The 10 Decisions That Matter

Investing in 2026 requires more than good ideas or access to opportunities. It demands structure, clear rules, and the ability to make sound decisions when conditions become more complex. In an environment of positive real rates, greater dispersion across assets, and more frequent episodes of volatility, the main risk is no longer the market itself, but forced decisions.

There are ten decisions grounded in a shared conviction: long-term returns depend less on correctly predicting scenarios and more on avoiding structural mistakes, preserving optionality, and maintaining discipline under pressure.

This means, among other things, explicitly separating capital by time horizon, preparing the portfolio for dislocations — not consensus — and allocating capital according to its true function (growth, income, protection, or optionality), rather than traditional labels. It also involves simplifying portfolios to improve decision quality and recognizing that, as capital once again has a cost, cash flow generation, balance sheet strength, and liability management are just as important as asset selection.

In this new regime, equities once again become a central engine of growth — but only when supported by real earnings and shareholder returns. Private markets, meanwhile, must be managed as an ongoing program, with careful oversight of pacing, liquidity, and vintage concentration risk. Artificial Intelligence moves beyond narrative to become a tangible source of monetization and productivity, both in investments and in decision-making itself. And diversification, in a multipolar world, requires going beyond the number of holdings to explicitly address country risk and the family balance sheet’s home bias.

Taken together, these decisions are not about optimizing returns for a single year, but about building a wealth architecture capable of navigating adverse cycles without losing coherence or freedom of action. For large families, the true differentiator in 2026 is governance: simple rules, agreed upon in calm times, that enable sound decisions when certainty disappears.

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