Single Family Offices: The Art of Effective Wealth Management

Abstract

Single family offices (SFOs) are professional organizations dedicated to managing family wealth and family matters. Despite the substantial and growing importance of SFOs, however, there is little systematic knowledge of how they are structured and what services they deliver to families. Because SFOs typically focus on the private affairs of one family, there is little comparative information available about the range of SFO types and the key differentiators among the variety of SFOs existing today. This chapter begins to fill this gap by presenting the results of an international pilot study based on over 40 personal interviews and 138 follow-up surveys with the heads of SFOs managing US $100m or more in investable assets across the United States, Europe and Asia. The project reveals several learning points on how to run an SFO effectively across continents and generations.