Family Wealth and Legacy

Running a successful business can be tough.  Raising and developing a strong family system is no easy task.  Serving those families that attempt to do both is why we exist.  Generational succession plans, family conflict, and the need for the business to grow are a just a few of the reasons why families rely on Family Wealth & Legacy, LLC. to help them tackle what sometimes feels next to impossible. 

At the end of the day, we have found two guiding principles to be our cornerstone:

     1. Work to ensure that the family can always sit down at the Thanksgiving dinner table together.

     2. Work to ensure that all forms of the family's wealth (people, the business and assets) are being utilized in the most effective and efficient manner possible. 

Using our unique tools and processes, we help families take the guess work out of the questions that are centered around Your Family, Your Business and Your Legacy.

Family Wealth Advisor

Syracuse Area Chamber of Commerce - Family Business Group

Brought together members of Family-Owned businesses for peer discussion groups, support and seminars.  The focus of discussion was family business.  Topics included family wealth, estate planning, retirement planning, family dynamics and non-family employees.

Chairperson

Xerographic Solutions

Utilized a consultative process to help small to mid-sized closely held and family owned businesses with their copying and printing requirements.

V.P. Sales and Marketing

Hello there! I'm Michael Palumbos, a Certified Metronomics Business Coach with a passion for helping businesses grow and thrive. I believe that the key to a successful business lies in effective team development, strategic planning, and a culture of accountability.
Throughout my career, I've seen firsthand how the stages of team development can transform a group of individuals into a high-performing team. I've helped businesses navigate these stages, fostering a culture of collaboration, mutual respect, and shared goals.
But a great team isn't enough. You also need a clear, actionable strategy. That's where my expertise in strategic planning comes in. I help businesses map out their path to success, breaking down complex goals into manageable steps.
And let's not forget about accountability. I'm a firm believer in the power of scoreboards and scorecards to drive performance. By making progress visible, these tools motivate teams, foster healthy competition, and ensure everyone is working towards the same objectives.
I've had the privilege of working with a variety of businesses, from family-owned companies to global corporations. One of my most rewarding experiences was helping a 65 year old family-owned business quadruple their revenue and successfully transition the enterprise to the third generation.
Whether you're a business owner looking to scale, or a leadership team wanting to improve performance, I'm here to guide you. Let's work together to build your dream team, develop a winning strategy, and create a culture of accountability.
Ready to take your business to the next level? Let's connect!

If this sounds attractive to you - feel free to call us to schedule a complimentary consultation.

Also, you can find our podcast - The Family Biz Show - on yourfavorite podcast platform: it features families like yours sharing their journey. It also features some of the world's top thought-leaders and coaches that have been working with family businesses for decades.

Go to: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-family-biz-show/id1529751588

Connect with us today.

Securities and investment advisory services offered through Osaic FA, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC.  Osaic FA is separately owned and other entities and/or marketing names, products or services referenced here are independent of Osaic FA.  CA Insurance License #0H56023

Some days you look around the leadership table and think…
 “When did I become the only one who cares if the ball gets dropped?”

I didn’t build this business by shrugging my shoulders.
 I didn’t build it by hoping somebody followed through.
 And I definitely didn’t build it to babysit grown adults.

But somewhere along the way…
 the standards slipped.
 The clarity faded.
 And people started waiting for me to be the bad guy again.

This isn’t a “people problem.”
 It’s an accountability drift problem.
 And drift always starts quietly — until it’s costing us real money, real time, and real trust.

A self-operating business doesn’t happen by accident.
 It happens when accountability becomes cultural, not personal.

👉 Want to see where accountability drift is already forming inside your family enterprise?
 Start with your Flywheel Snapshot™ — your early-warning system for Business, Wealth, and Family friction.

Link in comments.

#familybusiness #leadership #accountability #familyenterprise #successionplanning #flywheelsnapshot

Michael Palumbos ChFC, CBEC

Babysitting Isn’t Leadership

Founder, Family Business Family Office™ | You’ve Built Something Worth Protecting. We Help You Endure.

The Cost of Being the Peacemaker

In many families, one person naturally becomes the stabilizer — the peacekeeper. In a #familybusiness, that role becomes twice as heavy. 

You’re the mediator, the counselor, the translator, and the emotional buffer. You keep people aligned. You soften the edges. You prevent blowups before they start.

But there’s a cost the peacemaker pays that no one sees. You carry the emotional weight of everyone else’s conflicts. You absorb tension. You spend energy holding the family together while trying to run a business at the same time. Eventually, your own needs get buried beneath everyone else’s expectations.

And while the business benefits from your emotional labor, it also becomes dependent on it. That’s unsustainable — and incredibly draining.

If you’ve been the glue for too long, it’s normal to feel tired. Holding everything together takes more out of you than you realize.

Want to learn more? Link in the comments.

#familybusiness #conflictmanagement #familyenterprise #businessleaders #emotionalintelligence #familydynamics #founderslife #businessowners

Family business leaders don’t get to “leave work at work.” The business follows you home. Into family dinners. Vacations. Holidays. Even moments meant for rest. 

A single unresolved issue at the office can turn into a quiet tension at the table that everyone feels but no one names.

Most leaders don’t want to bring stress home — but that stress crosses the threshold anyway. And when harmony at home is disrupted by workplace conflict, the emotional cost is higher than most people realize.

This isn’t about poor boundaries. It’s about the nature of family business. The lines are blurry. The roles overlap. And sometimes, the business becomes the third presence in every room, even when no one mentions it.

If you’re noticing that work tension is becoming family tension, that’s a signal something deeper is happening. Not a failure — a warning.

Take the Flywheel Snapshot to see whether blurred work-family boundaries may be creating hidden pressures inside your leadership. 

Link in the comments. 🔗 

#familybusiness #worklifebalance #familyenterprise #leadershipstress #businessfamilydynamics #founderslife #businessowners #familyrelationships

There’s a moment every founder remembers— the day they realize the business isn’t waiting on the market… it’s waiting on them.

A leader pulled me aside recently and said,
 “I have a talented team. But somehow everything still ends up back in my lap.”

That’s the founder bottleneck. Quiet. Persistent. Exhausting.

It shows up as:
 • Meetings you don’t need to be in
 • Decisions only you can make
 • Rising-gen leaders who never fully step in
 • A company that grows… but only as fast as you can respond

Here’s the truth families rarely hear:
 The bottleneck isn’t a failure — it’s a signal.
 A sign the company has outgrown “founder-driven” and needs to become “system-driven.”

That shift is the first lever of the #FamilyBusinessFlywheel™ — the Self-Operating Business.

If you’re feeling this pressure, you’re not broken. You’re just at the next stage of growth.

Want to see where this pattern is forming inside your family enterprise?
 
Start with your Flywheel Snapshot™ — your early-warning system for Business, Wealth, and Family friction.

👉 Link in comments.

#Founders #FamilyBusiness #Leadership #SuccessionPlanning #SecondGen #FamilyEnterprise #FlywheelSnapshot

Many family businesses grow because the leader is involved in everything. 

The calls. The decisions. The relationships. The crises. The strategy. The firefighting. It’s heroic — and it works for a while.

Then one day, it stops working. Suddenly growth stalls. Teams wait for you. Key decisions bottleneck. You feel constantly stretched thin. And the business that once energized you now feels heavy, not because it’s failing, but because it’s depending on you more than ever.

This isn’t incompetence. It’s the natural consequence of a business that hasn’t learned to scale beyond the founder or next-generation leader. 

And deep down, you know it: your involvement is both the engine and the ceiling.

If you’ve been feeling like the business can’t move without you, it’s not your imagination, it’s a structural warning sign.

Take the Flywheel Snapshot to start. Link in the comments.

#familybusiness #leadershipdevelopment #scalingbusiness #familyenterprise #founderslife #businessgrowthproblems #leadershipcapacity #businessowners

“Do I Really Have to Say This Again?”

CEO’s often catch themselves repeating the same expectations over and over… and every time they do, a little part of them thinks:
“Is it me? Or is no one listening?”

The truth?
 Repeating yourself is not a failure of communication. It’s a failure of accountability.

When expectations aren’t upheld…
 When follow-through isn’t real…
 When consequences don’t exist…
 You end up running the same lap endlessly.

Founders don’t burn out from work.
 They burn out from carrying instead of leading.

Accountability drift pulls you back into the weeds,
 right when you should be in strategy, culture, and leadership.
 
That’s the heart of a Self-Operating Business.

👉 If you’re tired of repeating yourself,
 your Flywheel Snapshot™ will show you exactly why. 

Link in comments.👇

#familybusiness #ceotruths #businessclarity #accountabilityculture #successionplanning #flywheelsnapshot

The Quiet Risk Most Family Businesses Underestimate.

Most family businesses don’t fail because of bad markets or weak products.
They fail quietly because important conversations keep getting postponed.

Succession gets delayed.
Decision rights stay unclear.
Expectations are assumed instead of named.

On the surface, everything feels “fine.”
There’s no urgency to address what’s underneath.

But silence doesn’t create stability.
It creates ambiguity.

And ambiguity is where tension grows slowly, invisibly, until one moment exposes how much was never defined.

Many owners sense that something needs to be addressed but hesitate to disrupt harmony or open uncomfortable conversations. That instinct is understandable.

Over time, though, avoidance becomes a risk in itself.

Strong family enterprises don’t rely on everyone being patient forever.
They build clarity early around roles, authority, and the future, so relationships don’t have to carry the strain.

The question isn’t whether these conversations will happen.

It’s whether they happen by design or by crisis.

#FamilyBusiness #FamilyEnterprise #LeadershipClarity #SuccessionPlanning #Governance #Legacy

Market uncertainty often starts locally — but its impact can travel globally.

This Market Update from #LadenburgThalmann Asset Management examined how political instability and policy disruption in Venezuela created ripple effects across markets.

Using #ChaosinCaracas as a case study, it highlights why disciplined strategy, risk awareness, and long-term perspective matter most when conditions feel unpredictable.

If you want insight into how global events can influence markets and portfolio decisions, this is a timely and valuable read.

📄 Read the full Market Update. Link in the comments. 

#MarketUpdate #GlobalMarkets #RiskManagement #WealthStrategy #LongTermPlanning

“Why Am I the Only One Losing Sleep?”

Everyone else seems to sleep fine.
 But at 2:17am, I’m wide awake thinking:
“Why am I the only one who feels the urgency?”

Projects stall.
 Promises stretch.
 “Next week” becomes “next quarter.”
 And I’m left wondering if I’m the crazy one…
 or the only one still paying attention.

Accountability drift doesn’t show up as a blowout.
 It shows up as a slow leak.
 A missed deadline here.
 A soft excuse there.
 A standard lowered “just this once.”

This is how CEOs end up doing non-CEO work.
 This is how founders become bottlenecks.
 This is how family businesses plateau at $10M… $25M… $50M.

There’s nothing wrong with you.
 The system is just showing you its weak spots.

👉 Want clarity on those weak spots? Take your Flywheel Snapshot™. Link in comments.

#familybusiness #founderlife #ceostress #leadershipteam #businesssystems #flywheelsnapshot

Silent Bottleneck

This is a painful truth most family business leaders never voice.

 You love your family.
 You’re proud of them.
 But sometimes… the roles they’re in aren’t the right roles.

And saying that out loud feels like betrayal.
So instead, the business absorbs the cost, slower decisions, reduced accountability, blurred expectations, and quiet frustration that no one wants to acknowledge. 

Loyalty is powerful. But when loyalty overrides performance, pressure builds under the surface.

Leaders often feel trapped between what’s best for the business and what feels safe for the family. And that tension doesn’t disappear. It accumulates, emotionally and operationally.

If you’ve felt torn between keeping the peace and running the business well, you’re not alone. Almost every family leader experiences this crossroads.

#familybusiness #familyenterprise #leadershipconflict #roleclarity #businessperformance #familytension #businessowners #organizationdynamics

As Q4 came to an end, markets delivered a strong reminder of the value of staying disciplined through uncertainty. Despite ongoing policy questions and periodic volatility, U.S. equities were supported by resilient earnings and improving market breadth beyond just a handful of large-cap names. 

International equities also contributed positively, helped by more attractive valuations, while fixed income provided meaningful support as yields remained elevated.

Periods like this reinforce an important lesson for investors: successful outcomes are rarely driven by perfectly timed decisions, but by maintaining diversification, managing risk thoughtfully, and keeping a long-term perspective. While headlines will continue to change, fundamentals and patience remain powerful allies.

👉 Read the full Q4 Market Update here: https://lnkd.in/eRJwQdfF

#MarketUpdate #Q4Markets #LongTermInvesting #Diversification #WealthManagement

taplio

Michael Palumbos ChFC, CBEC's Linkedin Analytics

Michael Palumbos ChFC, CBEC

Performance ScoreMichael Palumbos ChFC, CBEC's LinkedIn Performance

Michael Palumbos ChFC, CBEC's Best Posts (last 30 days)

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

.css-6ytdur{background-image:linear-gradient(284deg, rgba(39, 43, 72, 1) 0%, rgba(33, 47, 183, 1) 100%);color:transparent;-webkit-background-clip:text;background-clip:text;}Michael Palumbos ChFC, CBEC's Linkedin Analytics

Michael Palumbos ChFC, CBEC

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Michael Palumbos ChFC, CBEC's LinkedIn Performance

Michael Palumbos ChFC, CBEC's Best Posts .css-1emoo84{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:400;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);}(last 30 days)

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Michael Palumbos ChFC, CBEC's Linkedin Analytics

Performance ScoreMichael Palumbos ChFC, CBEC's LinkedIn Performance

Michael Palumbos ChFC, CBEC's Best Posts (last 30 days)