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“Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations.”
“富不过三代。”
That maxim haunts wealthy matriarchs and patriarchs around the world: describing the risk that hard-won entrepreneurial riches end up being squandered after they pass to grandchildren. And research shows that there is truth in it: 70 per cent of families that create wealth have lost it by the second generation, and 90 per cent lose it by the third generation, according to a 20-year research project by US-based consultancy Williams Group.
这句话一直困扰着世界各地富有的族长：描述了来之不易的创业财富在传给孙辈后最终被挥霍掉的风险。根据美国咨询公司Williams Group一项为期20年的研究项目，这种说法不无道理：在创造了大量财富的家庭中，有70%到第二代失去了财富，有90%到第三代失去了财富。
All too often, matriarchs or patriarchs simply fail to think beyond tax planning and end up with no infrastructure for a successful wealth transfer. Consequently, nest eggs get devoured by lawyers as siblings squabble — and end up back in shirtsleeves.
很多时候，族长根本没有考虑到税务规划以外的问题，最终导致没有成功转移财富的基础设施。结果，随着兄弟姐妹的争吵，积蓄被律师们吞噬——最后又回到了原点。
However, that succession infrastructure can be established by family governance — a parallel to corporate governance, but not as well understood as it involves less disclosure. While corporate governance is reported and covered by government regulations, family governance is, by contrast, opaque — except for the occasional court fight. Best practices tend to be passed on by word of mouth.
然而，这种继承基础架构可以通过家族治理来建立——家族治理与公司治理类似，但由于涉及的信息披露较少而不为人们所熟知。公司治理需要报告并受到政府法规的保护，相比之下，家族治理是不透明的——除了偶尔的法庭纠纷。最佳实践往往是通过口口相传传递下来的。
There are similarities between these two types of governance, though. A family constitution, for example, acts much like a corporate charter. Also, adding independent board members to family-controlled businesses helps to pierce some of the groupthink, just as it does in larger corporate boardrooms. And family councils, comprising a subset of family members, can represent wider stakeholders to help make decisions for everyone, as advisory boards do within some companies.
不过，这两种治理方式也有相似之处。例如，家族章程与公司章程非常相似。此外，在家族控制的企业中加入独立董事会成员，也有助于打破一些群体思维，就像大型企业的董事会一样。而由部分家族成员组成的家族理事会，可以代表更广泛的利益相关者，帮助大家做出决策，就像某些公司的咨询委员会一样。
For some families, there can be as much at stake as in any corporate deal. A whopping $83tn is expected to be transferred to the next generation in the next 20 years — much of it in the next 10 years — UBS said in July, in its annual wealth report.
对于一些家族来说，这其中的利害关系不亚于任何企业交易。瑞银集团(UBS)在今年7月发布的年度财富报告中称，在未来20年内，预计将有高达83万亿美元的财富转移到下一代手中，其中大部分将在未来10年内完成。
That can make getting started on family governance seem daunting, says Babetta von Albertini, chair of the Institute for Family Governance, which offers case studies of how family problems can be resolved without litigation. “The hardest thing is to get the patriarch or matriarch to do something,” she explains.
家族治理研究所(Institute for family governance)的主席巴贝塔•冯阿尔贝蒂尼(Babetta von Albertini)说，这可能会让开始进行家族治理看起来令人望而生畏。该研究所提供了一些如何在不诉诸法律的情况下解决家族问题的案例研究。“最困难的事情是让族长采取行动，”她解释道。
$83tnUBS estimate of the value of assets being transferred to the next generation in the next 20 years
83万亿美元瑞银集团估计将在未来20年转移到下一代手中的资产价值
Von Albertini cites one case in which a patriarch worth about $3bn had done no estate planning and simply expected his oldest child to step into his shoes. Not surprisingly, that did not go down very well with his other children.
冯阿尔贝蒂尼举了一个例子，一位身家约30亿美元的族长没有做任何遗产规划，只是希望他的长子接替他的位置。不出所料，他的其他孩子对此并不买账。
One of the first steps for wealthy families is to create a family constitution, advises Thomas Thiegs, a managing director at Ascent, a division of US Bank. He suggests this should set out answers to questions of control: “What types of roles will family members have? What is our structure for the board of directors? How many seats do we have?”
美国银行(US Bank)子公司Ascent的董事总经理托马斯•蒂格斯(Thomas Thiegs)建议，富裕家族的第一步是制定一部家族章程。他建议，家族章程应该明确回答控制权问题：“家族成员将扮演什么样的角色？我们的董事会结构是怎样的？我们有多少席位？”
Thiegs says: “We give [families] a road map that gets them from barely any structure or centralised decision-making to this group decision-making and governance process.” However, he adds: “It does take years to put that in place.”
蒂格斯说：“我们为（家族）提供了一个路线图，使他们从几乎没有任何结构或集中决策转变为这种集体决策和治理过程。”不过，他补充道：“这确实需要数年时间才能落实到位。”
A further step can be to establish a family council. This is, essentially, a group of family members picked to represent the larger cohort. It can include family members who are on the board of a family company as well as others.
接下来是可以成立家族理事会。从本质上讲，这是一群被挑选出来代表更大群体的家族成员。它可以包括在家族企业董事会任职的家族成员以及其他成员。
We give [families] a road map that gets them from barely any structure or centralised decision-making to this group decision-making
我们为（家族）提供了一个路线图，使他们从几乎没有任何结构或集中决策转变为这种集体决策和治理过程。
“That is a structure that we like because it lets people have their opinion and voices heard but it also provides for that more formal decision-making for managing the business,” says Thiegs. “The [family] owners still have a way to provide that feedback to the business.”
“这是我们喜欢的结构，因为它让人们表达自己的观点和声音，但它也为管理业务提供了更正式的决策，”蒂格斯说。“（家族）所有者仍有办法向企业提供这种反馈。”
An even broader set of family members can comprise an assembly, where views may be aired. This group can include cousins and people who have married into the family over the decades. These individuals still need a voice with the family and its businesses, but they might not have decision-making authority.
更广泛的家庭成员可以组成一个集会，在那里可以发表意见。这个群体可以包括表亲和几十年来嫁入这个家族的人。这些人仍然需要对家族及其企业发表意见，但他们可能没有决策权。
Von Albertini believes family governance structures like these can act as checks and balances to protect wealth. For example, protective committees can be established to oversee financial advisers as well as family members who might be young and are unfamiliar with finances. These protective committees — which, typically, include an outside lawyer — give family members leeway to make “affordable mistakes” with money.
冯阿尔贝蒂尼认为，这样的家族治理结构可以起到制衡的作用，保护财富。例如，可以建立保护委员会来监督财务顾问以及可能年轻且不熟悉财务的家族成员。这些保护委员会——通常包括一名外部律师——给家庭成员留有余地，让他们在金钱上犯“可以承受的错误”。
In one example, cited by von Albertini, a father gave up control of a slice of the family wealth to a young daughter with little financial experience — but this allowed her to make impact investments that she felt passionate about.
冯阿尔贝蒂尼举了一个例子，一位父亲把一部分家庭财富的控制权交给了一个几乎没有金融经验的小女儿，但这让她能够对自己感兴趣的领域进行有影响力的投资。
“It has a purpose to train the family member and empower her,” von Albertini suggests. “The bankers have to go through her family office. The protective committees are a way to train the next generation.”
“它的目的是训练家庭成员并赋予她权力，”冯阿尔贝蒂尼建议道。“银行家们必须通过她的家族办公室。保护委员会是培养下一代的一种方式。”
Family governance can also deal with bad blood between siblings. In business relationships, when disagreements get messy, people can walk away. But wealthy family members cannot cut ties as easily.
家族治理还可以处理兄弟姐妹之间的矛盾。在商业关系中，当分歧变得棘手时，人们可以选择离开。但富裕的家族成员不能轻易断绝关系。
In these situations, Doug Baumoel, a family business consultant, reckons the solution is greater familiarity. “If there is one treatment for family business conflict, it is when family members get to know each other better,” he says. “That increases predictability in the system.”
在这些情况下，家族企业顾问道格•鲍默尔(Doug Baumoel)认为解决办法是增进了解。“如果说有一种处理家族企业冲突的方法，那就是让家族成员更加了解彼此。”他说，“这会增加系统的可预测性。”
Some believe the reason that disputes often arise in wealthy families is because the children do not spend enough time together when growing up — so they do not develop the same connections to their siblings that middle-class families have. In wealthy families, one child might go off to horse riding camp, for example, while a sibling goes to sailing school.
一些人认为，富裕家族经常发生纠纷的原因是，子女们在成长过程中没有足够的时间相处——所以他们无法与兄弟姐妹建立起像中产阶级家庭那样的联系。例如，在富裕家族中，一个孩子可能会去参加骑马营，而另一个孩子则去帆船学校。
“When family members don’t know each other well, mistrust develops,” Baumoel warns. “They have not had the opportunity to fight and heal and compromise because they have not had to.”
“当家族成员彼此不太了解时，就会产生不信任。”鲍莫尔警告说，“他们没有机会争吵、治愈和妥协，因为他们没有必要这样做。”
But there can be simple solutions, Baumoel points out. “I know one family, they live in this very big house, but they insist their two young kids share a bedroom. For this purpose exactly.”
但鲍莫尔指出，有一些简单的解决办法。“我认识一个家族，他们住在一栋非常大的房子里，但他们坚持让两个孩子共用一间卧室。正是为了这个目的。”