What is a Family Wealth Navigator?
For many significant families, wealth has become increasingly complex, spanning global assets, business interests, tax and regulatory obligations and the dynamics of multiple generations. A Family Wealth Navigator provides the unifying, strategic oversight that significant families need, bringing together the work of multiple specialists to ensure every financial, structural and governance decision aligns with the family’s values, purpose and long-term vision.
Not your existing advisor
Families and individuals will have the following advisors: lawyers, accountants, insurance brokers, wealth managers, private bankers, potentially staff in a family office and Philanthropic PAF. A Family Wealth Navigator operates as a strategic integrator - providing the strategic and governance oversight, co-ordinating all of the other advisors, staff and family, and most importantly bringing the wisdom to avoid pitfalls and mitigate risks with significant intergenerational wealth.
Some examples of how to conceptualise this role are:
An advisor on the family board.
The family’s consigliere and trusted right hand.
A CEO/COO of sorts for the family bringing the experience, strategy and operations at a more holistic level to all of the family’s affairs.
A central or integrated advisor. My business is called Kinexis to represent Kin meaning family and Nexus meaning the central point.
The role can vary from family to family. Every family will have different needs, some established structures and advisors in place, either starting on their journey or much further along. As the Family Wealth Navigator I work with the specific and unique needs of the families I serve, ensuring advice that is independent and rooted in experience.
International benchmarking
Tom McCullough, of the Northwood Family Office and a recognised thought-leader in the field of ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) family wealth explains the concept of what he calls the “Integrated Advisor”:
The traditional model of multiple specialist advisors (investment manager, tax adviser, estate lawyer, insurance broker) operating in silos is insufficient for a wealthy family’s complex inter-linked needs.
The Integrated Advisor provides the “mortar” between the “bricks” (the specialists) — ensuring coherence, alignment with family goals, sequencing of decisions and avoiding fragmentation.
They address not only the technical financial issues but also family governance, generational transitions, cross-jurisdictional complexity, behavioural/relational issues, wealth-purpose and legacy.
What does the Family Wealth Navigator do?
Each family will require bespoke assistance that could include:
Strategy-setting: Working with the family to articulate objectives (financial, legacy, philanthropic, generational), risk appetite and time-horizons.
Coordination and sequencing: Ensuring all specialist advisors (tax, estate, investment, insurance, business, philanthropy) are aligned and decisions are co-ordinated and sequenced logically and coherently.
Implementation oversight: Monitoring execution of plans, ensuring tasks are completed and revisiting as circumstances change.
Family governance and dynamics: Facilitating family meetings, next-generation education, family charters/constitutions, dealing with cross-generation conflict and behavioural issues.
Legacy and values: Ensuring decisions reflect family values, philanthropic intent, sustainability and purpose.
Lifecycle and transitions: Business exits, succession, relocation, global mobility, aging and health/ incapacity are all integrated into the advisory process.
Why am I passionate about helping families?
I am driven by a genuine dedication to helping families build stronger relationships, steward their wealth wisely and create legacies that endure for generations whilst minimising risk.
Over my 25 year career I have built a unique skillset as a Family Wealth Navigator:
I set up and helped run a family office in London alongside the Family Principal, giving me the capabilities and credibility to understand the complexities of significant families,
I have deep financial experience but know this is only one part of a family’s capital. I am a Chartered Accountant, an Investor across multiple asset classes and have worked internationally in financial risk management for global organisations,
I have run businesses myself, and a significant family with intergenerational wealth needs to be run with the rigour of a business. Alongside my experience as a Director and Executive I bring strategic and governance oversight, as well as wearing many hats!
My work navigates the intersection of family, wealth and legacy, redefining how families think about wealth and wellbeing.
Georgia Barkell is the Founder and Principal of Kinexis, a Brisbane-based advisory that helps significant families navigate the intersection of family, wealth and legacy. She is a Chartered Accountant and Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, passionate about redefining how families think about wealth and wellbeing. each out for a confidential, no obligation discussion.
