Why Open Or Join A Family Office?
When we looked more closely at family offices by office type, we found that far more than money separated them; they were also driven by very motivations. As you can see from Exhibit 4, for single-family offices it’s all about control, cited by every respondent. That was followed by economies of scale, mostly from investment management because family offices can get institutional pricing. Almost two-thirds of the executive directors cited the importance of serving as a buffer and gatekeeper for family members, and a similar number were motivated by access to otherwise unavailable investment opportunities as a result of the combined family fortune (personal and professional connections were also key in that regard). The multifamily offices were also unanimous in citing control as the leading motivation, and economies of scale and accessing investments were again prominent on the list (Exhibit 5). But the number two motivation, generating a profit, didn’t even appear on the list for sing
