What Is a Family Office?

A family office is a private wealth management advisory firm that serves ultra-high-net-worth individuals (HNWI).

Family offices are different from traditional wealth management shops in that they offer a total solution to managing the financial and investment needs of an affluent individual or family.

For example, in addition to financial planning and investment management, many family offices offer budgeting, insurance, charitable giving, wealth transfer planning, tax services, and more.

• Family offices provide a broad spectrum of private wealth management services to one or a small number of ultra-high-net-worth families.
• Besides financial services, family offices can provide various kinds of planning, charitable giving advice, concierge services, and other comprehensive services.
• An important responsibility a family office has is to educate next generations in the handling and management of their wealth.
• Single-family offices serve one individual and their family, while multi-family offices serve more than one family, and are less expensive due to economies of scale.
• The need for a family office can be determined by the extent of a family's wealth and the complexity of its life due to that wealth.

Is a Family Office Right for You?

1. Too Many “Go-To” Advisors: You receive countless emails, phone calls and communications from your trusted legal, financial and investment advisors. You’re starting to become overwhelmed.
2. Financial Chaos: You have numerous bills, file folders, stacks of paper, jammed office drawers and multiple household employees. It’s becoming a real struggle to keep track of everything. You need help with your tax payments and filings, insurance renewals and coverage assessments, capital calls and commitments and collectibles management.
3. Professional vs. Personal: You trust your employees and allow them to help manage portions of your personal life, giving them access to your finances and personal net worth, but you haven’t done anything to protect yourself against unauthorized use of this access.
4. Trustworthy Decisions: You have a number of trusts created to protect your wealth, but you’re unsure if your trustees are aware of the responsibilities and requirements needed to fulfill their fiduciary duties.
5. Family Education: As your family matures, you want your spouse and the next generation to become actively involved in learning how you manage your wealth, but you’re not sure where to begin.

We provide our clients with integrated family office services tailored to meet their needs and the needs of their families. Contact us to learn more about how we can help you simplify your life and continue to build your legacy.

Our approach to family office services

We understand that every family has a unique approach to giving that reflects their vision for a better tomorrow.

In association with specialists from the social sector, we can assist you in driving positive change across key development areas like Education, Health, Skill Development, Inclusive Development, Sports, Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene. We endeavor to support you in various facets of creating an impactful and sustainable philanthropic legacy, by:

Is a Family Office the Same as a Wealth Advisory Firm?

Not really. Wealth advisory firms can offer some of the services that a family office offers, such as portfolio management and investment management. However, wealth advisory firms typically have many different clients while a family office focuses on one (or several if it's a multi-family office). What's more, family offices offer a much larger range of services to address the complete list of wealth-related needs an ultra-high-net-worth family has.

The Bottom Line

A family office is established by ultra-high-net-worth individuals for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, a family office needs to manage and grow wealth. It also has to provide a wide variety of other services that can help a family manage the complexities and demands associated with that wealth.

While a family office may be appropriate for some extremely wealthy individuals and families, most highly affluent people should be well served by the professionals at a wealth advisory firm.