To reserve your seat for Friday May 10th in Los Angeles or Friday June 7th in New York at the Harvard Club please see this page of our site: http://FamilyOfficesGroup.com/Workshops

If you would like to download our event brochures in PDF format first, please see the links directly below:

• Los Angeles Workshop Brochure
• New York Workshop Brochure

I hope to see you in Los Angeles or New York over the next few months.

Below is a video I recorded on this topic in Berlin, Germany last week. Below the video are 3 family office resources if you are looking to learn more about this space.

3 Family Office Resources

1) If you would like to learn more about family offices, please consider attending one of our Family Office Workshop Series full-day training events in Los Angeles or New York later this year: http://FamilyOfficesGroup.com/Workshops

2) Also, you may want to grab a copy of Richard’s bestselling book called “The Family Office Book: Investing Capital for the Ultra-Affluent.” You can get two chapters of it for free here:  http://FamilyOfficesGroup.com/family-office-book

3) Our group is the leading family office data provider. If you would like to take a look at our Family Offices Database, please see our website: http://FamilyOffices.com/family-office-database

In my recent book, The Family Office Book: Investing Capital for the Ultra-Wealthy, I talk to several family office executives about the importance of attending conferences and training events in order to sharpen your knowledge of the industry and trends as well as to build relationships within the family office community.

I have attended hundreds of conferences in my career and I have found almost every single event to be a great experience where I gained insights from a speaker or added another contact to my network.  In that spirit of learning and networking, I will be hosting two training workshops along with several family office executive trainers this year-May 10th in Los Angeles and June 7th, 2013 in New York. I have named a few of the unique benefits to attending these workshops below:

Benefits of Attending One or Both of These Family Office Training Workshops:

1) Get trained directly from $1B+ single family offices and top 50 multi-family office executives on how to operate, grow, and invest capital as a family office.  Learn about and take advantage of the rapidly growing family office industry.

2) Connect face-to-face with peers, ultra-wealthy families, and family offices that you can share resources or partner with in the future. (From our last family office workshop, negotiations are under way for three joint venture deals worth 7 and 8 figure potential.)

3) Come away with the top 20 fund management selection criteria that most family offices apply to their fund manager research process.  Plus, listen to a presentation on quick character analysis tools you can use to evaluate potential business partners, investors, or fund manager executives.

If you  would like to learn more about the event, please take a minute to chat with a Family Offices Group representative at +1 (212) 729-5067 or Team@FamilyOfficesGroup.com

If you are ready to register for the event, simply complete the online registration form.

tags: training, family offices, family office, family office group training, family offices group, family office executives, family office investing, family offices network, family office network, family office workshop, family offices group workshop

Workshop Trainers Include: 

- John Jonson, Capricorn Investment Group, LLC ($5B Multi-Family Office) [LA Workshop]
- Paul Tramontano, Constelaltion Wealth Advisors (Top 30 Multi-Family Office) [NYC Workshop]
- Jonathan Bergman, TAG Associates, LLC (Top 30 Multi-Family Office) [NYC Workshop]
- Richard C. Wilson, Family Offices Group (#1 Family Office Association) [LA & NYC Workshops]
- Michael Connor, Consolidated Investment Group ($1B+ Single Family Office) [NYC Workshop]
- John Bishop, Bishop Office, LLC (Single Family Office) [LA & NYC Workshops]
- Lee Hauser, PhD., First Foundation (Multi-Family Office) [LA Workshop]

Where: The Los Angeles workshop is being held at the Gateway Sheraton LAX, just a shuttle ride away from the LAX International Airport at 6101 Century Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90045 (310) 642-1111.

Participants Include:

1) Single and multi-family office professionals, wealth management/RIA executives, and ultra-wealthy families and HNW individuals who are considering setting up their own family office, virtual family office, or possibly hiring a multi-family office

2) Fund managers, institutional investment consultants, and fund of funds who want to better understand how to more effectively work with family offices

3) CPAs, attorneys, consultants, and placement agents who are looking to better understand the family office landscape

If you are interested in learning more about this event, please give us a call at +1 (212) 729-5067 or Team@FamilyOfficesGroup.com You can register for the event here: http://familyofficesgroup.com/Workshops

Note: If you would prefer to attend our New York Family Office Workshop, please register here to reserve your seat.

Tags: family offices, family office California, family office LA, family office los angeles, family offices in Los Angeles, multi-family offices Los Angeles, Single Family Office los Angeles, Los angeles family office events

While there are certainly a number of firms who disingenuously pose as family offices, there is also a number of firms that simply fall into a gray area in such a loosely defined industry.  In my recent book, The Family Office Book: Investing Capital for the Ultra-Affluent, I sought to define family offices in order to avoid these issues. 

A single family office is a full-balance-sheet 360-degree ultra-affluent wealth management and CFO solution for an individual or family’s life.  The SEC has also offered a definition that includes a minimum assets under management of $100 million, but I have met many single family offices that fall below that AUM.  A multi-family office can be similarly defined, with the important distinction that it serves a number of wealthy family clients and often uses economies of scale to provide high-quality services to all clients under an all-inclusive family office structure. 

In the latest edition of the Family Office Newsletter, we shared some strategies that we have used to qualify family offices and better understand who you are doing business with.  To read the full list with full explanations, subscribe to our monthly newsletter on the family office industry here.

1. Do Your Homework: The first step in determining whether you are dealing with a true family office is to research the firm and your contact there.  There are a number of tools to help you through this process, such as regulatory registration databases…
2. Ask for More Information: When we need more information, I, or one of my employees, often politely make a direct request for documentation or further information on the family office such as its history, its typical client type, AUM range…

Now, the CFTC has decided that single family offices are indeed exempt from registration and thus need only file for the exemption by December 31 in order to claim the CPO exemption.  For family offices looking to learn more about this critical rule change, please see the following overview courtesy of Handler Thayer LLC (to read more insights from Thomas Handler of Handler Thayer LLC, pick up my latest book, The Family Office Book: Investing Capital for the Ultra-Wealthy.  

On November 29, 2012, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the “CFTC”) released a blanket No-Action Letter providing relief from registration as a Commodity Pool Operator (“CPO”) to family offices that qualify for the Family Office Exemption created under the DoddFrank Act, modifying the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (the “IAA”). This relief stems from  the recent CFTC decision to rescind the CPO exemption in the Commodities Exchange Act that most family offices currently rely on to avoid registration. Without the exemption, family offices investing in mutual funds or hedge funds owning commodities could be required to
register as a CPO by December 31, 2012.

While the CFTC noted that family offices are “not operations of the type and nature that warrant regulatory oversight by the CFTC,” the new “family office exemption” is not a self-executing exemption. In order to obtain the relief set forth by the CFTC in the No-Action Letter, a family office is required to:

1. Retain the Family Office Exemption pursuant to the IAA;

2. Submit a claim for relief to the CFTC’s Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight by December 31, 2012, containing the name, address, and phone number of the family office, and the capacity and the name of the pools of commodities owned by the family office (if applicable); and,

3. Prior to March 31, 2013, confirm its status as a family office and warrant that the family office will notify the CFTC if it no longer meets the definition of a family office pursuant to the IAA.  PDF

If you have any questions regarding this No-Action Letter or the family office exemption discussed herein, please contact Handler Thayer, LLP at (312) 641-2100.

Tags: Thomas Handler, CFTC, commodities, commodities exception, family offices exception, family office exception, family office exception, family office CFTC, family office Commodities Futures Trading Commission, Single Family Offices

Family Offices Are More Comfortable Acquiring in an Uncertain Economy:
“[Family offices] continue to be comfortable acquiring businesses in this environment, especially because we don’t use any financial leverage. I’m not sure that we’d feel quite as comfortable if we had to do a leveraged acquisition when there’s meaningful risk of a recessionary economic environment.” – Gene Lee in Asset Class Diversification: A Family Office Perspective on Direct Investing (January 2012)

Building Relationships with Family Offices Can Be Challenging, but Rewarding: Richard is the author of the recent book on family office investing titled, The Family Office Book: Investing Capital for the Ultra-Affluent.
“We talk with family offices every day and meet with them face-to-face every week, and it still takes a long time to generate solid relationships, raise capital, or organize club deals.” He added, “Many of these family offices are connected with ultra-wealthy family offices and leaders in a variety of businesses.” – Richard C. Wilson in Richard C. Wilson on Connecting with Family Offices (November 2012)

Capital Gains Tax Caused Increased Deal Activity in Q4: This is a topic we covered last month in our Family Office Monthly newsletter.

“The spike [in deal flow] is already happening and [capital gains] is a factor for businesses that are on the market right now. Clients that we are working with today are seeking a close date no later than December 31.” – Darren De Vries in Deal Flow on the Rise: Is Capital Gains Tax the Culprit?(November 2012)

Read the whole article from AxialMarket here.

tags: axialmarket, family offices, family offices insights, family office commentary, family office outlook, buyout outlook, buyouts 2013, family office 2013, family offices future, M&A

Outreach: One of my strategies that I explained is just to put yourself out there through a proactive and diversified outreach to family offices.

Start Locally:  I am always pleasantly surprised at the number of family offices that operate locally in the Pacific Northwest.  I think that is a great place to start and people often assume that family offices only exist in major cities like New York or Los Angeles but there are often successful entrepreneurs who have a single family office or a branch of a major multi-family office in cities like Dallas, Denver or Phoenix.  So my advice is to start locally and work your way out from there.

Add Value: No one wants their time wasted so if you request a meeting with a family office and do not bring something of value to that meeting then you will have an unproductive meeting and likely will not get another one with that family office.  I have spent years working with family offices to ensure that I always bring something of value to them whether it is a compensation survey, my recent book on family office investing or sharing strategies for attracting high net worth individuals.  My goal is always to leave the other person in the meeting feeling like it was a good use of their time and that they got something of real value from our meeting.

To read all of the tips and strategies that I shared, you can read the article here.

tags: family office networking, family office firms, family office contacts, contacting family offices, working with family offices, how to network with family offices, networking with family offices, family office strategy

First, family governance refers to the guidelines, structure and issues related to how family members are connected, communicate with each other and how the fortune is distributed or invested.  Family offices often help negotiate through problems, and even anticipate potential issues before they become problems, and establish a clearer governance for the family that allows family members to settle on a guiding structure that hopefully satisfies the family members.  A single family office may help a ultra-wealthy family navigate this area, acting as an informal arbitrator in disputes or negotiations and offering strategies that seek to meet the needs of family members.

In other cases, a multi-family office is in an ideal position to help in family governance as it is an outside, independent party that can take a unbiased look at the family and its governance.  As family office executive, Lukas Doerig of Marcuard Family Office told me, “There is an advantage for a multi-family office; the first thing you have is experience, and the second thing is that you are really independent. You might also be in a position to bring up an inconvenient truth about the family and be open and communicate problems you are seeing that need to be addressed, while maybe in a single family office, the people in- charge might not bring up sort of thorny and difficult issues a family might have.”

So there is a benefit to using a multi-family office in governance, although single family offices often succeed in this area and as governance evolves and becomes more institutionalized, the hope is that all families will have clearer governance that minimizes disputes and leaves all members satisfied.

I hope this gave you a good overview of why family office governance is important.  You can read more about family office governance in my new book, The Family Office Book: Investing Capital for the Ultra-Affluent (Wiley Finance).

tags: family governance, family offices, multi-family offices, multi-family office governance, wealthy family governance, family office governance, Why Family Governance Matters, single family governance, best practices

Oct. 10-12 | Boulders Golf Resort and Spa in Scottsdale, AZ

Tabor Capital is hosting a family office & fund manager conference in Phoenix, AZ October 10th-12th. I will be speaking there during the closed door family office part of the event on “Character Analysis Best Practices for Family Offices.” Family offices can attend free, learn more about attending here: http://TaborCapital.com I look forward to speaking with you at the event in a couple weeks.

Conference Overview

The conference is an invitation-only event designed to bring a select number of elite investment managers and actively investing family offices together, while keeping a 1:1 manager / investor ratio. This exclusive event will allow for meaningful discussions and the opportunity to foster new relationships. The goal of this specialized conference is to “break the mold” and host a conference that is beneficial for all attendees and provide value to everyone after leaving the event.

Here are some reasons to attend:

 - Everyone attending the Conference has been personally invited to this event and has similar goals, allowing you to efficiently foster a significant number of new relationships in a short period of time
 - A tremendous amount of care has been taken to design a valuable conference that actually provides information and contacts that can be utilized once you return to your office
 - Approximately 30 – 50 Family Offices and 25 – 35 Investment Managers will gather together for this invitation-only event
 - 1:1 Ratio of Family Offices and Investment Managers
 - Managers will have 20 minutes to present their Firm and Fund(s) to an audience of Family Offices
 - Managers will have six 30-minute One-on-One Family Office meetings while attending the conference
 - Less than 10 Strategic Sponsors / Service Providers will be invited to this event

Conference Information:

• When: October 10-12, 2012
• Where: The Boulders Golf Resort and Spa in Scottsdale, Arizona
• How to Register: Call: 303-870-8361 or visit the conference website: www.taborcapital.com

Richard C. Wilson

Tags: The TABOR Family Office Conference, The TABOR Family Office Conference event, The TABOR Family Office Conference family offices, The TABOR Family Office Conference fund managers, The TABOR Family Office Conference hedge funds, The TABOR Family Office Conference investors, The TABOR Family Office Conference phoenix AZ

For a fund with a low level of AUM, the typical concern among investors is that the manager will be motivated to assume exceptionally high levels of risk in order to achieve superior returns and attract new investors. These funds also may not be able to afford the latest trading software or talented traders and risk management professionals and other expenses that become more feasible with a steady stream of revenue coming in from the management fees on a high-AUM fund. For funds will several billions of dollars under management, another fear grows among investors, that the management team is not motivated to achieve high returns and is content risking little and “getting fat” off the management fees, as one family office executive put it to me.

Family offices typically told me in my interviews that they wanted to wait for a hedge fund to reach a certain AUM level before investing so as not to suffer unnecessary losses before a fund has proven itself. As Lukas Doerig of Marcuard Family Office, a leading global family office, explained to me, “We do not need to be the first soldier on the beach; it’s just not necessary.” That sums up the mentality of many family offices who many times go to exceptional lengths to protect their clients from risk, but not all. Some family offices look to capture the potential upside of an emerging fund manager, especially the often lower fees and superior attention to investors that an emerging manager might provide.

The bottom line is that many investors do pay close attention to a fund’s assets under management, but it is certainly not the entirety of their fund manager evaluation process and even institutional investors may make exceptions for exceptional managers.

You can read more about how investors evaluate fund managers in my new book, The Family Office Book: Investing Capital for the Ultra-Affluent (Wiley Finance).

tags: family office investors, family office investing, family office fund management, family office funds, family office investing practices, family office hedge fund investing, family office assets under management, requirements, family office AUM

Chris Allen, a single family office expert with over a decade of experience running a SFO, highlighted the differences from family client to family client and recommended building consensus within the family.  ”It’s very family specific,” Chris told me, “but there are some very similar tracks for the families that I’ve talked with over my career . . . The best family offices that really do make good investment decisions evaluate every single aspect of teh opportunity and make a decision that’s generally consensus.  If you don’t build consensus within your investment committee, you’re going to end up in a fight down the road.”

Some family offices do not have a formal investment committee.  Andrew Hector explained how his family office, Candor Financial Management, operates:
“There is no formal investment committee. We match each client to their objectives, including their financial objectives, and their risk profile and they are all different, different degrees. But as far as it comes down to investing, each advisor has the obligation and the right to select investments for the client, and they know the clients the best. That said, most investments are peer reviewed and discussed with the other advisors . . . “

Paul Tramontano of Constellation Wealth Advisors, a top family office, offered his opinion on what makes for a successful family office investment committee: ”The key to any successful investment committee is open dialogue and the ability to really sort of debate the important issues.”

I hope that these excerpts from my conversations with family office executives help you better understand this industry and how family offices operate.  For more on this subject, you can read the full interviews in my new book: The Family Office Book: Investing Capital for the Ultra-Wealthy

Tags: family office perspectives, family office investing, family office investments, family office investing best practices, how family offices invest, family office investment, family office allocations, family offices, family office investment committees, family office investment committee, investment committee best practices, family investment committees 

For some family offices, staffed by people who know the risks and difficulties of starting a hedge fund or a private equity firm, it is considered a wiser path to invest in larger, more established investment funds with a longer track record of managing outside capital.  Other family offices see more mature funds as being less motivated to out-perform the market and thus prefer to allocate a portion of the fund’s capital to emerging managers.  A lot of the debate centers on incentives and business management.

For the incentives aspect, most private equity and hedge fund managers demand a roughly 2% management fee and a 20% performance fee.  For funds managing smaller amounts of capital and with less of a track record to draw in new investors, the GP might be tempted to jack up leverage and make risky bets that could either deliver huge returns or huge losses.  This could substantially boost the risk to outside investors that they could incur heavy losses on their investment.  But there is also the lure of a significant upside so it’s a matter of risk appetite.

Additionally, smaller, less experienced fund managers may struggle with the management role and have less developed reporting, risk management and other processes that are important to the success of a fund.  For instance, a highly successful trader at one of the big investment banks may decide to strike out on his own and leverage his impressive trading record to draw in investors; but he has never managed a business and may not be as great a manager as he is a trader.  This is one aspect that family offices consider and has become an increasingly important focus after the blowups of several hedge funds in recent years.  Family offices look not only for great traders and investors, but also great managers who can both achieve high returns but also keep an eye on the firm’s operations and management.  Family offices often prefer to let these managers develop and let other seed investors assume the initial risk.  As Lukas Doerig of Marcuard Family Office told me, “We do not need to be the first soldier on the beach; it’s just not necessary.”

For more experienced managers that have a higher level of capital and thus more revenue coming in consistently through the management fees, the temptation to take on more risk to achieve out sized returns may be less because if the trades or investments turn south they could see heavy redemptions and a lowering of the capital from which they extract the management fees.  This is a significant fear among family offices who sometimes avoid the largest private equity, hedge fund or real estate funds because they may have less of an incentive to provide alpha and be more satisfied with low-risk investments that do not risk much but do not gain much.

This art of weighing incentives and business management is a delicate one that must be thoroughly considered as well as a number of other factors that qualified family office professionals take into account when deciding whether to invest in a fund manager.

For more on this subject, you can read interviews in my new book: The Family Office Book: Investing Capital for the Ultra-Wealthy

Tags: family office seeding, family office seed capital, family office seed, family office seed investments, family office seeding capital, family office seed money, family office emerging managers, family office emerging fund managers, emerging managers seed, family office investing, hedge funds, private equity, seed providers

Answer: Somewhat obviously, a single family office serves a single family as its only client but multi-family offices can serve many more clients.    Multi-family offices can serve anywhere from two clients to 500+ ultra wealthy individuals and families.  For some family offices, the management team prefers to focus limited resources on a limited number of clients, assuring a high quality of services to its select clients which could be only 2-3 very affluent families.  

Other multi-family offices chart a different course by capitalizing on economies of scale whereby it services several hundred wealthy families using its significant resources.  This family office is usually backed or fully-owned by a larger investment or commercial bank that can offer its resources through the family office to clients.  

So, really, there is no set number and each family office may take a different approach in order to best serve its clients and families may find a different offering and level of quality depending on the family office’s focus, resources and team.

Read more Frequently Asked Family Office Questions.

Tags: family offices, multi-family office clients, family office clients, number of family office clients, how big are family offices, family office client total, family office client averages, How Many Clients Do Family Offices Serve?

Richard: Do you have any suggestions for people trying to get their foot in the door somewhere new?

Matthew Andrade:  You know it’s funny, I had somebody reach out to me as a result of the posting that I had made on the LinkedIn Group that sort of generated this discussion.  He was just asking me, listen I would like to learn a little bit more about this, I am currently portfolio manager overseeing US Large Cap Equities, but have thought about getting into the Family Office space.  It was just an e-mail saying, can I take 20 minutes of your time and we can talk about this.  I would encourage anybody to do that.  Most people if you say, I just want to learn a little bit more, nobody is that busy that you can’t spare half an hour to talk to somebody about it.  So for other Family Office executives, I would say please make the time for somebody that is trying to learn a little bit more about this and trying to develop a relationship, unlike a university intern that’s coming out trying to get their first job, you know they just want to soak up as much they can.

Get to know somebody and then in the event you get to a point where you do need to hire somebody that is a little more experienced, maybe you have already developed a relationship as result of one of those contacts.  If you are somebody trying to break into the Family Office business, don’t be shy about sending an e-mail to someone like myself or another executive.  The worst that happens is they don’t respond to the e-mail or they say thanks, but no thanks, in which case you’re no further behind than you were today.

Richard:  Right, I think that’s excellent advice.

Matthew Andrade:  The answer is not suffering from sort of 9000 pound phone syndrome, sometimes you just have to pick up the phone and reach out to people.

For the full interview, order your copy of The Family Office Book.

Tags: richard wilson book, family office book review, family office book, family offices book, book on family offices, family office book by Richard C. Wilson, family offices, family office books, The Family Office Book: Investing Capital for the Ultra-Affluent

TO BE HELD: OCTOBER 17-19TH 2012

WYNN, LAS VEGAS, NEVADA

• Provide an ideal platform for meeting potential investors
• Serve as a platform for your annual Summit Needs
• Provide an ideal venue for meeting up-and-coming as well as established Hedge Fund Managers
• Stimulate debate and strategic discussion
• Develop quality business development opportunities
• Help service your Prospective and Current Clients

• This year will be our 9th Summit
• Last year Summit had over 400 attendees, 50% Investors and 30% Managers
• Our unique Family Office events brought over 80 families last year.

You can learn more about this event here: http://www.alternativeassetsummit.com/

Tags: Alternative Asset Summit 2012, Alternative Asset Summit 2012 event, Alternative Asset Summit 2012 private equity, Alternative Asset Summit 2012   hedge funds, Alternative Asset Summit 2012  hedge fund networking event, Alternative Asset Summit 2012 hedge fund, networking, Richard C. Wilson Speaking, 

I just wanted to give an update on my new book on family office investors, The Family Office Book: Investing Capital for the Ultra-Affluent.  It’s only been a couple weeks and the book is already a bestselling book having recently ranked in the top .01% of topselling books on Amazon.com (ranking #97), and was ranked as the #1 investing book onall of Amazon.com.  If you haven’t already grabbed a copy of the book, you can order via Amazon here.

The Family Office Book is at the top of the list of what Market Folly is reading this month.  Business Insider recently picked up the book to read one of the many family office expert interviews.  They looked at our interview with Frank Casey who helped bring down Bernie Madoff as a whistle blower to the SEC–Mr. Casey shares a great tip on looking for a money manager here. Wealth Briefing also posted a helpful overview of the book here.  Finally, Hedge Funds Review wrote a great review of the book, noting: “Through The Family Office Book, author Richard Wilson offers a window into the workings of single and multi-family offices in an attempt to reveal how they function and manage capital.”

Most important to me personally is that my peers in the industry have said some great things about the book:

Pimm Fox, Bloomberg TV and radio anchor for Taking Stock with Pimm Fox said, “Richard Wilson pulls back the curtain on the almost mystical world of the super-wealthy.”  It’s a must-read book “For investors who want to learn what the rich expect from the stewards of their money–and for anyone interested in getting into the family office business.”

Charles B. Grace, Jr. of the Threshold Group and the founder of Ashbridge Investment Management called The Family Office Book ”the most comprehensive study of the family office world” and “a must-read.”

It’s great to see peers in the family office industry using this book as a training resource for their employees; Noah Rosenfarb, Managing Director of Freedom Wealth Advisors, told us, “[The Family Office Book] will be required reading for everyone that joins my family office team.”

Secure your copy of the The Family Office Book: Investing Capital for the Ultra-Affluent.  If you enjoy the book, please post a quick review here.  It’s been a great month so far and we are excited for more of you to pick up my latest book and learn about family offices and the ultra-wealthy.

Thank you for all the support,

Tags: Family Office Book Reviews, Family Office Book Review, Family Office Book, hedge fund reviews, family offices book, family offices book reviews, book on the ultra-wealthy, family office reading, family office book by richard wilson, family offices

They call it “money camp.” Twice a week, 6- to 11-year-old scions of wealthy families take classes on being rich. They compete to corner commodities markets in Pit, the raucous Parker Brothers card game, and take part in a workshop called “business in a box,” examining products that aren’t obvious gold mines, such as the packaging on Apple Inc.’s iPhone rather than the phone itself.

It’s all part of managing money for the wealthiest families, says Katherine Lintz, founder of Clayton, Missouri- based Financial Management Partners, which runs the camp for the children of clients. Supplying the families with good stock picks and a wily tax strategy isn’t enough anymore. These days, it’s about applying the human touch, she says.

Lintz, 58, is on to something. Her 22-year-old firm was No. 2 among the fastest-growing multifamily offices in the second annual Bloomberg Markets ranking of companies that manage affairs for dynastic clans, Bloomberg Markets magazine reports in its September issue. The assets that FMP supervises grew 30 percent to $2.6 billion as of Dec. 31, just behind Signature, a Norfolk, Virginia-based family office that expanded 36 percent in 2011 to $3.6 billion.

In sheer size, the family office units of banks dominate the ranking. Nine of the top 10 are associated with banks. HSBC Private Wealth Solutions, a unit of London-based HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA), is No. 1 by total assets under advisement for the second consecutive year, with $123.6 billion as of Dec. 31, an increase of 21 percent over 2010.  Bloomberg

 

tags: family offices, banks, private banks, family office wealth management, family offices investors, family offices, family office, investors, high net worth, ultra wealthy

Tags: The Family Office Book, The Family Office Book download, The Family Office Book review, The Family Office Book hedge funds, The Family Office Book fund managers, The Family Office Book amazon, The Family Office Book purchase, family offices, family office book, family office books, The Family Office Book: Investing Capital for the Ultra-Affluent

In the following video, I discuss the family office investment committee and how they control the family office’s purse strings:

Download our free Family Office Report to learn more about the family office industry.

tags: family office investors, family office investment committee, family office investment committees, family office investment committee definition, what is an investment committee, family office investor

Rescinding the “Family Office Exemption” under the CEA

Similar to an operator of a hedge fund or a mutual fund, a CPO is defined as an individual or entity which operates an enterprise in which funds were contributed by multiple investors to trade in OTC derivatives, futures, options, or retail off-exchange forex contracts or to invest in another CPO. Prior to February 9, 2012, family offices, which typically fall under this broad definition, could rely on several exemptions to avoid CPO registration. In particular, family offices relied upon Rule 4.13(a)(4) of the CEA, which exempted pools in which all the investors were “knowledgeable employees” and “qualified purchasers.” However, the CFTC has rescinded this exemption, leaving family offices scrambling for a new exemption. Nevertheless, several exemptions still exist that provide some relief. Under Rule 4.13(a)(1) of the CEA, an entity is exempted from registration as a CPO if: (i) The CPO only operates a single pool; (ii) The CPO does not receive compensation; and, (iii) The CPO is not otherwise required to register with the CFTC (i.e. as a CTA).

Family offices may also be able to rely on Rule 4.13(a)(2) of the CEA, which exempts a CPO from registration, if its pools have: (i) aggregate contributions of $400,000 or less, and (ii) less than fifteen participants in the pools. While this seems restrictive, the contribution and participant limits do not factor in: (i) the CPO; (ii) its principals; or (iii) the principals’ immediate family members or any other relative living in the same household. It should be noted, however that, these exemptions are not self-executing and notice must be filed electronically with the NFA.

Alternatively, family offices may seek a no-action letter from the CFTC in order to obtain exemptive relief. The CFTC has provided at least 34 no-action letters to family offices regarding exemptions and has repeatedly affirmed that it does not intend to regulate family offices. As discussed above, the rules and regulations under the CEA are likely to continue to change as the CFTC attempts to harmonize its rulemaking with the rulemaking of the SEC. It is likely that the CFTC will conduct new rulemaking to provide an exemption similar to the “Family Office Exemption” under the IAA, but there is no assurance at this time that the CFTC will create this exemption.

About Handler Thayer, LLP

Handler Thayer, LLP is one of the premier private client law firms in the United States. Its national and international practice, based out of Chicago, Illinois and Washington, D.C., utilizes interdisciplinary teams of advanced planning attorneys. The firm has been recognized by U.S. News & World Report on its lists of Best Lawyers and Best Law Firms in America and in 2012 was named the Best Overall Law Firm in the U.S. serving ultra-high net worth families, privately-held businesses and family offices by Private Asset Management Magazine. Handler Thayer is dedicated to providing distinctive, technologically-current and responsive legal services which are comprehensive and efficient. Its practice is concentrated in Corporate, Real Estate & Securities Law, Sports & Entertainment Law, Federal, State & International Taxation, Trusts & Estates and Financial & Estate Planning. Firm clientele include foundations, multinational corporations, professional athletes, prominent entrepreneurs, celebrities and family offices. See WWW.HANDLERTHAYER.COM .

CONTACT: Thomas J. Handler, +1-312-641-2100, www.handlerthayer.com

SOURCE Handler Thayer, LLP

 

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The Rothstein Kass Family Office Group, a division of professional services firm Rothstein Kass, today announced the release of “The Family Office Model: A Smart Move for the Financial Advisor?” a comprehensive study examining how traditional financial advisors are confronting the growing demand for family office services among their wealthy clients. Nearly 80 percent of financial advisors polled are interested in providing some level of multifamily office support, while less than 25 percent currently provide such services to clients. Roughly 60 percent of advisors indicated that they would consider introducing family office services for select clients, while an additional 17 percent expressed interest in launching a comprehensive platform. Survey participants included independent advisors (44 percent), registered representatives (35 percent) and registered investment advisors (21 percent). All respondents have been active in the space for at least five years, with nearly 70 percent in business for between 11 and 20 years.

“Over the past several years, our research has chronicled the ongoing and accelerating proliferation of the family office sector. Demand continues to surge, driven by increased awareness among wealthy families of the advantages that an integrated wealth management approach provides. Our latest research shows that the majority of traditional financial advisors have started to explore the benefits associated with a shift toward a family office model,” said Rick Flynn, Principal and Head of the Rothstein Kass Family Office Group. “These advantages can include greater client retention, enhanced revenues and improved client acquisition. However, the decision to introduce family office services is not one that should be taken lightly. A thorough assessment of current competitive positioning, can suggest what services will be of most value to existing and prospective clients.”

Rothstein Kass is a premier professional services firm that has served privately held and publicly traded companies, as well as high-net-worth individuals and families, for more than 50 years. As trusted advisors to our clients, Rothstein Kass provides accounting, auditing and tax services, as well as a full array of integrated services, to clients across industry spectrums and in all stages of organizational development. At the core of Rothstein Kass’ remarkable success lies our commitment to hiring, developing and retaining employees that represent an entrepreneurial spirit mirroring that of the sophisticated business and financial services communities that we serve.

 

Tags: family office, family office services, multifamily office services, Rothstein Kass, Family office survey, financial advisors family office, financial advisors multifamily office services, ultra high net worth services