What is a Family Office?
Whilst by no means the sole definition, a very useful one is provided by the Family Office Council, a membership group for single family offices, which defines a single family office (and our focus here is on those and not multi-family offices) as a private organisation that manages the investments for a single wealthy family. The assets are the family’s own wealth, often accumulated over many family generations.
In addition to investment management some family offices provide personal services such as managing household staff and making travel arrangements. Other services typically handled by the traditional family office include property management, day-to-day accounting and payroll activities, and management of legal and tax affairs. Family offices often provide family management services, which includes family governance, financial and investment education, philanthropy coordination, and succession planning.
