What happens when you grow up knowing your family is comfortable but nobody ever tells you what that actually means? And then one day in your thirties, you start learning about trusts and structures and tax implications that have been there the whole time?
Celine Fitzgerald lived that. She's a G3 family member whose dad was CEO of their family's bank when a liquidity event happened in 1994. She was eight. Everyone kind of went their own way after that, and the conversation about what it all meant just never really happened. Celine spent her twenties in New York and Milan, working in fashion and luxury retail, and it wasn't until she went back for her MBA at 31 that she stumbled into the world of family business, family office, and wealth stewardship.
In this episode, Andrea and Celine talk about what it's like to be an unprepared inheritor and the steep learning curve that comes with it. They get into the entitlement myth (spoiler: neither of them has ever met an entitled rising gen), what it looks like to bring a spouse into the family enterprise, and why communication and having grace for the leading gen might be the most important things you can practice this week.
Key takeaways from this episode:
- Being an unprepared inheritor is more common than you'd think, and the learning curve in your thirties is steep when nobody talked about it earlier
- The rising gens showing up to do this work aren't entitled. They want to be seen, heard, and given a chance to be responsible stewards
- If you don't know what's in your trust or how it impacts your life, you're allowed to ask. Frame it around education and what you're learning on your own
- Integrating a spouse into the family enterprise is deeply personal and every family does it differently, but openness early on makes everything easier
- Leading gens often don't know where to start either. Sometimes your questions actually take pressure off of them
- Have grace for the generation above you. They're doing this without a playbook too
Connect with Celine Fitzgerald
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/celine-fitzgerald-3603a18/
In Three Generations Website: https://www.inthreegenerations.com/
Connect with Andrea Carpenter and Your Next Gen Friend:
Website: https://yournextgenfriend.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yournextgenfriend/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@yournextgenfriend
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreashaver/
Subscribe to Your Next Gen Friend on your favorite podcast player:
Spotify: https://yournextgenfriend.com/open-spotify
Apple Podcasts: https://yournextgenfriend.com/apple-podcast
Podcast theme music by Transistor.fm.
