We are in a period of extraordinary wealth creation and accumulation that is driving the need for more family offices and expanding the breadth and depth of services that support the important work and collective well-being of the family. It's about the sustainability of the family office and preparing it for the long run. With the future of the fa...
As a subset of estate planning, asset protection is an important part of a family office’s risk management strategy. In this video, Chris Mays and Craig Redler discuss various strategies for asset protection, particularly for individuals and businesses facing potential legal claims and financial risks. They explore different structures such as trus...
In this 10-minute interview, attorney Bryan House of Foley & Lardner joins Brian Lucareli to discuss the SEC enforcement for family offices. During the interview, Bryan explained who is subject to the Investment Advisers Act, and provided a real-life example of the SEC getting involved with a family office.
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 intention...
From one family office to another, the ‘top spot’ or Family Office Leader will go by different titles that include Head of Family Office, Managing Director, and Chief Executive Officer. And while the position will never be the same with professionals adjusting to the Family Office it serves, there are ideal competencies, qualities, and even qualifi...
In the world of Family Offices, anything is possible and the professionals hired to do the unthinkable have to be problem solvers, agile, and absolutely committed to the cause. Most importantly, they have to be the right Cultural Fit, which most Family Office professionals believe is more important than qualifications in the hiring process. With...
The data from this year’s research by Grant Thornton indicates that the progress achieved so far on women in senior management is fragile. There has been a dramatic decrease in the percentage of female CEOs, including a 15pp drop in CEOs who are women in the United States, a 14pp drop in China, and an 8pp drop in the UK between 2023 and 2024. Witho...
As companies and service organizations increasingly use third-party service for outsourced services, there is more demand for a detailed understanding of the processes and controls of these third-party service providers. To show they have the right processes and internal controls in place, it’s crucial to provide a System and Organization Controls ...
Many successful family-owned businesses are managing embedded family offices within their existing operations to maximize the benefits and opportunities gained from the unique structure. But in time, the needs of both the business and the family shift for various reasons that include the family growing and earlier generations transitioning out of t...
The 2018 U.S. Trust Insights on Wealth and Worth® study asked nearly one thousand high-net-worth individuals about their approach to building wealth and the extent to which they are using it to achieve their goals and support the causes they care about most. The study found that while wealth provides the freedom to do more, it also brings increased...
To succeed, any organization needs to develop, maintain, and adhere to well-defined business processes and workflows. For family offices, which manage the complex financial and business affairs of ultra-high-net-worth families, best practice business processes are paramount to ensure efficiency and employee productivity, reduce risks, and improve o...
Family offices, much like the families that need them, are works in progress. You can’t just set up a family office ownership structure and think it won’t need some type of attention in the future. A number of factors, including regulatory changes, could compel you to revisit your ownership structure to ensure it still makes sense. See why it may b...
The onset of remote work and other needs in the family office space have accelerated the pace of growth and change. As a result, family offices are increasingly turning to technology to manage complexity, meet family expectations, and grow their wealth. Amid this change, three trends—including owning your data—will help in the selection of the...
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 i...
Cybersecurity is a known and growing risk that all family offices need to address. The potential of a cybersecurity attack is no longer a matter of whether it will happen, it’s now a matter of when it will happen. During this interview with Brian Lucareli, attorney Jen Urban and co-chair of Cybersecurity & Data Privacy at Foley & Lardner ra...