Running Your Family Like a Business (Without Losing the Heart)

Managing a household with school-age children can sometimes feel like running a (chaotic) small company—lots of moving parts, competing priorities, and the constant need to align on values and direction.

Economist Emily Oster, in her book The Family Firm, suggests that families borrow a page from business playbooks by creating systems that bring clarity and reduce chaos. An NPR article by Elise Hu and Janet W. Lee highlights Oster’s “Four Fs of Decision-Making”—a framework that helps families make better choices together:

1. Frame the Question – Get clear on what decision you’re actually trying to make.
2. Fact Find – Gather information, just as a business would research before committing.
3. Final Decision – Set aside time to make a choice intentionally, not on the fly.
4. Follow-Up – Revisit your decision later. Families evolve, and so should your choices.

The beauty of this approach is its balance: it brings structure to the daily juggle of parenting without losing sight of the bigger picture—your family’s values and priorities.

Read the full NPR article here.

At Princeton Global, we believe the same principles apply to financial advising: with the right systems in place, families can spend less time putting out fires and more time living aligned with their values.

Here’s to finding more balance—and a framework – that allows a family dinner to end with clarity and connection, not a hostile takeover.