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A family office may generally be described as an organization that engages in substantial, active management, oversight, and monitoring of a family’s business, investment, and personal assets in a purposeful, prudent, and business-like manner. As seen from the well-run family offices, there are many positive outcomes when families make an intentional effort to manage their family assets and activities like a business.

For the wealth owners—and the family offices managing their assets—the opportunities that impact investing presents are arguably greater than for any other type of investor. While impact investing is a natural fit for family offices, most are still working out where to start—mulling over issues like how to source deals and measure impacts. In order to help them in this quest, we have captured the questions that family offices ask most frequently about impact investing and provided responses to create a thorough and accessible how-to guide on impact investing for family offices.

Real estate as an asset class requires constant attention to ever-changing variables. Implementing a defined, analytical, yet flexible asset management process within your family office’s direct investment function is critical to ensure your portfolio is positioned to meet intended goals.

The Family Office 5.0 model is changing how advisors deliver services. Strategic partnerships can help family office service providers better focus on delivering core value-added offerings. A roadmap toward that goal will help you meet the evolving needs of family offices and provide best-in-class services.

As families grow their investment function, the Chief Investment Officer (CIO) must provide insight and flexibility to serve varied and changing investment platforms. While much of the CIO’s role is focused on investments and the investment decision-making process, many CIO responsibilities aren’t investment-centric and will impact the long-term success of the investment strategy—and therefore the long-term success of the family office as it continually evolves to meet its mission, goals, and objectives.

As noted in The New Family Office 5.0 Model, a rising number of family offices are allocating resources to direct investments, including building an in-house direct investment function to gain greater control, better diversification, increased flexibility, and income and estate tax benefits.

Selecting the right investment vehicle often receives less attention than the other more known investment principles such as the value of diversification. Broadly speaking, investors can access four types of investment vehicles—including separately managed accounts—to avert making a wrong decision that can saddle a family with unexpected taxes, increased costs, or limited flexibility.

In today’s investment environment, family offices require full investment capabilities to achieve the returns required by wealth owners. As there are many non-investment activities happening in a family office setting, the build or outsource approach to investment resourcing should include saving on both the costs and time associated with running an in-house investment company. Other key points should also be considered.