University of Chicago course meant to help wealthy manage family legacies. Wealth holders can get a better sense of the intricacies of wealth management in four-day course offered through the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business.

The "executive education" program "Private Wealth Management for High-Net-Worth Individuals and Families," which runs 22 September through 25 September 2008, is meant to "help wealth owners grow and protect their financial capital while reinforcing personal values that support flourishing families," according to a press release.

"Managing wealth effectively is every bit as hard as creating it in the first place," says program co-director Stuart Lucas. "Now that they've made it, what do people want to accomplish with their wealth? It's a question not enough people ask."

Lucas is chairman of the Wealth Strategist Network, a Chicago-based consultancy to wealthy families, author of a hands-on wealth-management guide called Wealth, and a steward of his family's fourth-generation fortune.

Total class

The four-day "Private Wealth Management" program is designed to equip participants with the tools and techniques necessary for building and executing successful wealth management plans. Combining lectures, case studies and breakout groups, it integrates sessions on investing, cash-flow management, advisor selection, family governance, philanthropy and entrepreneurial stewardship.

John Heaton, a University of Chicago finance professor who will lecture "Private Wealth Management" participants on traditional and alternative investing, says the typical course taker "has a substantial net worth and has had -- or is contemplating -- a 'liquidity event,' whether through the sale of a company, inheritance, or other major wealth transition."

The program's other co-director is Steven Kaplan, a professor of entrepreneurship and finance at the University of Chicago's business school. He says that effective wealth management hinges on "the integrated and effective management of all these components."

Bill Brewer, CEO of Chicago-based precision-parts maker Cornell Forge, attended an earlier version of this course.

"It's rare to have access to this quality of participants, academics and professionals," says Brewer. "[It was a] great experience, not solely [because of the] program content, but the total class." -FWR

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