What can ultra-affluent clients learn from the origins of a multi-family office?

The single family office is the gold standard in the wealth management industry.  It was invented by the wealthiest families in America beginning with prominent names like Rockefeller and Morgan.  It continues to be the most sought-after structure as each family has ultimate control over who they hire, what services they provide, where they are located, and how it is run. Many family offices include family members within the leadership teams to ensure their interests are represented directly. Although most wealthy families would like to have a dedicated group of advisors serving their family exclusively, the cost of execution is too high. Costs can easily exceed $2-3 million on an annual basis when running a full-service single family office. This has led to a movement toward a multi-family office, which operates similarly to a single family office but has extended to a select number of additional families in order to share some of the costs. In deciding which type of family office is best suited to one’s needs, there’s more to be considered than just costs and processes.

The Origin of Multi-Family Offices