Peggy Eddy, CFP, is President of San Diego-based Creative Capital Management Inc., a fee-only wealth management and financial planning firm. She and her husband/business partner, Bob, have been in practice 27 years serving entrepreneurs, many of whom are family business owners. In 1992, Peg co-founded the Family Business Forum at the University of San Diego.

Contrary to Oscar Wilde’s thinking — that "Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life" — the critically acclaimed PBS program “Downton Abbey” does imitate real life in its snapshot of the opportunities and threats that business families face.

The classic image of a happy family gathered together in a Norman Rockwell painting is well known. Unfortunately, this kind of happy scene isn’t always replicated among family members who work together in a family owned enterprise.

Since 1993, U.S. Trust has periodically surveyed high net worth individuals in the United States. Their latest survey, the U.S. Trust 2012 Insights on Wealth and Worth, interviewed 642 high net worth people nationwide.