Take a SWOT at your wealth plan

Strengths. Weaknesses. Opportunities. Threats. They are four areas that business owners know they need to constantly evaluate to keep their business thriving. SWOT analysis is a common business practice that is all about taking inventory of those four areas. As every great business owner knows, part of keeping a business thriving is also about keeping employees thriving. That’s why SWOT should also be applied to people. It can be a great tool for helping family businesses to look at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of each generation. There will be a different SWOT for each generation in a firm. The parent’s SWOT will likely be very different than their children’s SWOT. Bringing each generation’s SWOT into focus is critical when it comes to wealth planning, because different strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats call for different approaches, tools, resources and methods for each generation.SWOT analysis also plays into an idea that we’ve discussed with you before. It is critical that each generation feels that they are “heard” in order to achieve successful wealth and succession planning. SWOT can be used to help understand and incorporate each generation’s perspective. When you understand what a child’s strengths are versus a grandparent’s, it becomes much easier to understand what motivates each generation. The key thing to keep in mind with SWOT analysis is that your opinion of what your strengths and weaknesses are may be very different from what your family thinks your strengths and weaknesses are. Remove that inherent bias and source of conflict by asking your key advisors to do a SWOT analysis from their perspectives. They may understand external influences that may not always be visible to you. It’s also a good idea to incorporate SWOT analysis into your family meetings. Wealth planning can be difficult sometimes, but it becomes stronger and more resilient every time you take a SWOT at it.