68 SEPTEMBER 2019 | TOWNANDCOUNTRYMAG.COM
GETTY^IMAGES(MURDOCHS);^HBO^(SUCCESSION^STILLS)OUT&ABOUT
The Dynastic Shrink IS IN
Billionaires are bringing their whole families in for counseling.
The doc is gonna need a bigger couch. BY BEN WIDDICOMBE
“H
ow sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is
to have a thankless child,” King Lear
laments as he frets over dividing his
realm among his feuding daughters.
In what may be his only point of con-
nection to Shakespeare, Rupert Murdoch can
relate. More than 400 years after the
Bard set those words to parchment,
the 88-year-old media mogul found
himself facing the same quandary.
But rather than resorting to
civil war, Murdoch availed him-
self of a 21st-century solution to
the problem: specialized counsel-
ing for dynasties. According to
the New York Times, the patriarch
organized family therapy sessions
in both London and Australia.
(HBO’s Succession also drama-
tized the powwows.)
The revelation of these con-
fabs shines a light on a new
breed of experts who set-
tle conflicts, smooth genera-
tional transitions, and plan the
future for ultrawealthy clans.
“There are probably fewer
than 100 of us in the world,”
says Jamie Traeger-Muney,
founder of the Wealth Leg-
acy Group, who urges bicker-
ing relatives to be transparent.
That way, she says, “nobody is
surprised by a gift”—her term
of art for an inheritance.
Traeger-Muney’s services
range from one-on-one talk
therapy, which can cost only
a few thousand dollars, to
carefully structured family
meetings—typically two-day
sessions every three months—
held over several years. These can include
problem-solving activities familiar to those
who have been on corporate retreats, like
throwing a ball within a small group.
“The majority of the time is spent help-
ing them develop their wealth philosophy
values,” she says, recalling one client’s six-
year-old child, who called her to complain
that his father wouldn’t let him spend his $16
allowance on sea monkeys. “The dad thoughtPAUL KARGER
Co-founder of the
wealth management
firm TwinFocus, which
has offices in Boston and
London, he specializes
in so-called “troubled
assets.” 617-720-4500,
+44-0-20-7789-0900,
TWINFOCUSCAPITAL.COMPOWER THERAPIST DIRECTORY
When billion-heirs start brawling, it’s time to call in the experts.
PATRICIA ANGUS
An adjunct professor
at Columbia University,
the New York-based
Angus founded a
group of global experts
who advise families
with international
interests. 917-699-2142,
ANGUSADVISORYGROUP.COMJAMIE
TRAEGER-MUNEY
A “wealth
psychologist” with
consultants who travel
the world, she focuses
on the emotional
impact of inheritance.
510-406-7178,
WEALTHLEGACYGROUP.NETit would be a waste,” she says. When the sea
monkeys were a disappointment, the family
enjoyed a teachable moment.
Traeger-Muney attends sessions with bil-
lionaire clients all over the world, “some of
whom are household names” (though she
declines to name them). Other families reach
out to wealth advisers like Patricia Angus, who
founded the New York–based Angus Advisory
Group to help multigenerational businesses.“There’s a misperception that life is easy
for a member of a family that has such
great holdings,” she says. In fact, the last
20 years have seen dozens of intrafam-
ily squabbles.
The four Koch brothers, heirs to
an oil fortune worth more than
$100 billion, spent more than a
decade in litigation that set twin
against twin.
Viacom mogul Sumner
Redstone, 96, was sued by
his son, who won a reported
$240 million settlement. But
his fiercest battle has been with
his daughter Shari, who appears
to have wrested control of the
empire from him.
And Canada is transfixed
by the spectacle of the billion-
aire Stronach clan, in which
Belinda Stronach, the presi-
dent and chair of the family
business, is being sued by
both her father and brother.
And the Murdochs?
As of last year, Rupert
had amassed a global empire
valued in the 12-figure range,
with a personal net worth
of around $20 billion. But
with six children from three
marriages, exactly who will
inherit what is far from clear.
In the end, control of
the Murdoch empire came
down to a contest between
his two sons, Lachlan, 47,
and James, 46, who have
vastly different visions. After
family counseling, Lachlan
was handed the reins, every-
one got a huge payout (funded by a $71.3 bil-
lion deal to sell 21st Century Fox to Walt
Disney Studios), and James went off into the
wilderness, muttering.
“Are the rich really different from you and
me?” Angus asks, presumably rhetorically.
“The issues they’re facing have more com-
plexity legally, financially, and often emotion-
ally, but they’re not so far off that the families
interact differently from everybody else.” Clockwise from top
left: Succession’s
Kendall, Logan, and
Roman Roy; real life’s
Lachlan, Rupert, and
James Murdoch