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.

Within the context of a family business, the words “family meeting” normally refer to scheduled gatherings of family business shareholders, their spouses, siblings and children to discuss topics that affect the family enterprise, including ownership-succession planning.

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.