WE Family Offices CEO Mel Lagomasino Featured in Real Assets Adviser Magazine

WE Family Offices CEO Mel Lagomasino was recently profiled in the February edition of Real Assets Adviser magazine where she shared the founding vision of WE, how her background shapes her outlook and the common mistakes she has seen families make over the years.

In the interview, Lagomasino describes how her family left Cuba and what it taught her: flexibility, adaptability, problem solving, and planning for an unknown future – all values that easily translate to the wealth management industry. It’s also these values that ultimately led her to found WE Family Offices.

“What sets WE apart from other wealth managers is its flexibility and its conflict-free platform,” she explains. Along with providing flexibility and independent advice, Lagomasino described how she and her colleagues at WE also provide a unique perspective: treating family wealth like a business. “The families that are most successful in sustaining their wealth on a multigenerational basis organize and manage their wealth like a business enterprise,” she shares. “It is a model they are familiar with, but many do not think to apply it to their personal wealth.”

While applying business principles to a family’s wealth enterprise® has led to longevity for many families, Lagomasino also shared the common mistakes families make. Of the mistakes, she describes the most common as:

  • Concentrating wealth in a single enterprise or asset
  • Overleveraging
  • Overspending
  • Family disagreements

She notes in her interview that “running the wealth enterprise® like a company rather than like a family provides the stability needed in times of emotional upheaval.”

At the conclusion of her interview, instead of looking back, Lagomasino focused on the future and shared her optimism about the industry’s direction, from advances in technology, to increases in transparency to the introduction of the fiduciary rule.

“The more that happens, the better it will be,” says Lagomasino.

The full article with Real Assets Advisor is available here, and the audio of her conversation with Real Assets Advisor’s managing editor is available here.