，比如家族企业、不动产或者艺术收藏品，财富创始人是希望这些资产能够完整保存的。如果这才是财富的目的，那需要在传承规划中明确的说明这一点，以避免未来可能的纷争。另外，传承规划中还需说明财富是否/何时可以用来激励家族成员的创业精神或其它创新行动，或者是否/何时可以用于慈善事业。不论财富的目的如何，创始人都一定会希望自己留下的财富能够鼓励后代建立起积极的工作价值观，减少财富被挥霍一空、后代迷失自我的可能性。
财富的分配
接下来的问题是，如何在家庭成员间合理分配财富。“公平与平等”说起来简单做起来难，现实情况下很难定义如何才是公平与平等。有人认为财富应该在下一代继承人中平等分配，但是也有人认为承担带领家族企业走得更远、更好管理家族资产责任的继承人应该获得更多财富。因此，应当明确家族领导者的责任所在，并制定机制保护其他家庭成员的利益。有的家庭会有一个专门的“储钱罐”，用于激励和支持有天赋的、有想法的家族成员，或用于帮助某些家庭成员度过难关。如果没有指导性的方针规划，每一个决定都有可能导致家族的分崩离析。
决策机制
决策过程对于一个家族的未来至关重要。很多富裕家庭的资产是依赖于各种各样的“载体”的，常见的比如公司和信托。各个载体都有各自的目标，各自的董事会/受托人，各自的管理方式。但是很多家庭也已经意识到了家族宪章的优势，能够将家族作为一个整体规划宏观目标和决策机制。沟通需要两步，首先是家庭会议（全部家庭成员，意见仅供参考），其次是家庭理事会（决策代表，行使决策权力）。对于家族企业占据大部分资产的家庭来说，家族与企业的关系就变得尤为重要，制定用来规范在家族企业中就职的家庭成员的规章制度也变得非常关键。
4. 家庭顾问/ 受托人的职责
以上问题只是富裕家庭/个人需要考虑的部分事项，此外还要加上税收、法务等常见问题，对于资产结构复杂、尤其是资产遍布多个法律管辖地的家庭。正如文章开篇提到，很多财富创造者不愿意面对上述问题，一拖再拖，直到为时已晚。导致这样的事情发生，家庭顾问也要承担一半的责任，没有明确、坚决地把制定传承规划提上日程，并确认收到家族的积极反馈。还有很多专家虽然支持家族继承规划，但是是否每个家庭顾问都需要承担这样的责任，还是要画个问号。
5. 小结
抛开对细节的合理质疑，在大部分情况下，有效的传承规划能为富裕家庭带来巨大收益。所以制定传承规划只是时间早晚的问题，最大的困难也不过是让家庭成员同意制定传承规划，让制定流程启动起来。这份规划的考虑范围以及涉及到的家庭成员范围，将取决于财富创造者或现任家族领袖的意愿。尽管通常来看，利益相关的下一代继承人也应有发言建议权，但是往往不建议这样做。或者，家族创始人也许会考虑从一开始就设定几条规则，先制定出适合畅所欲言的讨论机制。
Original English Texts
The Key Role of Advisers in Succession Planning
The role of properly structured succession planning in reducing the risks to family wealth is beyond dispute. Yet this most important of all risk management tools is too often overlooked, both by the families themselves and their advisers.
It is a well-known fact that most family fortunes fail to survive more than three generations. Less well known is that the prime cause of wealth destruction is a breakdown of communication within the family, which often results from failure to plan adequately for passing on the wealth from one generation to the next. In the current economic environment there is a great deal of focus on the management of risk and, in particular, the potential vulnerability of the family business or the investment portfolio to a further banking crisis and a collapse in market confidence. Increasingly sophisticated risk management tools are promoted by wealth managers and private banks for this purpose.
In the longer term, the biggest risk of all is a failure within the family itself which, at its mildest, results in a loss of direction and leadership and, at its worst, can result in a full scale family war as different family members fight each other for the assets, the legacy or the family leadership. By the third or fourth generation the chances are very high that those who inherit were brought up in luxury with little concept of the work ethic on which the family fortune was founded.
Succession planning is therefore the most important tool of long-term risk management. It does not guarantee the preservation of wealth through the generations, but it can and does improve the chances that the wealth will survive, in an environment which enables family members to flourish as individuals, as part of the family unit and as members of society.
Why is it, therefore, that whilst so much time and resource is commonly allocated to other, less important risk management tools, far too little attention is given to the most important tool of all – succession planning?
The Consequences of Failure to Plan
The consequences of failure to plan are well known, and far too numerous to list. Perhaps the most obvious are disputes between siblings on the death of the founder or disputes between those who are involved in the family business and those who want it sold. There is also jockeying for position within the business and disagreement about its strategic direction, some perhaps preferring to stick to the core activity, whilst others advocate a more risky expansion and diversification strategy, involving substantial leverage.There may be family members who want to use family wealth to invest in new ventures, following in the entrepreneurial footsteps of the founder, whilst others have no interest in business and prefer the wealth to be independently managed by professional managers. All this can have an impact not only on the business and the family wealth, but on the family itself, as the key protagonists try to lobby other family members for support. Sadly, in most instances, those who advocate the greatest risks have the loudest and most persuasive voices.
In addition to business strategy, there is the simple issue of management competence and the danger that the next generation does not have the talent to run a large business, either as managers or as owners.All of these risks and many more, are greatly magnified by the lack of a clear framework for making decisions and a clear set of objectives which have been originated by the founder and renewed by successive generations.The potential for damaging divisions and perhaps catastrophic wealth destruction is so obvious that it is hard to understand why an exceptionally able and talented human being, who has spent a lifetime putting together a large fortune, would ignore many of the basic principles of handing it down to the next generation. Yet many otherwise brilliant men and women do just that.
Reasons for Failure to Plan
Some say that the biggest obstacle to succession planning is the typical entrepreneur’s belief in his or her own immortality, or to put it the other way round, a reluctance to face up to his own death or incapacity.In truth, the answer is more complex, in that there are many hard decisions to be made, some of them straight business decisions, others highly overlaid with emotional considerations. Some may create a division between father and son, between brother and sister, or even between husband and wife and even when it is all done, the outcome can never be guaranteed.Many entrepreneurs have observed that it is harder to pass on your wealth than to make it in the first place, but perhaps this is precisely the argument for some sort of formalised process. Such a process takes at least some of the emotion out of decisions, which otherwise have the potential to cause resentment and division. Pre-determined criteria will help provide an objective measure, to avoid the perception that one family member has been favoured over another.
Key Elements of Succession Planning and Family Governace
The drawing up of a succession plan is clearly, in the first instance, the prerogative of the founder of the wealth, or subsequent family leadership. However, it is argued by most experts that it should generally be done with some degree of consultation among those principally affected. Those involved need to have a say and the opportunity to work together with other family members in defining a common set of values, objectives and governance framework. This can be a substantial task.
There are three main elements of succession planning:
1. Defining the purpose of the wealth
Much can be achieved by trying to answer the simple question ‘what is it all for?’ Is the wealth simply to provide for the living standards of subsequent generations? If so, how do you ensure it contributes to enhanced quality of life, when there is so much evidence that inheritance without responsibility can be damaging?
For some families, much of the wealth is tied up in particular assets such as a family business, a landed estate or an art collection, which the founder wishes to be maintained intact. If so, this must be made clear, to avoid future disputes. It should also be specified whether and in what circumstances the wealth should be used to encourage entrepreneurial or other creative activities of family members or to be used for philanthropic purposes. Whatever the specific purposes, the founder will surely wish to leave a legacy which encourages a positive work ethic in subsequent generations to reduce the prospect of wealth being squandered and lives ruined in the process.
2. Dividing the wealth
The next question is how the wealth is to be divided between different family members. Fairness and equality are easy words to use, but it is not so easy to define what they mean in practice. It could be argued that the wealth should be divided equally between members of the next generation. Alternatively, that a greater share is allocated to those with responsibility for carrying forward the family business or other assets. The responsibilities of family leaders have to be specified and mechanisms put in place to protect the interests of others. Some families have a ‘pot’ of money to finance family members with exceptional talents or business ideas, or those with special needs or suffering hardship. Without a guiding philosophy every decision has the potential to cause a rift.
3. Making decisions
The processes by which decisions are made is critical to the future wellbeing of the family.For many wealthy families, their assets are held through a variety of ‘vehicles’, being primarily companies and trusts, each with their own objectives, their own boards of directors or trustees and their own governing instruments. However, most families have seen the benefit of some kind of family constitution, which defines the overall objectives and decision making processes for the family as a whole.Communications will usually include family meetings (the whole family and consultative only) and the family council (representative body with some decision making powers). Where there is a family business making up a substantial part of the assets, the relationship between the family and the business will be critical, as will the rules which govern the highly sensitive area of family members working in the business.
Role of The Adviser or Trustee
The above is just a selection of the many issues which need to be considered by a wealthy individual or family, to which should be added all the usual tax and legal issues affecting a family with complex assets, especially those distributed across a number of legal jurisdictions.As mentioned earlier, many wealth creators postpone consideration of all these matters, often until it is too late. Equally their advisers are at fault for failing to put the issue firmly on the table in a manner which provokes a positive response. After all there are so many arguments in favour of a properly structured succession planning exercise, that it should surely be routine for all advisers?
Conclusions
It has been demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt that in the vast majority of cases an effective succession planning exercise brings considerable benefits to a wealthy family. The question is when to start such an exercise and the biggest challenge is to agree the format and get the process started.The scope of the exercise and the extent of involvement of family members will depend on the wishes of the wealth creator, or the current family leadership. Although it is generally regarded as advisable to involve the next generation in a consultative exercise, there may on occasions be reasons for not doing so. Equally, the founder may wish to lay down some principles from the outset, as a framework for discussion.
该文章转载自雷梭勒家族办公室，如有侵权，敬请告知删除。
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