In recent years, Canada has seen a population boom amongst its wealthiest residents that shows no signs of slowing. The 2026 edition of Knight Frank’s Wealth Report predicts that the number of Canadians worth more than US$30 million will rise from 12,920 to 16,796—30 per cent growth—by 2031.
Yet Canada has been slower than some other countries in developing educational supports for this highly specific group. Tamarind Learning Canada is a new addition to the slowly growing roster of educational programs designed for beneficiaries, family members, trustees and advisors who need to better understand trusts, governance, stewardship, estate and tax co-ordination, philanthropy, investing, and the practical realities of interacting with family office structures.
Programs for wealthy families tend to focus on family enterprise. Tamarind’s offerings fill some of the gaps between business education and the practical mechanics of wealth ownership within complex family systems—material that’s seldom addressed in the context of the typical MBA program.
One of the goals of Tamarind is to create a shared vocabulary across family, regardless of their role.
Torri Hawley
Tamarind was launched in 2020 by global family office advisor Kirby Rosplock, author of The Complete Family Office Handbook, who perceived through her advisory work that while clients who were part of operating businesses could choose from a range educational options, that was not the case for inheritors of wealth.
That left some families trying to navigate important decisions without a thorough understanding of the issues, and “there was actually a lot of conflict in families between business partners and non-involved families,” says Torri Hawley, the chief learning officer for Tamarind Learning U.S., who is based in Philadelphia. “One of the goals of Tamarind is to create a shared vocabulary across family, regardless of their role.”
In addition, Hawley says, most existing learning management software was not designed for the security needs or the user expectations of ultra-high-net-worth families, so Tamarind is configured not only as a curriculum-development and learning company, but also as a tech firm.
Cindy Radu, based in Calgary, is the chief learning officer for Tamarind Learning Canada. She was working with wealthy families in Canada when she “stumbled upon” a LinkedIn webinar by Rosplock and contacted her to discuss how she could use Tamarind’s content—then based in an American ecosystem—to suit her clients’ needs. When Rosplock learned about Radu’s wide range of experience as a chartered accountant, a tax and trust lawyer, in family offices and in banking, she engaged Radu to “Canadianize” the material.
“It was really important that we have access to relevant education for the Canadian marketplace. Obviously, our tax market is very different,” says Radu. “And I really wanted to make sure that these complicated concepts are broken down to their fundamentals so you can feel empowered and not afraid of asking questions and owning your rights as a beneficiary.”
Tamarind’s course offerings are available as a series of online modules. They’re not intended to replace the guidance of an advisor; in fact, most learners are referred through their own advisory network. Learners progress through the modules at their own rate. Individuals can enrol alone, or they can work together with family members. If they like, they can arrange for their own advisor to moderate the sessions.
Courses are multimodal, meaning that learners can opt for text or audio segments, augmented by workbooks. They can highlight key sections or share them with their advisors. Tamarind has a proprietary designation, the Accredited Beneficiary Stewardship Designation (ABS), and learners who enrol in the full program progress though the material in a specific order.
“Our first course is stewardship, and then beneficiary fundamentals, and then trustee basics,” says Hawley. “Interestingly, many families want to start with financial literacy, because it’s concrete, but I ask them to start with stewardship and beneficiary fundamentals. Why would we talk abut the balance sheet when we haven’t talked about what it means to be a beneficiary first?
“When they follow the flow we recommend, it helps with the concern that a lot of leading-gen parents have: they’re concerned about entitlement,” she adds. “If we can talk about characteristics of inheritors, what it means to steward wealth and what wealth fractionalization looks like in a growing family, we can orient our financial literacy around family values in a meaningful conversation.”
There are other options besides the full ABS program. Single courses can be purchased one by one or through a monthly subscription, and new modules continue to be developed. (Among the most recent are “Purposeful Prenups” and content about philanthropy is planned.) Course materials are refreshed annually to reflect new conditions, such as changes in tax regulation.
Tamarind makes its course on stewardship available free of charge. In addition, the Tamarind website hosts a monthly educational podcast that features top industry experts from across Canada and the U.S., also free.
“No one pays to be on Tamarind Learning,” says Hawley. “We don’t have sponsors and no one pays us to submit their materials to us, so that allows us to really be an educational resource. We try to be neutral and provide multiple perspectives.”
Tamarind is headquartered in Florida but offers courses worldwide. Cross-border families can combine the Canadian and U.S. versions of the material. The company also has partnerships with some family offices in the Caribbean and the U.K. (Hawley notes that one Spanish-speaking learner is currently using AI to translate the courses in real time.)
“Kirby and I both come from enterprising families and both worked in the wealth management industry,” Hawley says. “I come from a seventh-generation family business now in our 151st year. I really wanted to help other families navigate the wealth challenges that I had seen with myself and my cousins. Kirby’s family had a liquidity event in the early 2000s, so she had firsthand experience of that before she became a family-office consultant,” she adds.
“Education will not solve everything for families, but it can help them. Suddenly, [for example,] you have someone who was going to sue their trustee who now understands trusteeship. This education is not just in isolation—it truly can salvage families from stressful situations.”
Sarah B. Hood is a Toronto-based writer and book author. She has served as editor of three national magazines and written weekly columns for the National Post. She also serves on the editorial board of Spacing magazine. She writes frequently on business, urban affairs and culture. As a food writer, her work has been translated into Japanese and Arabic. She has taught writing at George Brown College for more than 20 years.
The Canadian Family Offices newsletter comes out on Sundays and Wednesdays. If you are interested in stories about Canadian enterprising families, family offices and the professionals who work with them, you can sign up for our free newsletter here.
Please visit here to see information about our standards of journalistic excellence.