If you have ever sat across from a professional who gave you a quick answer to a question that deserved a conversation, you will understand why we invited Tom McCullough to Cincinnati.
Tom has spent four decades guiding families of significant wealth through the questions that most shape their lives. The ones about money, yes. But also, the ones underneath it. How much is enough? How do we prepare our children for what they will inherit? What do we want this wealth to mean, long after we are gone? On May 12, he will sit down with Terry Horan at Hyde Park Country Club for a candid fireside conversation built around those kinds of questions, and yours.
A family office built from what his own family needed
Tom did not set out to start a family office. He set out to solve his own family's problem. When he went looking for help, thinking through how to transition his parents' wealth to the next generation, he turned to their longtime accountant in Canada. The meeting was revealing, and not in the way he had hoped.
“The conversation lasted about a minute and a half.”
“He told me we had two options -- buy insurance or do an estate freeze. The conversation lasted about a minute and a half.” Tom recalls. “He could have said: Tell me more. What are you thinking? How can I help?”
That moment is why Northwood exists. In 2003, Tom founded Northwood Family Office to be the integrated advisor he had needed and could not find. He thinks of the role less like a specialist and more like a general contractor, “pulling all the pieces together” so families never have to translate between their own advisors.
Direction. Perspective. Confidence.
The Northwood logo carries three trees for a reason. Each one stands for what Tom believes every family of significant wealth deserves: direction, perspective, and confidence. “Everybody's north is different,” Tom says. “What's most important to you?”
Twenty-three years, and a global reputation
Today, Northwood oversees the integrated wealth of ultra-high-net-worth families across planning, investments, governance, and family well-being. It has been recognized as the #1 Family Office in Canada by the Euromoney Global Private Banking Survey, a peer-ranked industry benchmark published annually since 2004, and as the Best North American Multi-Family Office (up to $2.5 billion AUM) by the Family Wealth Report Awards. Tom is co-author of Wealth of Wisdom: The Top 50 Questions Wealthy Families Ask and its companion, Wealth of Wisdom: Top Practices for Wealthy Families and Their Advisors. In 2020, he received the Family Wealth Report Award for Best Individual Contribution to Thought Leadership in the Wealth Management Industry, given annually by ClearView Financial Media to recognize leaders who have meaningfully shaped the wealth management field.
Now at the center of where the field is going
More recently, Tom took on a role that places him at the heart of the entire industry's future. He became Managing Director of Thought Leadership and Strategy at the Ultra High Net Worth Institute, taking the baton from industry icon Jim Grubman. The Institute shapes what world-class integrated wealth management looks like for the next generation of families. Tom describes it as one of his passion projects, where his aim is “taking it further, and making it practical and implementable” for families and the advisors who serve them.
The questions that keep families awake at night
These are not the questions most advisors are trained to answer. Over four decades, Tom has heard them all. What does it really mean to be wealthy? How much is enough? What is the role of philanthropy in our family? How do we prepare our children and grandchildren to be thoughtful stewards of what we pass on? How do we deal with longevity and mental incapacity among family members? “We cover fundamental, long-term issues that are relevant to families with significant wealth,” Tom says. “These questions stand the test of time.”
A preview of May 12: Two questions, in Tom's own words
On how much to leave the next generation:
“We might ask a client, 'How much money do you want to leave to your children?’ Their first response might be - I have no idea. We might then ask, ‘Do you want to leave all your money to your kids?’ No, definitely not! ‘Do you want to leave no money to your kids?’ Well, no. Okay, so we know it's somewhere between none and all. Now let's think through what that number might be, how you will decide, and where else you’re thinking the money might go.”
On investing with purpose:
“Goals-based investing seems to me like oxygen-based breathing. How do you invest without goals? People do it all the time. But how can you effectively invest if you don't know what the money is for, who it is for, when it will be needed, and how high a priority it is?”
About Tom McCullough
Tom McCullough is Founder and Chairman of Northwood Family Office, which oversees the integrated wealth needs of ultra-high net worth families across planning, investments, governance, and family well-being. Northwood has been recognized as the #1 Family Office in Canada by the Euromoney Global Private Banking Survey, a peer-ranked industry benchmark published annually since 2004, and as the Best North American Multi-Family Office (up to $2.5 billion AUM) by the Family Wealth Report Awards. Tom heads Thought Leadership and Strategy at the Ultra High Net Worth Institute and was awarded Best Individual Contribution to Thought Leadership in the Wealth Management Industry at the 2020 Family Wealth Report Awards.
About HORAN Wealth
For over 75 years, HORAN Wealth has guided businesses, families, and investors through their financial journey, so they can live more abundantly and productively, now and for generations to come. As one of the largest independently owned advisory firms in Cincinnati, HORAN Wealth is a trusted fiduciary with a growing national footprint, overseeing nearly $4 billion in assets under advisement, with offices in Ohio, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania.
Disclosure
Securities offered through M Holdings Securities, Inc., an unaffiliated registered broker-dealer, member FINRA | SIPC. Investment advisory services offered by HORAN Wealth, LLC, registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Not FDIC Insured | No Bank Guarantee | May Lose Value
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