Resources

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Why You Need Your Own Personal Purposeful Plan Independent of the Family Enterprise

November 29, 2021

“You’re invested in the family enterprise. Invest in your personal purpose, too.” ~ Aggie Johnson, WillKate Founder When you look ahead and imagine your own retirement, the first place your mind likely goes is to the family enterprise. What will my succession plan look like? Will that change as I approach my retirement date? How […]

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When Enterprise and Family Needs Compete

October 11, 2021

When Steve and Paulette Hohn of family business MDS Manufacturing started looking at life after the business that’s been central to their lives for 40 years, they knew they needed help to make a story out of the money. Spurred by a Prairie Family Business Association live case study in 2017, the Hohns worked with WillKate […]

family business

Life 2.0: What Will You Do After You Hand Down the Family Business?

September 17, 2021

After years of planning and successor grooming, the day will finally come when it is time to pass the baton of the family business into the hands of the next generation. Undoubtedly this transition will elicit a host of competing emotions from pride to fear and excitement to anxiety. But not simply because you’ll be […]

physicians and money

5 Questions Mid-life Physicians Must Answer to Secure Their Financial Future

July 26, 2021

As our lives and careers evolve, so too do our financial situations. This is especially true of physicians whose careers demand ongoing attention to more complex financial needs.  Early in their careers, physicians tend to struggle with sizeable student debt while simultaneously trying to start a family or a practice, or both! At this stage, […]

Family Talent

Mining Family Talent to “Fund” the Family Enterprise

July 12, 2021

Family is at the heart of creating a wealth-generating enterprise, and the human talent within the family is the most powerful investment and opportunity any one family has in achieving this mission! Of course, measuring the value of any single family member’s potential contribution to the enterprise may seem hard to quantify, but should certainly […]

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How to Manage Family Liabilities for Generational Wealth Building

June 15, 2021

In financial terms, assets and liabilities compete against one another in terms of the business’s balance sheet. Assets are items a company owns that provide economic benefit, while liabilities are financial obligations that detract from the total assets. Generally speaking, assets include receivables or revenue from income, investments, inventory, and equity, while liabilities are otherwise […]

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How do you Measure Your own Wealth? Consider the 6 Elements of Wealth

May 28, 2021

One of the most important topics we discuss with our family enterprise clients is how they measure their wealth. On the surface, this seems simple. The answer is just a matter of crunching some numbers. But when we dig deeper, there is truly so much more that defines a sense of wealth beyond the traditional […]

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Cultivating a 100-year family enterprise

May 10, 2021

Discussion with Greg Lewis of Family Business Today Agatha Johnson, WillKate’s founder, joined Greg Lewis on his podcast Family Business Today to talk about how to build and sustain a family enterprise over generations. In this captivating interview, Aggie shares her own family’s experience along with the stories of families she and her team advise. […]

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Business View vs. Enterprise View: A New Kind of Balance Sheet — Family Enterprise Equity

April 15, 2021

In business, a balance sheet is a very specific financial document that summarizes all your business assets. It is a record that objectively determines your company’s value based on its debts, assets, and shareholder equity at any given point in time. Essentially, if you were to sell your business tomorrow and pay off all of […]

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Honoring family values for generations to come

November 30, 2020

A tribute to Wilfred and Catherine Kappenman 2020 has been a year to take fresh look at your life, your family, your business(es), the legacy you want to create and think about what’s next.  While you’re reading this on our newly minted WillKate website, we wouldn’t be here today without reflection on our story and […]