Family offices may take on a variety of roles in service to the family, so it is essential that there is a strategy that helps frame the office’s purpose and an overarching plan to help align and execute against diverse interests. The panel will cover three key areas during this session: 1) Share critical questions to ask and answer when designing or refining a family office’s purpose, 2) Provide examples and stories of how family offices evolved and progressed and, 3) Explore the latest findings from FOX’s Family Office 2023 Study for a fresh look at the state of the family office.
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Welcome to the 2023 Family Forum.Peter Moustakerski, CEO, FOX
Over the past 30 years, families have worked hard and invested enormous resources to create the plans and structures that promise to carry the family into the future and ensure its long-term success. The vast majority of these investments have focused on the quantitative disciplines that serve the family’s financial capital – the collective disciplines that today we call “wealth management”.
FOX has identified the cultivation of Human Capital as a key element of multi-generational success for business-owning families and other Family Offices that are focused on continuity, succession, and continual growth of family assets. The Frisbie Group in Palm Beach was originally founded by three brothers investing in a single rental property in Boston, Massachusetts while in college. It has since grown to involve nearly a dozen family members working side by side with external employees to focus on transformational residential and community development projects.
When a young inheritor announces that they have met “the one,” the wheels of the wealthadvising industry whir into motion, with families and advisors discussing prenups, onboarding, and whether to include the new partner in family wealth discussions. But amid all of this, there is a young couple in love. How do we nurture this new union and foster relationships across the family instead of getting caught up in transactional work? What best practices should we reexamine in order to truly serve the well-being of all family members and allow space for couple-defined individuation?
Families with significant resources are increasingly turning to formalized family offices to creatively deploy and manage their capital. As leaders of family-owned businesses look to unlock generational wealth stemming from a liquidity event, they might wonder whether a family office is the right next step—and if so, how such an office might work in practice.
People are critical to a family office’s long-term success. However, recruiting top talent continues to be a great challenge when there’s a shortage of top talent in a tight labor market. Compounding the problem, many family offices lack robust training and development plans to prepare next-generation family members and existing employees to step into key roles. As capability needs evolve, updating role descriptions for employee recruitment is key. Intentional skill development, career pathing, and creative compensation can help retain top talent.
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.
Effective tax and wealth planning can be a challenge, especially when there is a possible recession, elevated inflation, rising interest rates, and geopolitical strife. With this guide, you have the planning information and resources to help you make the right moves to plan for your family’s future and manage your wealth. In addition to insights on a myriad of tax issues and policies, this guide also covers topics related to setting up and maintaining a family office, charitable giving, crossing U.S.
As family offices turn their attention toward achieving operational excellence, they are facing tremendous challenges and opportunities to maximize efficiency and productivity across the enterprise amid constant change and uncertainty. As shown in this report by RSM, it’s the technology and talent considerations that rank as a top concern for many family offices. Additional feedback and key insights on it are provided from more than 500 family office executives, family members, and their advisors.