Family office

A family office is a private company that manages investments and trusts for a single wealthy family. The company's financial capital is the family's own wealth, often accumulated over many family generations. Traditional 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 affairs. Family offices often provide family management services, which includes family governance, financial and investment education, philanthropy coordination, and succession planning.Beyer, Charlotte B., "Family Offices in America - Why the Bloom is off the Rose", The Journal of Private Portfolio Management, Fall 1999 A family office can cost over $1 million to operate, so the family's net worth usually exceeds $100 million. Recently, some family offices have accepted non-family members.

More recently the term "family office" or multi family office is used to refer primarily to financial services for relatively wealthy families.

Traditional and modern usage

A traditional family office is a business run by and for a single family. Its sole function is to centralize the management of a significant family fortune. Typically, these organizations employ staff to...
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