Please examine the following: //----------------------------------------------------------------------------- void TcpListener::Listen() { TcpServerSideConnection::SmartPtr newConnection = TcpServerSideConnection::Create(ioService_); TcpBaseSocket::SmartPtr ptr = shared_from_this(); TcpListener::SmartPtr me = boost::dynamic_pointer_cast<TcpListener, TcpBaseSocket>(ptr); /// Asynchronously accept one connection request when it occurs acceptor_.async_accept(newConnection->GetSocket(), boost::bind(&TcpListener::OnConnectionAccepted, me, newConnection, boost::asio::placeholders::error)); } It throws an exception, unwinds my stack and destroys my object on the assignment of shared_from_this. I forced at least one shared pointer to be created, by making factory methods from base on up the class hierarchy. I read on google that you can only use shared_from_this on ONE class type in a class hierarchy. I did not understand the details of why. following a peer's advice, I enabled_shared_from_this on the base class and attempted to cast it in the derived class methods, getting the result that I did. I am trying to use a smart pointer here, following the example code for boost::asio::ip::tcp, assuming that I want to ensure the instance of 'ths' is alive between the time of the async call and the time it completes! I do not see a way to do this when using a class hierarchy. My base classes do similar async calls and try to handle it similarlly, so I cannot enable_shared_from_this only on the most derived. As there is no guarentee that only the most derived will be instantiated. I have more than 3 classes in the inheritance hierarchy, any of which could be instantiated. TcpBase - holds the socket and a smart pointer to the io_service TcpConnection - Adds Write and Read methods TcpClientConnection - Adds Connect method TcpServerConnection - Does not have connect, but can only be instantiated by a TcpListener - Accepts connections and creates TcpServerConnections Any of these, except the very base can be instantiated. How do I work around this problem?