Family Office
Holistic support from a versatile team
Genova helps clients advance the priorities that matter most to them – whether that means building security for the next generation, navigating a major life transition, pursuing philanthropic impact, or working toward financial freedom.
How we can help
Tax compliance and reporting
We support clients with a full range of tax-related offerings — from integrating tax considerations into overall financial planning to processing annual tax returns and quarterly installment payments. Because our tax expertise is in-house, not contracted out, the support we provide is personalized and seamlessly integrated with our other work.
Financial planning
We help clients take stock of where they are and set a course for where they want to be in the future. Taking clients’ goals and priorities as a starting point, we work closely with them to design and implement a plan for the future. The plan remains a touchstone over time as we continue to monitor their progress and make adjustments as necessary to sustain their success.
Integrated financial reporting
Some of our clients have pensions, use multiple managers, or otherwise hold assets outside their Genova portfolios. We can prepare tailored reports aggregating information on all of a client's assets to help them understand their net worth at various points in time. For clients who also look to us for tax support, this reporting has the added benefit of clarifying income tax liabilities.
Change and transition
Major life changes often have financial implications, whether it’s the conclusion of a career, a change in marital status, or the sale of a business or a family home. Genova has helped many clients enter a new chapter of their lives with the confidence that the change is being managed in a way that’s thoughtfully aligned with their overall financial goals.
Family engagement and communication
Financial conversations can be sensitive for families to navigate, touching on deeply held values, hopes, and fears. Because we work to build close, long-standing relationships with clients, we can often make a contribution that goes beyond financial insight. We’ve helped many families make effective decisions together, advancing shared goals even when participants’ perspectives and levels of engagement have varied widely.
Legacy
Most people want the wealth they leave to have a positive impact. This intention can take many forms, from investing in grandchildren’s education, to ensuring that a vulnerable loved one receives excellent care throughout their life, to advancing a multi-generational philanthropic goal. Genova works with families to design financial plans and other tools to ensure they achieve their intended outcomes.
A trusted network
In addition to sharing our own team’s expertise, we can help clients navigate specific questions and challenges – in areas ranging from family law to insurance to business valuation – by drawing on a network of specialists whose insight and experience we trust.
Client scenarios
David & William
Successful early-career parents planning for the future.
Claudia
A mature professional rethinking her portfolio after ending a marriage.
Macan & Bernadette
An entrepreneurial couple stepping back from a thriving business.
* Fictional clients whose financial and family circumstances approximate and recombine those of actual Genova clients.
Scenario 1: David & William
Family status: Both 37. Married 7 years. Parents to five-year-old James.
Financial context: David and William both earn good incomes at jobs they love – David as an optometrist who owns his own clinic, William as a front-end developer for a major tech company. Now seeking help taking their financial plans to the next level, David and William want a firm that’s flexible, easy to work with and has the right range of expertise in-house.
Goals
- Financial freedom. David and William work hard and have managed their money carefully; they want to continue laying strong foundations for security, flexibility, and fun.
- More time to themselves. On top of their busy professional lives, William coaches James’s soccer team and David volunteers with a community organization. They want to spend less time managing their affairs and more time being active in their community.
- A cottage. The couple would like to buy a getaway outside the city, and are considering some other real estate investments.
How Genova can help
- Portfolio management. Their investment portfolio has grown too big for them to manage on their own — and David and William want to focus on other priorities. They’re looking for a family office to take over and to provide complementary services, such as financial planning, tax, accounting, and reporting.
- Big-picture thinking. As they move through their peak earning years and contemplate major financial decisions, David and William want help revising their financial plan and making sure they’re on track for the long-term outcomes they want. They’re seeking a trusted firm to act as their CFO, taking a holistic view of their affairs as they continue to grow their wealth and advising them through different life stages.
- Guidance on big decisions. As David and William contemplate new real estate investments, they’d like Genova to advise them on tax implications and how these new investments intersect with the rest of their financial lives.
Scenario 2: Claudia
Family status: 56. Recently ended a 20-year marriage. Mother to two adult daughters, 25 and 27.
Financial context: During her marriage, Claudia managed day-to-day household finances but her husband took care of the investment accounts. She doesn’t have a close relationship with her existing investment advisor; their routine was one meeting per year (and written reports that her husband tended to review). Today, Claudia finds her portfolio – including hundreds of holdings – overly complicated.
Goals
- Understanding. Claudia wants a better understanding of what she’s invested in and why. She wants to work with a discretionary portfolio manager so she doesn’t have to make individual buy/sell decisions — but she does want to be fully informed and better engaged as an investor.
- Philanthropic impact. A donor to several charities and a member of two non-profit boards, Claudia’s interested in expanding her philanthropic activity as she ages — especially in her two sectors of focus: health care and the arts.
How Genova can help
- Excellent communication. An accomplished professional whose expertise lies outside of business and finance, Claudia wants to work with a firm that will communicate without jargon and respond to questions with direct, substantive answers.
- A new advisory dynamic. Claudia’s looking for a fresh start and a relationship with her portfolio manager in which she feels like a full participant, not a spectator. Her previous advisors were capable and professional, but she wants higher-quality conversations that are more candid and complete, where she feels comfortable discussing her finances in the wider context of her life, goals, and relationships.
- Holistic support. Between her career, active social life, and substantial volunteer commitments, Claudia is looking for ways to simplify in other areas. She wants a single firm that can manage all her financial affairs in-house. Portfolio management is her central priority, but she also wants an office that will prepare her tax returns in-house, advise on financial planning, and provide other offerings as needed.
Scenario 3: Macan and Bernadette
Family status: 58 and 59 respectively. Married 30+ years. Parents to Roan (25), Riva (22), and Rachel (18). While Roan and Riva are both launched in their careers — Roan as a lawyer, Riva embarking on her first job as an industrial designer — Rachel is starting university in the fall.
Financial context: The couple started a transportation and logistics company 25 years ago and have grown the company considerably, launching offices in Toronto, Halifax, and Vancouver. In fact, 80% of the couple’s net worth is tied into the business. Although Macan and Bernadette are both entrepreneurial and proud of what they’ve built, they’re ready to move on from the company. Their children have no interest in running the business, and the couple – who have been approached in the past by potential buyers – are now in active discussions about a sale.
Goals
- A slower pace. Macan and Bernadette want to spend more time travelling and engaging in their shared hobbies: cooking, photography, and tending to their two horses.
- Legacy. Macan and Bernadette want to not only enjoy a comfortable retirement but also leave inheritances to their children, set aside funds for their grandchildren’s education, and remain active in their current philanthropic activities.
- Streamlined affairs. Managing the funds from the sale of their company will be a significant responsibility. Based on conversations with friends, Macan and Bernadette have concluded that using multiple portfolio managers can overcomplicate things.
- Continued engagement. Although Macan’s looking forward to stepping away from the business, he wants to continue on in a strategic advisory role for a while. He also wants to continue to have a role in managing some of his own investments. He doesn’t want “retirement” to mean disengagement.
How Genova can help
- Support with the sale. To ensure that they execute the sale of their company successfully – fully understanding the tax implications and other considerations – Bernadette and Macan want to engage some professional expertise and guidance, both within Genova and potentially from Genova’s wider network.
- Validation of plans. The couple are fairly confident that after the sale they’ll have enough money to live comfortably and also achieve their legacy and philanthropic goals — but they’d like some analysis to confirm this. They’re also interested in a review of their wills and life insurance products, to ensure that these will achieve their intended outcomes.
- Integrated wealth management. As business owners, Macan and Bernadette understand how integrated business and tax decisions can be. They want a family office that offers both wealth management and accounting in-house, ensuring that their decisions are well coordinated and aligned.
- A knowledgeable sounding board. Macan has some investment ideas and is interested in investing some of the proceeds from the business sale on his own. He’d like to work with someone who’s open to being a sounding board — respecting his business acumen while bringing their own perspective to the table.