More Than Money

CHAPTER 2Wealth Is More Than Money

In the introduction to his transformational guidebook Family Wealth: Keeping It in the Family, James Hughes mentions that a family's wealth “consists primarily of its human capital (defined as all the individuals who make up the family) and its intellectual capital (defined as everything each individual family member knows), and secondarily of its financial capital.”¹ Later in the book, he mentions a fourth type of capital: social capital, which I define as the networks of people of means who use their wealth and influence for the benefit of society.

If, in fact, human, intellectual, and social capital make up 75 percent of a family's actual wealth, giving 90 percent of the family's and advisors' attention ...