BATTLE FOR WORLD / YAHOO | September 23, 2019: Rick Stone, the head of Stone Family Office, sees treacherous times ahead for "family offices" trying to deploy cash. (FYI: Family offices are private wealth management advisory firms serving "ultra-high-net-worth" investors. They offer a total outsourced solution to managing the financial and investment side of affluent individuals or family.)

Stone said he's doubtful that the bond market will provide any real return over the next decade (approximately 2019 to 2030), and that equity markets will suffer a substantial drop and then be flat, and said too much venture capital and private equity money will continue to chase too few investment opportunities.

“It’s a very hard time for family offices (i.e. 'ultra-high-net-worth' investors) to allocate money,” according to Stone, 60 years old, whose wealth came from class-action litigation fees.

A majority (of the 'ultra-high-net-worth' investors) expect the global economy to enter a recession by 2020 [1], with the highest percentage of gloomy outlooks in emerging markets. About 42% of family offices (i.e. 'ultra-high-net-worth' investors) around the world are raising cash reserves.

([1] BattleForWorld: Yes, but the early signs of the recession will be suppressed by the Feds because they are pumping money into the markets to cool things down. All this will be convenient for Trump during his 2020 re-election campaign. And the cash reserves the elite investors are raising nothing has been said in what currency. But I will take a guess, Euro or Yuan. In 2020 an unnamed country will make a very big move in financial circles.)

“There’s more caution and fear of the public equity markets among ultra-high-net-worth investors,” according to Timothy O’Hara, who's president of the Rockefeller Global Family Office. Saying “That has more people thinking about private investments, alternative investments or cash.”

Jeffrey Gundlach, chief investment officer of DoubleLine Capital, noted that he thinks there’s a 75% chance of a recession in the U.S. before the November 2020 presidential election [2], while economists surveyed by Bloomber predicted a 35% chance in the next 12 months.

([2] BattleForWorld: No Gundlach, the economists surveyed are correct. The recession is going to be introduced at a moderate pace with a lot of economists appearing on television talking in circles.)

Family offices are now increasingly focused on a different kind of potential disruption: succession (breakaway?) planning [3]. This year 2019, 54% of those surveyed had a succession plan in place, up from 43% last year in 2018. Just one-third of global family offices, however, said they have written plans.

([3] BattleForWorld: Succession from what? The US Dollar?)

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