Money—it’s so much more than just numbers in the red or black. But what if the real power of money lies in the yellow zone: how it’s used? This blog explores the idea that money is most meaningful when it serves as a tool for purpose, value, and change.

To break the cycle of "Shirt Sleeves to Shirt Sleeves" in three generations, as discussed in a previous blog, family businesses and those wanting to pass along wealth must stop the current way of managing money.  A 70% failure rate in a successful transfer of wealth is not good odds.  Financial planning should not begin with wealth advisors but with a family bank structure.

Significant changes happened over the years with the customer-bank relationships. The initial banking system developed by Alexander Hamilton had the purpose of paying for the Revolutionary war. By 1836, however, banks were motivated to get people’s money out of their mattress and introduced their version of a checking account. Although this system was proven to be a disaster with various “runs” on the bank over the years, it was the banks risky behavior leading to the crash of 1929 that cemented the mistrust of financial institutions. Once the government issued the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation), the consumer slowly became more confident in using banks to safeguard their money. Today with a declining 60% of their current patrons depending on banks as a primary financial institution, banks need to enhance customer understanding, innovate the customer experience and to build customer trust to keep competitive in today’s market.