Good-bye September, Hello October! October is from the Latin octo, which means “eight”. The number eight is said to be a symbol of wealth, prosperity, peace and fertility. Not surprisingly, it’s also the month when farmers normally harvest their crops. We are surrounded by abundance, and grateful for clients and colleagues like you. We appreciate your business, and your feedback helps shape how we can best support you. We wish you and yours a happy and healthy Thanksgiving!
Family First
The North American Family Office Report 2024, produced by Campden Wealth in partnership with RBC, provides insight into the evolving state of family offices.
- – Emphasizing proactive succession planning – While 60% of family offices anticipate major inter-generational wealth transfers will occur within the next 10 years, only 30% of them have a formal, written succession plan. Taking a more proactive approach could help the 54% of respondents who feel the next generation is inadequately qualified (same as 2023).
- – Strategic shifts balancing growth and preservation – Favourable market conditions have influenced family offices to adopt a more balanced strategy between growth and wealth preservation. This shift has been significant for the 9% now focused on wealth preservation (compared to 14% in the 2023).
- – Sustained confidence in private markets – Private market investments, particularly those in private equity and private credit, continue to be the largest-held asset class for family offices. This builds on recent trends, with average portfolio share up 1% from last year to 30% for private markets.
- – Strengthening governance for long-term success – Family offices prioritize their investment functions, with 68% including an investment committee as part of their governance structure. Looking ahead, 71% of family offices expect increasing emphasis on governance structures to continue.
- – Embracing the future of advanced technology – Technology adoption is on the rise within family offices, including the use of wealth aggregation platforms, which provide an overview of their organization’s holistic financial position. The adoption rate of these programs is at 46%, up from 38% last year, with another 17% expressing a desire for them.
Please let us know if you’d like to revisit your planning. Our group has tax, legal and family enterprise advising expertise, as well as direct access to vast RBC resources. We also have extensive experience collaborating seamlessly with other professional advisors.
Market Moment
- – RBC Global Asset Management’s Fall 2024 Investment Outlook – Growth moderates, but a soft landing is most likely scenario / Inflation progressing well towards targets / U.S. dollar is weakening / More central banks join rate-cutting trend / Return potential in sovereign bonds moderated / Stocks extend gains.
- – RBC Wealth Management’s Global Insight Weekly for September 26 – Mario Draghi, the former president of the European Central Bank and prime minister of Italy, submits a comprehensive report addressing the EU’s loss of competitiveness / Canadian equities reach new all-time high / U.S. equities round out the calendar quarter with solid gains / China announces a flurry of stimulus.
- – RBC Global Asset Management’s MacroMemo for September 24 – Recession risk drops for the U.S. over the next 12 months from 40% to 30% / Risk of recession remains incrementally higher elsewhere, such as in Canada and the Eurozone, where economic growth has sputtered to a greater extent / U.S. inflation excluding shelter has returned to 2% / U.S. election math remains close.
- – U.S. Fed cuts 50 basis points with more to come – The Fed took pains to reinforce the view that this initial 50 basis point cut is the beginning of a “recalibration” cycle designed to keep the economy in a strong place rather than a response to rapid softening in the economic growth backdrop.
- – Canada’s housing market still in a wait-and-see mode – Interest rates may be coming down, but most Canadian homebuyers remain unconvinced that now is the right time to make a purchase. Home resales have yet to break from their mainly flat trend, rising just marginally by 1.3% between July and August.
Team Touch
VACATION ALERT:
*** Warwick & Lisa will be away from the office from October 9 - 29 for vacation/work. They’ll be vacationing in Chilean Patagonia, and then heading to Santiago and Buenos Aires with RBC DS colleagues for business meetings.
*** Kevin will be away from the office on October 15 & 16 for an extra-long weekend visit with family in London, Ontario.
*** Jen will be away from the office from October 21 - November 4 for her honeymoon. She and her husband Rhys will be traveling throughout Scotland.
Chart Corner
