Resources

How to Communicate with All Members of Your Family Enterprise

December 27, 2022

Whether you’re the founder or inheritor of your family’s business, you know the challenges involved with communicating across multiple generations of family members. Even if all parties generally get along, messages can get lost in translation or interpreted improperly often. Unfortunately, family enterprises rely on clear communication and the alignment of goals amongst generations. The […]

Walking the Tightrope of the Family Business Transition

November 7, 2022

by Agatha Johnson, featured in Family Business Magazine Oct 2022

Is Your Portfolio on Track?

October 25, 2022

4 Benefits of Delegating Management of Your Held Away Accounts with Will-Kate Do you have a 401(k)? 403(b)? HSA? Or even a 529 education savings plan or variable annuity? Do you know how the investments within those held away accounts are performing? How about how the investments within those accounts are allocated? For many individuals, […]

Agatha Johnson Interviewed by Prairie Family Business Association

September 30, 2022

Just recently, I had the sincere pleasure of being interviewed by The Prairie Family Business Association (PFBA) about lessons I learned growing up on a multigenerational family farm and how they helped shape what WillKate is today.  Spoiler alert: It all goes back to my great-grandfather, Edward Kappenman, who immigrated from Germany and purchased farmland in north-central […]

How Rising Interest Rates Could Affect Your Portfolio Allocation in Retirement

June 13, 2022

From their double-digit highs in the 1980s, interest rates have been on a long and steady decline, reaching historic lows the last couple of years. This has been great news for anyone purchasing a home or taking out a loan, but especially for investors holding bonds. This is because bond values have an inverse relationship […]

Market Conditions We Haven’t Seen in 40 Years

May 25, 2022

Is the Venerated 60/40 Portfolio Too Risky Right Now? Much has transpired over the past weeks and months that have investors potentially bracing for a recession. Not only has the Fed started raising interest rates to combat inflation, but the market briefly entered into bear market territory on May 20th, 2022 when the S&P 500 […]

family enterprise

Create a Sustainable Family Enterprise in a Post-pandemic World

January 7, 2022

As we embark on 2022 and beyond, family enterprises have the opportunity to re-imagine why and how they do business. With purposeful planning, many constructive ways exist to move forward from where you are today to create a sustainable family enterprise in a post-pandemic world. To set perspective for the future it helps to take […]

silhouette of tree against cloudy sunset skyline

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 […]

silhouette of tree against cloudy sunset skyline

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 […]