Ask the CEO of a Fortune 500 company to identify his or her most valuable assets and the answer would most likely be “our people”. The logic is simple: People (human assets) who are aligned with common goals and have the proper knowledge (intellectual assets) can help to generate long-term economic success (financial assets).

Suppose you asked the same CEO to relate the question to his or her family? Would you get the same answer? Even though it is critical to business success, executives and entrepreneurs tend to lose sight of the importance of human and intellectual assets when planning for the management of their family's wealth.