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efta-efta01093335DOJ Data Set 9OtherCreating A Finale Family
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Creating A Finale Family
Office to Manage Wealth
and Sustain the Family
WHAT'S INSIDE
Abstract
Who. What. Why
The SFO Universe
Creating an SFO
SFO Governance
SFO Infrastructure
SFO Advisors
Compliance and Risk Management
SFOs for Business-Owning Families
Adapting to Changing Circumstances
Technology
SFO Personnel
Global Trends in SFOs
SFO Profiles
About the Authors
aceliimer
W HIT EPA PLR
•
Angelo J. Robles
Amy Renkert-Thomas
FAMILY OFFICE
nilizsznznnsi
The benefits of hiring internal professionals exclusively devoted
to your family's financial and personal needs
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ABSTRACT
A Single Family Office (SFO) is a private company of
professionals who are dedicated exclusively to the
investment, personal and legacy needs of one family.
The concept of an SFO can be traced back to the Roman
major domus (head of the house) and the medieval
major-domo (chief steward)' as well as the British landed
estate. The modem SFO originated in the 19th century
by family dynasties who accumulated significant wealth
created during the American industrial age.
hi Ilara'
IF YOU'VE SEEN ONE
SINGLE FAMILY OFFICE,
YOU'VE SEEN ONE SINGLE
FAMILY OFFICE...
Interest in SFOs has grown during
the last twenty years with a new
wave of worldwide wealth coupled
with global economic turmoil of the
past decade. Extreme volatility,
banking and business failures and
investment fraud, has motivated
many families of significant wealth to
take control of their financial affairs
and preserve their family legacy.
While a number of wealth
management firms call themselves
'family offices; this white paper
focuses on the "Single Family
Office" or SFO—a privately-owned
and — run wealth management firm
developed for one family. Each
SFO is as unique as the family who
founded it. As the saying goes: "If
you've seen one single family office,
you've seen one single family office."
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Investment-Related
Management of
Accounting, Tax
Asset Protection
Family Services
Services
Complex Assets
Planning and
and Risk
Compliance
Management
Who, What, Why
7
Some advisors say the monetary
threshold before a single family
office (SFO) makes sense is between
$50 million and $100 million in total
assets...
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WHITEPAPER / Creating A Single Family Office to Manage Wealth and Sustain the Fan*
4
WHO, WHAT, WHY
Some advisors say the monetary threshold
before a single family office (SFO) makes sense
is between S50 million and S100 million in total
assets. Some family office professionals might
say $500 million or more. A better question to
ask: Is my family's wealth—in all its financial and
non-financial forms—being well-served by my
existing wealth advisory team?
Some SFOs are substantial wealth management
institutions, with teams of experienced
investment managers overseeing fully diversified
portfolios, including hedge funds, private equity.
direct investments, real estate, commodities and
other alternative investments. Other SFOs are
smaller, managing more limited assets. Almost
all SFOs share the following features:
The SFO manages a complex pool of
investment and personal assets.
Investments are selected and managed
with a long-term focus (typically, for multiple
generations of the family).
The creator of the SFO wishes to play
an active role in overseeing investment
management.
The creator intends to avoid the conflicts
of interest inherent in the existing wealth-
management industry.
For the families that create them, an effective
SFO can provide:
•
Control, coordination and integrated
management of investment, business,
philanthropic and personal services
•
Privacy and confidentiality
•
Dedicated focus on the needs and
requirements of the family
Services and benefits customized to the
needs of the family
Coordination and management of
outsourced providers
Purchasing leverage, fee minimization and
cost savings
•
Risk management and compliance
•
Alignment with the family's legacy. vision
and values
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WHO, WHAT, WHY (coNrD)
Depending on the needs and wishes of the
family and the size and complexity of the assets
under management, the services provided by
the SFO can vary widely. They may coordinate
and oversee various types of investment-related
services, management of complex assets,
accounting, tax planning and compliance, asset
protection and risk management as well as
family services. Here are the most common
elements that each category may include:
Investment-Related Services
Development of an investment policy
statement (ISP)
Development and implementation of an
effective asset allocation
•
Sourcing and due diligence for direct
investment opportunities
•
Investment due diligence
•
Aggregation and reporting of investment
performance
Management of Complex Assets
•
Residential real estate
•
Commercial real estate
•
Operating businesses
•
Collections
•
Sports teams
•
Socially-responsible investments
Accounting, Tax Planning and Compliance
•
Accounting and tax filings
•
Identification and engagement of
outsourced providers
•
Tax planning
•
Development and coordination of estate
plans for all family members
•
Trust implementation and administration
•
Administration of private family trust
company
Asset Protection and Risk Management
•
Investment due diligence
•
Insurance services
•
Hiring, background checking and
management of household, business and
family office staff
•
Reputation management
•
Personal security services
•
Medical management
Family Services
•
Family bank and intra-family loans
•
Philanthropy and charitable activities
•
Family mission, constitution and governance
•
Family legacy and values
•
Next generation education and engagement
•
Organization of family retreats
•
Personal and property security systems and
procedures
Concierge services (for example, travel
planning, private aviation, personal
shopping)
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The SKI Universe
L
According to Wealth X's World Wealth Report
2012 - 2013, currently there are approximately
50,000 families worldwide, defined as having at
least $100 million in financial assets, excluding
collectibles, consumables, consumer durables and
primary residences...
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THE SFO UNIVERSE
According to Wealth X's World Wealth Report
2012 - 2013, currently there are approximately
50,000 families worldwide, defined as having at
least 5100 million in financial assets, excluding
collectibles, consumables, consumer durables
and primary residences.
The Family Office Association estimates that
currently there are approximately 3,000 SFOs
around the world. Given the number of ultra
high net worth individuals, why are there so few
SFOs? Part of the reason is lack of awareness
and education regarding the benefits of an SFO,
fear of potential cost and complexity of set-up
and management, challenges in hiring capable
staff, and lack of professional guidance. All
these factors make families reluctant to create
their own SFO. Also, the estimate doesn't
include quasi-family offices: small private family
investment companies of limited scale, or family
offices embedded within family-owned and —
managed businesses.
But families that forego an SFO, whether by
conscious decision or lack of awareness, face
troublesome issues, particularly in times of
economic turmoil. These families often have
fragmented and uncoordinated relationships
with multiple private banks, wealth managers
and other business, investment and personal
service providers. The family pays high fees for
this disorganized array of overlapping services.
Worse, those fees likely are not fully disclosed,
so the family can't quantify or compare them, or
effectively negotiate with the service providers.
Furthermore, many of the institutions they work
with have built-in conflicts of interest: brokers
and other client-facing staff often receive higher
commissions for selling the institution's own
investment products, giving them an incentive
to push these products rather than choose
the product that best suits the client's needs
and circumstances. Families also rarely have
the staff or the expertise to vet investment
advisors or individual investment opportunities,
thereby heightening the chances that they may
inadvertently enter into a subpar investment, or
worse, a Ponzi scheme or other fraud.
Now more than ever, wealthy families need
to coordinate their business, investment and
personal relationships, centralize management
and oversight, implement appropriate due
diligence and risk management procedures, and
manage their family affairs more effectively. For
a family of significant wealth, an appropriately
structured and well-run SFO may be the answer.
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Determine the
Purpose and
Create a Mission
Statement
Assess the Needs
and Objectives of
the SFO
Develop a Business
Plan
Creating An SFO
A critical early task in setting
up an SFO is defining the
mission of the family office...
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CREATING AN SFO
Designing and implementing an SFO to fit
your family's unique circumstances and needs
deserves thought and preparation. While this
white paper can't cover everything a family
needs to know and consider in creating an SFO,
the following can be a useful checklist. Families
considering forming a SFO should put together a
task force made up of family leaders and trusted
advisors to lead the planning effort, with input
from outside specialists as necessary.
Determine the Purpose and Create a Mission
Statement
What will be the purpose of this family office?
To manage liquidity generated by the sale of
a business? To oversee a portfolio of direct
investments? To preserve a family legacy? And
why does the family want to manage assets
collectively? Families planning an SFO should
take time at the outset to consider the purpose
of the SFO and its role within the family.
A critical early task in setting up an SFO
is defining the mission of the family office.
Developing a short, focused mission statement
to guide the work of the SFO will help to avoid
'mission creep- in future years. The founders
should avoid drafting a mission statement that is
high-minded but vague and short on specifics. A
family office consultant can help a family mold its
vision and values into a practical and useful tool
to guide the work of the SFO.
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CREATING AN SFO (CONT'D)
Assess the Needs and Objectives of the SFO
1. Who are the clients?
At the outset, make a list of all the individuals
and entities to be served by the SFO, such
as individuals, family branches, investment
entities, businesses, trusts, trust companies and
foundations. The design of the SFO should take
into account each client's unique needs and
requirements.
2. What assets will be managed by the SFO?
Make a list of all the types of assets that
the SFO will be responsible for managing:
marketable securities, hedge fund interests,
MLPs, direct investments, operating businesses,
residential real estate, commercial real estate,
farms, collections, aircraft, yachts, horses, sports
teams. The SFO will need to hire or outsource
the specific expertise needed to oversee and
manage its particular asset pool.
3. What services do the clients of the SFO need
and want?
Families with extensive investments, or with
liquid capital to be invested, will need investment
management services including development
of investment policy statements and asset
allocation plans, manager due diligence, and
investment reporting. All SFO clients will need
comprehensive and accurate performance
reporting and accounting and tax-return
preparation. Coordination of risk management—
such as insurance, security and reputation
management—is also a nearly universal need
of SFO clients. Development and coordination
of estate and tax planning, possibly including
management of a private family trust company,
is an obvious need of a multi-generational
client group, but can be equally critical for a
first-generation entrepreneur who wishes to
perpetuate the family's legacy over the long
term. Other possible needs include property
management and staffing, bill payment and
concierge services.
Develop A Business Plan
Once the clients, assets and needs have been
itemized, the task force can begin the process
of developing a business plan that outlines the
services to be provided, a short- and long-
term timeline, employee and outsourced talent
required, service partners required (for example,
custodians, tax counsel, security services) and
technology needs.
Budget
A key objective in developing a business plan
should be determining a budget. Typically, SFO
budgets are defined as a percentage of assets
under management. SFO operating costs vary
widely—smaller SF0s, or those managing
complex assets, tend to cost more to operate
than larger SFOs, or those managing a simpler
portfolio, because there are fewer economies of
scale to exploit. The budget of an SFO managing
an extensive portfolio of alternative investments
and commodities for three generations of family
members, all of whom also share a passion
for modern art and house their collections in
multiple homes around the world, will necessarily
be larger, both as an absolute number and as a
percentage of assets under management, than
the budget of an SFO managing a portfolio of
publicly-traded securities for a single family unit.
Family office consultants can be very helpful
in determining a reality-based budget for an
SFO, given a specified clientele, asset pool, and
service requirements.
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CREATING AN SFO (CONT'D)
SFOs are not inexpensive to operate, and
the future clients of the SFO may balk at the
projected cost at first. However, when compared
against the current expense of managing the
family's assets—taking into consideration all
costs, fees and expenses—the expense of an
SFO will likely be lower. Certainly, because
the SFO will be custom-tailored to the family's
needs, the return on that expenditure will be
higher.
The budget will drive the creation of benchmarks
to set expectations for SFO performance.
How will the cost of the SFO be funded? An
SFO serving the needs of a multi-generational
family must consider how the costs will be
allocated and charged to individual clients of
the SFO. Tasks classified as "needs" by a client
may slip to the category of "nice to have but
not necessary today" when that client finds he
must bear the cost. Future conflict between
family office clients or between the family and
the office can be avoided if the method of
allocating expenses, determining the expected
contributions by each client, and collecting fees
is made explicit from the outset.
Leadership and Staffing
The plan should identify the expertise required
to meet the specific needs of the SFO's clients,
given the specific assets to be managed and
the available budget. The plan should also
specify whether such expertise will be provided
internally - via SFO staff - or outsourced. Once
the staffing needs are determined, the issues
of location, office space needs, technology,
security, administrative support etc. can be
addressed.
At this point in the process, CEO candidates
should be identified (if this task has not already
been completed). Because the CEO of an
SFO must work closely with the family, the
office staff and with a wide array of outside
service providers, the CEO must have excellent
organizational, management and 'people skills.
Choosing a CEO purely because of his or her
technical expertise in investing is generally
a mistake. Because the CEO carries out a
high-level executive function and serves as the
family's face to the outside world, candidates
should have proven experience leading,
managing and communicating successfully
in a wide variety of complex situations. Once
identified and hired, the SFO CEO will take on
the role of carrying out the build-out of the SFO
in accordance with the plan.
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CREATING AN SFO (CONT'D)
Staffing
SFOs often hire investment team members
with extensive prior experience at private
banks, investment houses and hedge funds.
Such talent is highly sought after, candidates
often demand—and get—co-investment rights
or bonus compensation based on investment
performance. The SFO should take care in
structuring such arrangements, particularly
in light of the Dodd-Frank Act's requirement
that family offices comply with RIA registration
requirements unless they fit a very narrow
exemption. SF0s, both new and established,
should seek advice of experienced counsel
when bringing on new investment team
members or adding new benefits such as carried
interests.
All staff members, at every level, should go
through a background check and sign non-
compete, non-solicitation and non-disclosure
agreements. Whether the SFO is large or small,
it should have an employee policy manual. The
manual should be reviewed and updated at least
annually by knowledgeable counsel.
Oversight
The SFO should be overseen by a board of
directors, which will meet regularly and be
responsible for setting strategy and overseeing
the CEO. Most families control the board of
their SF0s, to ensure that strategy is in line with
the family's wishes. Many SFOs are following
the lead of private businesses and bringing
independent advisors onto the board to provide
outside perspective and expertise.
Contingency Plan
Planning for the SFO should include
development of a contingency plan that outlines
procedures to be followed in the event of a
natural disaster, extreme volatility in the financial
markets, theft, or technology breach or failure.
At the most basic level, the contingency plan
should include provisions for ensuring the safety
and security of the family, its critical information
and tangible assets, safety of the SFO staff,
off-site backup of all information, and a plan for
re-establishing critical office activities off-site as
quickly as possible.
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SFO Governance
L
Successful SFOs have strong
governance structures to ensure
that the organization is operated in
accordance with the family's mission
and values over multiple generations... J
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SFO GOVERNANCE
Governance has long been a focus of corporate
investors, but until recently less attention has
been paid to how SFOs are governed. An SFO
that is intended to serve a family for generations
would be wise to take time to develop and
implement an effective and appropriate
governance structure that can significantly
improve the longevity and success of the office.
Some families shy away from the term
-governance: This term can bring to mind long
lists of onerous rules, regulations and policies.
At its core, governance is really nothing
more than a set of rules that define how an
organization will make decisions, large or small.
For governance to be effective, the owners,
overseers (the board of directors or advisors)
and management will need to be informed,
understand their respective roles, rights and
responsibilities, and operate the organization
accordingly.
One of the challenges of SFO governance is
that the needs of the organization may change
radically—and very suddenly—over time.
Commonly, a successful individual will create
an SFO following a liquidity event of some sort.
The founder will build the SFO structure to
suit his own needs and interests. As with any
business run by a controlling owner, there isn't
a great need for formal governance at this stage
of the SFO because the owner is fully informed,
understands the goals and objectives of the
SFO, and handles the critical roles—ownership,
stewardship, oversight and management—
himself. Unless the controlling owner has a
formal governance mindset, he generally will
prefer to run the SFO "lean and mean," without a
lot of staff or formal structure, making decisions
on the fly in accordance with the his intuitive
assessment of what's needed at the moment.
The controlling owner will often rely on a key
advisor or staff member who "gets it" and knows
how to implement the controlling owner's plans,
who understands what is needed and does
whatever is necessary to make that happen.
It's critical to recognize that this sort of organic,
first-generation govemance generally works
quite effectively, at least in the early years.
The office runs, makes investments and
accomplishes tasks. However, when the SFO
comes to be managed for a wider group—
typically, upon the controlling owner's death,
when the assets pass to descendants or trusts
for their benefit—the absence of established,
articulated policies will create a power vacuum.
Without the founder around, suddenly no one
really knows who's in charge, what needs to be
done, who's responsible for doing it, or how that
performance will be measured or compensated.
If the next generation hasn't been prepared
for their new roles, there may be a struggle for
dominance, or the opposite: fearing conflict,
family members may simply abdicate. The SFO
may slowly collapse, or a non-family member
may come to fill the vacuum, for good or for ill.
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SFO GOVERNANCE (coNT•o)
Successful SFOs have strong governance
structures to ensure that the organization
is operated in accordance with the family's
mission and values over multiple generations.
These governance structures must be robust
yet flexible enough to withstand family conflict,
generational transitions and cataclysmic
changes in the investment environment, whether
anticipated or unanticipated. The following are
key elements of a good governance structure:
The family has articulated its mission,
values and vision for the future, and the
strategic plan of the SFO is built around that
core.
The powers, rights and responsibilities of
owners, board and management are clearly
spelled out and followed.
The owners have appointed a board of
directors or advisors to provide perspective,
access to specialized experience/skills,
and to set strategy and investment policy.
The board includes individuals who are
not members of the family, members of the
management team, or paid advisors.
•
Management is free to implement the SFO's
strategy, without interference or meddling
from the family or the owners.
There are regular owners' and board
meetings, with written agendas and
complete minutes. Information necessary for
effective decision-making is distributed well
in advance of voting, and there is adequate
time for discussion.
SFO performance reports are dear,
comprehensive and timely, so that decision-
making can be based on accurate and
complete information.
The SFO's strategic plan goes beyond
investing and includes education of family
members, to promote effective stewardship
over the long term.
An SFO can do much to align its operations
with the family's interests, particularly in times
of generational change. Some SFOs find
that family office meetings become a venue
for family members to air family grievances.
The SFO can encourage and support the
development of a Family Council to provide a
forum for discussions of family issues separate
and apart from the SFO. SFOs can play a key
role in promoting family education, modeling
best practices, training next generation
family members, and fostering an attitude of
stewardship.
SFOs are typically designed to serve multiple
generations of a family, but an SFO is not
eternal. Over the past decade, there have been
well-publicized stories of substantial SFOs that
crumbled under the conflicting demands and
high costs of serving tens or hundreds of family
members, each with comparatively modest
holdings. Other SF0s, recognizing that they
could no longer achieve the family's mission
and vision, or that the mission and vision had
changed in such a way that the SFO's activities
were no longer cost-effective, have undertaken
carefully orchestrated dissolutions. Families
should recognize that dissolving an SFO is
inevitably a complex, expensive and time-
consuming process, and seek the advice of
families and consultants who have navigated this
experience successfully.
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Dodd Frank
and SEC RIA
Registration
Private Trust
Company
Structuring
Carried
Investments
Interests
Insurance
SFO Infrastructure
How the SFO will be structured
depends on the jurisdiction(s) in
which it will operate and the types
of investments the family owns.
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SF° INFRASTRUCTURE
How the SFO will be structured depends on the
jurisdiction(s) in which it will operate and the
types of investments the family owns. Many U.S.
SFOs are structured as limited partnerships or
limited liability companies, and are organized
similarly to hedge fund
management companies:
the SFO entity does not own
any of the assets it manages;
rather, it is a service entity
that provides services to the
SFO's clients on a contract
basis.
Dodd Frank and SEC RIA
Registration
SFOs are strongly advised
to consult with securities
counsel who have experience
with family office regarding
the potential impact of SEC
rules on their structures and
operations.
While some SFOs are owned
by their clients, others are
owned by an individual family member or one
or more senior staff members. Many families
are reconsidering their SFO structures in light
of new rulemaking adopted in June 2011 under
the Dodd Frank Act, defining family offices.
These new rules eliminate the "private advisor
exemption," which many SFOs relied upon to
avoid having to register under the Investment
Advisors Act of 1940. An SFO that does not fit
within the definition of a "family office" or qualify
for an exemption as a bank trust company must
register with the SEC. While some family offices
have opted affirmatively to register with the SEC,
others are greatly concerned by the increased
administrative burden and loss
of privacy that registration would
impose.
Generally speaking, any
individual or entity providing
Investment advice" must
register as a Registered
Investment Advisor (RIA) unless
an exemption is available.2
Registration is costly and
entails detailed disclosures that
families typically are reluctant
to make. An RIA must maintain
and preserve specified books and records, and
make them available to Commission examiners
for inspection. An RIA must also implement
substantive compliance programs, prepare and
file reports with the SEC, and provide detailed
written disclosures to their clients (known as
ADVs). Every RIA is subject to SEC audit.
Failure to register may subject an advisor to
criminal and civil sanctions and penalties.
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SFO INFRASTRUCTURE (coNrD)
SFOs may avoid registration by:
Structuring ownership and operations to fit
within the -family office exemption to RIA
registration;
Outsourcing investment responsibility to one
or more third party RIAs; or
Establishing a Private Trust Company
(PTC).
Private Trust Company
With a PTC, a family-created entity rather than
a third party serves as trustee of the family's
trusts. Private Trust Companies are sometimes
recommended by advisors as a mechanism to
avoid RIA registration, but PTCs may also offer
substantial additional benefits for the SFO:
Greater participation and input by the family
than would be possible if an outside, third
party served as trustee;
•
Common administrative and decision-
making policies and protocols for all trusts;
•
More knowledgeable and focused fiduciary
oversight for family businesses, alternative
investments, start-ups, real estate, and
other non-public investments held in trust;
•
Greater privacy and confidentiality;
•
Better understanding and knowledge
of family circumstances and needs of
beneficiaries.
SFOs seeking to establish a PTC
primarily to avoid RIA registration
are advised to consult knowledgeable
securities counsel with experience
advising family offices.
Structuring Investments
The various investments managed by an SFO
are typically held in individual limited liability
entities, to limit the risk that losses or liabilities of
one investment will affect another. For example,
if the SFO holds commercial real estate, each
parcel of real property likely will be held in
a separate entity. If a passer-by slips on the
sidewalk in front of one building, incurs a severe
head injury and sues for medical expenses and
lifetime maintenance, any liability in excess of
the SFO's casualty coverage will be limited to
the assets of the entity that owns that building,
thereby protecting assets held in other entities.
SFOs are increasingly utilizing sophisticated
holding structures such as tracking partnerships.
A tracking partnership permits family office
clients to hold different partnership assets in
different percentages, with performance results
tracking accordingly.
By way of example, assume the tracking
partnership has four separate classes of
interests: Class B (bond portfolio), Class S
(indexed stock portfolio), Class A (alternatives
portfolio) and Class R (REIT portfolio).
Partner 1, an individual seeking a broadly
diversified portfolio, might hold a 10%
interest in Class B, a 10% interest in Class
S, a 20% interest in Class A and a 15%
interest in Class R.
Partner 2, a trust intended to fund education
expenses for Partner l's 10 grandchildren,
might hold 40% of Class B and only 5% of
each of the other classes.
Partners 3, 4, and 5 would hold the balance
of the interests in each Class, each in
accordance with their individual investment
goals.
A tracking partnership gives partners the
investment flexibility they would have if they
formed several partnerships, but permits them to
trade between classes from time to time without
recognizing gain or loss for tax purposes.
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SFO INFRASTRUCTURE (CONT'D)
Tracking partnerships offer considerable
flexibility, custom-tailoring of client portfolios, and
a consistent governance model for SFO clients.
However, they also bring with them complex tax,
accounting and reporting issues, and so need
to be designed with the help of knowledgeable
legal and accounting counsel and managed with
care.
Carried Interests
A carried interest is a
share of profits from a
partnership or LLC that
is paid to a participant
who did not provide any
capital to the venture.
A carried interest may
provide a tax-efficient
mechanism to fund
family office expenses, and may be used to
structure incentive compensation opportunities
for SFO staff.
Particularly in light of Dodd Frank and the SEC's
family office exemption, staff participation in
SFO investments should be reviewed to ensure
that they do not unintentionally trigger RIA
registration requirements.
SFOs are strongly advised to seek
guidance from tax and accounting
advisors before putting in place any
carried interest structure or incentive
compensation plan for SFO staff.
Insurance
A critical task for any SFO will be monitoring
and managing risk for the family, SFO clients
and their holdings and interests. Property and
casualty, liability, health and life insurance
typically will be overseen and coordinated by
SFO staff; developing relationships with an
insurance firm that has experience working
with SFOs, knowledgeable staff and a
comprehensive offering
of insurance products can
significantly improve the
scope of coverage while
reducing costs. Certain
assets, such as private jets
and other aircraft, require
unique holding structures,
insurance coverage and
regulatory compliance.
As the SFO grows and its clients and
investments change over time, it is a good idea
for the family and CEO to undertake a structural
audit from time to time, to make sure that the
SFO structure is optimal for its purpose. The
audit may uncover opportunities for eliminating
or reorganizing holding entities within the
structure, thereby reducing reporting, accounting
and compliance expenses for the SFO.
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SFO Advisors
•
A well-run SFO will have a
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and vetting advisors...
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SFO ADVISORS
Most SFOs will draw on the expertise of a variety
of outside advisors, including (but not limited
to) lawyers, accountants, bankers, insurance
providers, investment advisors, philanthropic
consultants and information technology
specialists. Seeking advice when needed,
contracting for services, and coordinating
the efforts of these specialists will be a major
responsibility of the SFO CEO and staff.
A well-run SFO will have a clear process
for selecting and vetting advisors. While
many members of the SFO team will have
experience working with various service
providers, it is important for the team to have
clear procedures for selecting advisors to avoid
conflicts of interest or playing favorites. Many
SFOs establish budgets for advisor-related
expenditures on an annual or more frequent
basis, thereby prioritizing needs and giving SFO
staff dear parameters for defining the scope of
each project with advisory team members.
Performance of existing advisors should be
reviewed from time to time to make sure that
the services they provide are of high quality and
are appropriate to the problems the SFO faces.
Are the advisor's services responsive, relevant,
comprehensive and delivered on a timely basis?
Does the advisor coordinate with other service
providers working on the same issues (for
example, does tax counsel work effectively with
the SFO's outside CPAs and internal accounting
team?) Does the advisor alert SFO staff to newly
arising or unexpected issues or opportunities?
Is family privacy and confidentiality respected?
Are the advisor's fees appropriate to the work
accomplished?
While some SFOs have sought to develop in-
house expertise in most areas, SFO observers
have noted a recent trend toward outsourcing,
which may offer the family greater access to
expertise at lower cost. An extreme example of
this trend is the virtual SFO, an entity without
an office or even dedicated staff of its own;
rather, SFO services are provided by a group of
advisors on a contract basis, quarterbacked by
one of those advisors.
The advantages of having an in-house,
dedicated team to manage the SFO are clear:
the team's focus will be undivided; its skills will
be matched to the needs and requirements
of the family and the SFO's specific assets
rather than those of each team member's
own general client base; the family's privacy
and confidentiality will be maintained and the
expertise will be on-call and available whenever
needed. Very generally speaking, in-house
service providers will tend to be more focused on
and responsive to the family's needs, and their
work will be under the sole control of the family.
Highly confidential and mission-critical services
should be the first priority when determining
which activities will be handled in-house.
The advantages of outsourcing SFO services
are significant as well: lower cost, exposure to
a broader range of advice and the perspective
and experience gained from serving multiple
similarly situated families; economies of scale
and access to higher-level expertise, particularly
in areas where the SFO's investments or needs
don't justify the expense of a full-time individual
or bespoke service. Very generally speaking,
outsourced service providers tend to have better
access to a wider range of information, and are
subject to the discipline and best practices of
the wider marketplace. Highly complex services
requiring substantial capital investment and
delivered in rapidly changing environments and
circumstances should be the first priority when
determining which activities will be outsourced.
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Investment Risk:
Investment Risk:
Accounting and
Estate
Asset Protection
Background
Fund-Related
Reporting
Tax Reporting
Planning
and Reputation
Checking
Risks
Management
Compliance and
Risk Management
COMPLIANCE AND
RISK MANAGEMENT
1
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investment services, perhaps the most
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COMPLIANCE AND RISK MANAGEMENT
While most SFOs are founded to provide
investment services, perhaps the most important
role of the SFO is to monitor and manage risk
for the family. With all investments and related
activities managed by a single team, the SFO
is in a better position than any individual family
member, advisor or service provider to measure
risk systematically and ensure that SFO assets
are protected from risk in its multiple forms.
While a comprehensive risk-analysis discussion
is beyond the scope of this paper, a well-run
SFO can manage the following risks a family
may face:
Investment Risk: Fund-Related Risks
SFOs typically invest a substantial portion of
the family's wealth in mutual funds, hedge funds
and private equity funds in an effort to diversify
the portfolio and boost alpha-related returns.
However, investing in funds can bring a variety
of risks that need to be monitored by the SFO
and its advisory team:
Funds are often touted a way to diversify
a the SFO portfolio, but this diversification
effort can backfire when multiple fund
managers are investing in the same security
or sector. It can be difficult to monitor such
concentrations due to lack of transparency
at the fund level. An independent investment
advisor may be able to provide greater
clarity than the SFO staff alone can achieve.
Hedge funds may exhibit "style creep" as
managers venture into new markets to
enhance returns.
•
Particularly in times of extreme market
volatility, redemption limitations or "gates"
can impair the SFO's ability to generate
liquidity.
Successful funds may become too large to
function optimally in a given market, hurting
returns.
As the Madoff Ponzi scheme and other
recent frauds have illustrated, governmental
oversight of funds and investments is
extremely limited. Fund investments
deserve careful due diligence before capital
is committed and regular oversight reviews
for as long as the investment is in place.
Offshore funds may offer even less
transparency than U.S. funds, and may
create expensive tax reporting obligations.
Investment Risk: Reporting
An SFO can't monitor what it can't measure.
SFOs manage complex webs of private entities
owning a broad portfolio of private and public
investments, all of which report their individual
performance at different times and in different
formats. As a result, generating timely, accurate
and comprehensive investment performance
reports is one of the most difficult—and
expensive—challenges for most SFOs. As
detailed on page 30, when a family considers
creating an SFO. it should plan to allocate a
substantial portion of the annual budget to
investment performance reporting-related
expenses. SFOs that shortchange reporting
capability often find themselves trying to make
decisions with inaccurate, outdated information.
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COMPLIANCE AND RISK MANAGEMENT (CON D)
Accounting and Tax Reporting
Most SFOs handle tax reporting and estimated
payments for family members and other SFO
clients. Most of these clients will have local,
state and federal tax filing obligations; some
will need to file in multiple jurisdictions. With
the increasing prevalence of complex holding
structures incorporating multiple pass-through
entities and grantor trusts, the task of complying
with tax reporting obligations is growing steadily
more difficult. The risk is significant: failure to file
accurate tax reports and make timely payments
can subject the client to audit, interest and
penalties. In addition to working with in-house
and outside accountants to ensure timely filing
and payments, the SFO will need to stay ahead
of tax law changes and new filing requirements.
As demonstrated by the recently implemented
rules requiring disclosure of foreign bank
accounts (the so-called FBAR requirements),
the cost of failure to comply can sometimes be
greater than the value of the asset.
Estate Planning
Most SFOs play a key role in helping clients to
put in place effective tax planning and ensuring
the planning is properly implemented. As with
accounting and tax reporting, the prevalence
of complex investment and wealth holding
structures leads to equally complex estate
planning structures. The SFO will generally
be responsible for coordinating with counsel
on the development of estate- and gift-
planning strategies and updating planning as
circumstances and assets change. SFO clients
often include one or more multigenerational
trusts created by prior generation family
members, and the SFO is typically responsible
for handling much of the administrative work for
existing and new trusts, including maintaining
accurate books and records, producing detailed
accountings, and handling tax reporting and
compliance. If the trustee of the trusts is a
Private Trust Company (PTC), the SFO will
typically manage administrative and investment
functions for the PTC.
Asset Protection and Reputation
Management
A major creditor claim—whether from a divorcing
spouse, an injury occurring on family property,
or consequences of a vehicular accident—can
be a significant threat to a wealthy family. How
a given asset is titled, held and insured can be
critical to managing such threats successfully.
The SFO generally will be responsible for
managing asset protection strategies and for
implementing multiple strategies (such as
limited liability holding structures, insurance,
indemnification agreements) where particular
circumstances warrant a layered approach.
SFOs for celebrities and prominent families are
developing detailed risk-management plans that
lay out procedures for family and staff to follow
in the event of an incident or emergency. Such
plans are particularly important for families that
travel abroad frequently or entertain extensively.
With the rising use of computers and social
networking sites by family members, many SFOs
are also developing reputation-management
protocols to reduce the risk of identity theft,
kidnapping, extortion or harassment of family
members.
Background Checking
The biggest risk to a wealthy family is an inside
job: a theft or other crime perpetrated by a
member of the family's inner circle of staff,
advisors and service providers. Most SFOs
undertake detailed background checks of
potential hires, and many do extensive vetting of
advisors and service providers as well.
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SFOs for Business-
Owning Families
SFOS FOR BUSINESS-
OWNING FAMILIES
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SFOs FOR BUSINESS-OWNING FAMILIES
Many business-owning families create an
informal family office within the business
administrative group. The company's accounting
team handles personal tax filings and financial
record-keeping, while administrative staff keeps
track of insurance, record-keeping and, often,
bill-paying for senior management, and possibly
for other family members as well. The benefits
of an embedded SFO are obvious: the family
can leverage an existing resource, so the family
office is efficient and cost-effective—or seems
to be.
There are serious drawbacks to an embedded
SFO. First and foremost, the focus of a family
office—wealth preservation—is different than
the focus of an operating business. Staff often
doesn't juggle the varied responsibilities well,
and skills that are critical in the business realm
don't necessarily translate into the family office
realm. For instance, partnership accounting
and reporting for trusts and complex investment
structures is quite different than corporate
accounting, and staff may lack the time, training
and technology to handle both jobs well. The
legal structure and governance of an SFO are
also quite different than those of a business,
and substantial missteps and mistakes may
occur when business practices are automatically
carried over to family office matters. Priorities
may be unclear. For instance, if an emergency
occurs in both the business and family office at
the same time, which should staff attend to first?
Risks of gaps in reporting and compliance rise
exponentially when staff is responsible for both
the business and the family office.
Families with operating businesses increasingly
are developing separate family offices to handle
their personal investments and manage their
non-business assets. Having a separate office
provides for greater privacy and confidentiality,
and allows for hiring staff with the specific
skillsets required by the family office. Family
office staff won't be subject to the hiring
practices of the corporation, permitting the
development of an SFO-specific organization
chart, responsibilities, compensation, and work
practices. A separate structure for the family
office also encourages a longer-range focus for
the family's own strategic planning.
Building the family office apart from the business
also increases opportunities for involvement
of family members who don't participate in the
business. By expanding family involvement,
the SFO can become a force for strengthening
family cohesion. Some families are using their
SFOs to create entrepreneurial venture funds,
investing in promising new businesses or
technologies, thereby increasing the odds of
expanding rather than simply preserving the
family's capital.
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Adapting to Changing
Circumstances
r
For redemptions of SFO investments,
as with redemptions of interests in
any privately held, illiquid entity, the
challenge will lie in valuing the redeeming
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ADAPTING TO CHANGING CIRCUMSTANCES
As families grow and circumstances change,
their SFOs will need to change and adapt in
turn. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the ratio
between the assets managed and the number
of clients served is an important predictor for the
long-term success of an SFO. The larger the
value of the assets, and the smaller the number
of clients, the more efficient and cost-effective
the SFO will be. This is not to say that there
aren't successful family offices for very large
clans, but as the number of clients grows, SFOs
must strengthen management and governance
and manage service creep to remain viable. It
can be particularly difficult for a SFO serving
a large family to remain cost-effective when
family members have widely varying personal
assets and net worth. In such circumstances,
unless a single family member is willing to bear
the expense for the entire office on behalf of
the rest of the family, spreading the cost of the
SFO's services through pricing mechanisms
can be extremely difficult and, if not done with
full transparency, can generate conflict and
dissension.
Strategies that SFOs have employed to deal with
changing circumstances include:
Dissolving, to permit clients to create their
own, smaller SFOs or join a multi family
office (MFO)
Reducing the number of clients served
('pruning the tree') to permit focus on a
subset of clients with common needs
•
Narrowing the services provided by the SFO
(for example, focusing only on investments
and requiring family members to contract
outside the SFO for accounting, tax
reporting, bill paying etc.)
Bringing in outside clients, thereby
becoming a MFO
Families who opt to dissolve their SFOs or
significantly reduce the number of clients should
prepare for a time-consuming process. It often
takes longer to dismantle an SFO than it took
to create it. Closing an SFO or redeeming a
client out of interlocking and complex investment
holding structures is a multi-step process, even
if every investment is liquid and notice periods
are short. When the investments include hedge
funds with long notice periods and gates,
extensive commitments to private equity funds,
natural resources, and real estate, generating
the necessary liquidity can take years. For
redemptions of SFO investments, as with
redemptions of interests in any privately held,
illiquid entity, the challenge will lie in valuing
the redeeming the client's interests in the
SFO's funds. Such interests will be subject to
discounts from capital account value—generally,
quite substantial discounts—and the process
of determining redemption value can be a
flashpoint for conflict among SFO clients. The
redemption process will be most successful
when the process for requesting redemptions
and determining redemption values is set forth
in writing and agreed to by all the clients of the
SFO at the outset.
Recognizing that clients will periodically need
access to liquidity, and that unplanned-for
redemptions and dissolutions can be extremely
difficult and time-consuming to navigate, many
SFOs have created family banks. A family bank
offers SFO clients the opportunity to borrow
against their interests in SFO investments or to
take partial redemptions. Family banks have a
number of advantages: they provide clients with
access to liquidity at affordable rates and reduce
clients' need or desire for redemptions. They
also make liquidity available to all clients on the
same terms, unlike handling requests for liquidity
on an ad hoc basis, with larger/more important
clients potentially getting preferential treatment.
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Key Technology
Needs For SFOs
r
How to Meet
Technology Needs
Technology
A critical early task in setting
up an SFO is defining the
mission of the family office...
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TECHNOLOGY
To be successful, an SFO will require robust
technology as well as an appropriate structure.
Many SFOs fail to optimize their technology
capabilities, either due to a lack of execution
or simply a lack of awareness around available
solutions. Below is an outline of the six key
technology needs for SF0s, along with a
roadmap for meeting those needs.
Key Technology Needs For SFOs
1. Family portal and document vault A
document vault permits encrypted/secure
connectivity and communication among
SFO staff, family members and interested
parties, along with electronic storage of
all family documents (family history, legal
agreements, wills, statements, etc.).
2.
General ledger accounting: A double-
entry accounting system, with workflow
and accounting controls, integrated with
investment and financial reporting, permits
the SFO team to track the inflows and
outflows of the family members, office and
related entities.
3. Financial administration: The SFO
accounting package should provide for
management and payment of all expenses
and accounts receivable and payable,
ideally, with integration and auto•posting to
the general ledger. Automation, along with
the appropriate controls (verification and
approval workflows), is critical to manage
the volume and complexity of transactions
most SFOs face.
4. Aggregated data, analytics, and reporting:
The accounting package must be capable
of providing family members with an
aggregated view of their balance sheet,
income and cash flows across multiple
custodians and financial relationships.
The package should also enable robust
ad hoc reporting (including risk metrics
and performance analytics) on each family
member's comprehensive net-worth picture.
5.
Investment and analytics tools: Increasingly,
SFOs are either insourcing all or portions
of the CIO function to gain greater control
and transparency over their external
investments. A SFO with any degree of
in-house CIO function will require portfolio
management and trading systems, as well
as market data and manager research/due
diligence databases.
6. Infrastructure and security: SFOs have
traditionally self-hosted their data and
technology solutions. In other words, they
have acquired and managed their own
IT equipment, software and processes.
However, outsourced providers now offer
cloud-based virtual hosting services in
highly secure (SAS 70 Level II and ongoing
security audit testing certification) and
cost-effective hosting environments (with
disaster-recovery support). SFOs should
consider the cost/benefit and ongoing
flexibility of the latest hosting options.
SFOs also must consider their IT staff and
organization: whether full time IT employees
are needed or whether IT support can be
adequately outsourced.
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TECHNOLOGY poNnv
How to Meet Technology Needs
Because IT is a mission-critical function for
every family office, SFOs must take a strategic
approach to designing, selecting, executing and
maintaining their IT systems and resources.
The task of developing a strategic plan for IT
investment is complex. For this project, the SFO
would be wise to engage a consulting group with
specific experience designing IT solutions for
SFOs.
1. Design: Whether upgrading an existing
technology infrastructure or starting anew,
an SFO needs to begin by assessing its
technology needs and requirements, taking
into consideration all the family members,
business and investment entities, office
staff and external advisors that must be
supported. SFOs are increasingly adopting
institutional-like requirements around their
IT in terms of mobile and real-time online
accessibility, tools for trading, analytics
and research and, most of all, looking to
achieve greater transparency. In particular,
SFOs seek greater visibility into all of their
direct and manager fund investments,
real-time evaluation of the level of risk
(through standard deviation, VaR, etc.) and
look-throughs on asset class, holding and
geographic exposure across investments.
They also require monitoring of counterparty
relationships and clarity about their global
asset allocation at the entity, household and
individual levels. These needs should all be
reflected in the strategic plan. The strategic-
planning process will include documenting,
confirming and prioritizing needs and
requirements, as well as developing due-
diligence criteria for vetting potential solution
providers. For example, the due-diligence
criteria will likely include: insource vs.
outsource, buy vs. build, firm size/tenure,
security standards and reference checks.
Ultimately, the process will lead to a request
for proposal (RFP) and evaluation of service
providers who meet the criteria.
2.
Selection: SFOs that undertake an IT
strategic-planning process leading to an
RFP process have a myriad of options
concerning the types of technology
approaches they can take due to the ever-
increasing number of vendor solutions
emerging to meet the unique needs of
SFOs. Some SFOs opt to leverage and
integrate a number of disparate stand-
alone vendors to meet their needs. For
example, they may use a general ledger
from a provider such as Intuit, QuickBooks
or Microsoft, coupled with a reporting
package such as SAP Crystal Reports, firms
such as the Rackspace for Cloud hosting,
financial administration from the bill pay
capabilities of their banking relationship,
etc. Others leverage a single provider to
meet the majority, if not all, of their needs
(examples include: Wealth Touch, Archway
Technology Partners, and RocklT). Families
with more limited current and forecasted
needs, who believe they can ably execute
and maintain their technology themselves,
typically take the former approach. Those
who need a more robust and scalable
solution are increasingly partnering with
single-source providers. SFOs should
also be aware that a number of financial
institutions have begun developing in-
house capabilities or partnering with leading
family office technology providers that offer
families and SFOs IT solutions and related
services such as access to market data and
tools to manage risk, analytics and trading.
Their technologies may be integrated into
the family offices investment management
and banking systems or on an Ala carte
basis. These options are often viable
and cost-effective for SFOs (as they are
typically subsidized or simply included for
no additional charge as part of the overall
services).
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TECHNOLOGY (CONTD)
3.
Assessment of multiple-solution approaches
and providers: Gamer detailed cost data in
the evaluation process and benchmark the
cost projections against peers.
When evaluating options, SFOs should
select the solution(s) that provide for all
of their requirements, allow flexibility and
scalability for ongoing growth, require
limited investment in maintenance and
enhancements, and above all, ensure
the privacy and security of the data and
documents of the family. One of the
objectives of the process should be to
achieve collective buy-in across the staff
and family members who will use the IT
system.
4. Execution: Experience suggests it is the
execution phase that creates the greatest
challenges for SFOs, making ease-
of-implementation a key priority in the
selection process. It is not enough for an
SFO to establish criteria, circulate an RFP,
evaluate providers and choose a solution.
Sufficient resources (including funds, time,
focus and attention) must be allocated for
implementing the chosen solution. Some
SFOs have sufficient technical expertise
to evaluate and select an in-house
integrated solution leveraging multiple
software providers, but most find it overly
burdensome to implement, configure and
customize, integrate and test the chosen
solution. Other SFOs taking the in-house
multi-solution approach will engage the
software provider's professional-services
32
team or an external IT consultant to
implement the chosen IT solution. Using an
outside team for implementation can speed
up the upfront implementation, but in the
maintenance phase that can become costly
over time. Those SFOs that opt to outsource
their technology needs via a financial
institution or third-party partner will often
be able to get up and running more quickly
than those that choose a more customized
or in-house approach. SFOs with relatively
uncomplicated reporting needs that they
outsource to an external provider may
be able to use modular options, or may
choose to take advantage of the provider's
configuration and customization abilities (at
additional cost).
5. Maintenance: IT costs for SFOs vary
widely depending on their IT needs, the
number of entities, global reach, assets
under administration (AUM), type of assets
and liabilities, and the approach they
take to the IT environment. The total IT
budget will typically include: consulting
support throughout the process, hardware
costs, software license fees and annual
maintenance costs (typically a percentage
of license fees), outsourced operations
fees (typically annual fees based on the
complexity of services such as aggregated
reporting or financial administration: e.g.
number of entities. number of transactions,
AUM, etc.), professional services
configuration and customization of solutions,
and hosting and data management.
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TECHNOLOGY (CONT'D)
For illustration purposes, based on industry
research and interviews and surveys, SFOs
can expect to maintain an annual IT cost base
(software, operational outsourcing, hardware
and hosting fees, and IT staff) of 10-15 bps of
their AUM. The large majority of SFOs have
moderate IT requirements. They can choose a
basic general ledger and manually create reports
via Excel, while maintaining a small or part-
time IT staff. These SFOs typically have annual
costs in the $50,000-$150,000 range. However,
SFOs that have significant IT requirements
often leverage one of the leading family office
services-outsource providers (Wealth Touch,
Archway Technologies, or Rockit for example),
in addition to IT staff and other IT software and
infrastructure. They might see total costs of
$3 million to $ 4 million+, driven largely by the
complexity of their balance sheets (the number
of entities, alternative investments, transaction
and bill payment flow, etc.), customization needs
and geographic dispersion.
For budgeting purposes, SFOs must consider
ongoing upgrades (software and infrastructure),
research and development costs, evolving
requirements of the office and family members,
the pace of change in technology capabilities,
and the complexities of IT security and data
management. Given these considerations,
many SFOs that previously chose to handle IT
in-house are increasingly looking to outsource
their core IT needs to third-party providers,
while maintaining a small IT staff to attend
to less complex office and individual family
member needs (e.g. property and personal use
vehicle connectivity, security, mobile device
management, etc.).
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Chief
Chief
Chief
Chief Legal
Director of
Director of
Family
Executive
Bookkeeper
Family
Executive
Investment
Firiarcio,
Officer
Philanthropy
Information
Office
Assistant
Seam:,
Officer
Officer
Officer
(CLO)
Technology
Manager
Or.,or
(CEO)
(CIO)
(CFO)
SFO Personnel
r Given the importance of talent, the family—I
should strongly consider interviewing
and selectively working with one or
multiple recruitment professionals that
have experience with staffing senior SFO
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SFO PERSONNEL
With the mission statement, infrastructure and all
the other pieces in place, the family is now ready
to source and hire the SFO team.
With any position, there needs to be a clearly
defined mandate and job description, a process
for hiring and a due diligence investigation
conducted for all potential hires. An employee
handbook outlining protocols and procedures
drafted by an employment attorney is
recommended. In addition, the attorney needs
to draft non-disclosure and privacy documents
for all interviewees and further documentation,
including employment agreements, for all hires.
SFO Recruiters
Given the importance of talent the family should
strongly consider interviewing and selectively
working with one or multiple recruitment
professionals that have experience with staffing
senior SFO positions.
Compensation Specialist
The SFO should engage a compensation
specialist experienced in SFOs to assist in
designing a compensation and benefits plan to
attract, retain and motivate the most qualified
candidates. More than simply base salary
ranges, a compensation specialist artfully
designs a compensation package that may
include short and long-term incentive bonuses,
carried interest opportunities, co-investment
opportunities, qualified retirement plan offerings,
insurance, and deferred compensation (409A) I
phantom stock "golden handcuff' strategies. The
right mix aligns interests, encourages long-term
employment and productive relationships.
Hiring the Team
The most common SFO positions are outlined
below. It is recommended to hire carefully
and prudently to ensure the right personnel. A
family should hire only the employees that are
absolutely required initially, while outsourcing
other functions. Over time, additional employees
can be hired to replace outsourced services in a
phased approach.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) should be a
business savvy, highly experienced professional
who spearheads the SFO. Trustworthiness,
leadership, communication and the unwavering
ability to execute the family plan are essential.
This is a role for an "Expert Generalist".
Job Responsibilities
Usually, the CEO is an experienced business
professional and leader, with experience in the
specific sectors in which the SFO invests. The
CEO should have broad knowledge in finance,
accounting and other technical areas; however,
he or she does not have to be a true expert in
every technical aspect of the SFO.
There are times when a very strong financial,
accounting or legal background is preferable
to business and leadership savvy. The right
CEO for an SFO that runs multiple operating
businesses will likely not be the right CEO for
an SFO that invests primarily in public markets.
There is no set formula and the SFO and its
personnel must be customized per a family's
needs.
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SFO PERSONNEL (corat)
The CEO needs to be engaged in all aspects
of the SFO, yet understand the importance of
delegating (with oversight and accountability).
The CEO needs to communicate on an on-going
basis with the family and focus on the SFO's
mission. This position answers directly to the
family leaders and SFO board/committee.
For a CEO to be effective, he or she must have
the ability to engage multiple family members
and generations. Education and motivation of
the younger generation will critical to the long-
term success of the family and the SFO. An
understanding of family dynamics and the ability
to facilitate critical family discussions effectively
is also important.
A CEO should embrace modem technology
as a family communication and business
management tool to advance the success of the
SFO in servicing the family.
Depending on the family's desires and
expectations, a well-connected and business-
savvy CEO can source business, real estate and
other opportunities for the family.
Additionally, some families desire to seed fund
and develop partnership interests with talented
traders (i.e. hedge fund, private equity, etc.), as
well as invest in emerging growth companies.
A proactive CEO can help with sourcing and
vetting these opportunities.
The CEO needs to carry out the mission and
coordinate effectively all aspects of the SFO
in a synchronized effort in fulfilling the family's
mission and vision. This is why leadership,
business savvy and communication are
a constant theme in the description and
responsibilities of this role. Using a sports
analogy, the family is the sports franchise
"owner" and the CEO is the "coach" who needs
to maximize and coordinate the efforts of all the
"players" (i.e. employees).
CEO Salary Ranges and Compensation
As of this writing (2012) the CEO in a small
SFO commands $300,000 - $600,000 and in a
larger SFO (or small SFOs with more dynamic
requirements and/or family members that see
the value in a great aspirational candidate
regardless of cost) can cost anywhere from
$500,000 - $2,000,000, inclusive of base salary,
short-long term incentive bonuses, deferred
compensation and, possibly, co-investing
opportunities.
Experienced family office advisors and principles
highly recommend aligning and motivating the
CEO and CIO (and at times other positions)
with co-investment opportunities to attract truly
top tier talent. SFOs are competing with global
institutions and so must have commensurate
compensation to attract, retain and motivate the
best talent. In a more dynamic CEO role, often
with more direct and alternative investments,
a commitment from the CEO to commit a
percentage of their salary, bonus and/or deferred
compensation to co-investment opportunities
can be mutually beneficial.
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SFO PERSONNEL (CONTD)
Chief Investment Officer (CIO)
The other primary most senior position in an
SFO is the Chief Investment Officer (CIO).
Broadly this role falls into two camps: direct
investors, and allocators to managers.
True Investors
Although less common than allocators, many
larger families and entrepreneurial families
see the value in being direct investors. This
commonly means hiring a CIO with significant
and successful direct investment and investment
banking expertise. Direct investors typically
scour the globe seeking opportunities, making
larger and more long-term allocations than an
allocator would typically make.
There are advantages to being a direct investor:
keeping it all intemal, controlling the investments
and truly knowing what you own. Such an
investment philosophy better controls taxes,
the exit from such specific investments often
receives more favorable capitals gains tax
treatment, and can reduce investment-related
expenses
For SFOs that seek to be direct investors, the
CIO must have a very strong grounding in direct
deals and investment banking, while outside
managers are used to execute the other asset
classes in the allocation that are not the direct
focus of the CIO. Over time, the SFO may elect
to build out internal expertise and take a more
direct investing approach in these other asset
classes as well.
Allocators
More commonly, SFOs are allocators. In this
scenario the CIO needs to be first and foremost
excellent at planning, organizing, sourcing
(money managers and business opportunities),
due diligence, monitoring, validating and
reporting on all investment activities.
The CIO of an allocator SFO needs to source
best-in-class money managers who carry out
37
the actual investing of a particular allocation,
such as cash management, bonds, equities,
real estate and commodities. In addition to
(or instead of) traditional long-only managers,
alternatives managers may be selected for a
given allocation to add shorting, leverage and
derivative strategies. The choices on money
managers are generally presented and approved
by the family leaders and investment committee.
CIO Salary Ranges and Compensation
For many SFOs, the CIO will be the greatest
expense and also its greatest generator of value.
Direct investor CIO base salaries can range from
$250,000 to $500,000. However. factoring in
annual cash bonus and deferred compensation
from incentive allocations in deals sourced by
the CIO can bring total compensation for a top
direct investor CIO to several million dollars or
more.
The CIO for an allocator SFO commonly falls
into a base salary from S200,000 - $400,000
with bonuses ranging from $200,000 to
$600,000. Some allocator SFOs provide
deferred compensation in the form of incentive
allocations, though such incentives are less
common than for direct investor SFOs.
In addition, both CIO types are often presented
with the opportunity to co-invest along side the
family in addition to the before-mentioned family
allocation as part of a deferred compensation
plan.
Some SFOs require the CIO to co-invest,
seeking full commitment into the investment and
aligned interest.
Both the direct investor and allocator models
will generally require the SFO to hire junior
analyst(s) to source and evaluate opportunities.
Total costs can vary and include some of the
same structure of salary. bonus, deferred
compensation and co-investment opportunity
as in the CIO position. Salary levels + bonus
typically total between $150,000 - $300,000 per
analyst.
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SFO PERSONNEL (CONTD)
Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
For families with substantial business interests
and/or significant personal, trust and partnership
accounting requirements, the CFO is a highly
desired professional addition to the SFO.
Traditionally, the candidate would have a
strong combination of business and personal
accounting background, preferably from the Big
Four, as well as CFO experience in a successful
private company.
It is not uncommon in scenarios where the family
has multiple business interests for the SFO
CEO, to be a CFO by training, with a very strong
accounting background, and that accounting
function remains core to their CEO duties.
Job Responsibilities
The CFO position within an SFO differs from
a traditional CFO position in other companies
in that this position is also responsible for
the personal tax issues and returns of the
family members (including family trusts and
partnerships). In large SFOs with multiple
accounting personnel on staff, this may be under
the supervision of the CFO.
The CFO should be experienced in complex
multi-generational estate planning and needs
to coordinate efforts with family legal council
(whether in-house or outsourced). In certain
areas of extreme tax specialty on these issues,
the CFO should source appropriate accounting
council and coordinate efforts.
The CFO should coordinate with the CIO on
tax strategies for the family involving their
investment portfolio. Tax overlay, capital gains
decisions on sales, and many other aspects
dictate that an efficient SFO has synchronized
efforts among all personnel. Coordinated and
integrated management is one of the primary
benefits of establishing a SFO.
Many family leaders, as well as the CEO,
desire to constantly view updated cash flow
reports, family income and expense statements,
as well as financial statements (i.e. balance
sheet). The CFO needs to perform this function
and maximize utilization of the applicable
infrastructure and technology systems at their
disposal in preparing documents and reporting.
If there is no CFO, then the CEO may take on
this function directly or manage and compile the
data from internal sources (CIO, bookkeeper,
accountant, etc.) or outsourced providers.
Although sometimes sourced to bookkeeping
and/or an executive assistant, the CFO may also
handle bill paying for the SFO as well as the
family.
The CFO commonly assists in evaluating
business and real estate opportunities for the
family, managing lines of credit, business and
family loans, as well as cash distributions to
family members.
A combination of business and personal financial
management capabilities is highly preferred for a
CFO, but if the family has a specific need for this
role, the expertise of the CFO may reflect that
need and then the CFO can coordinate hiring or
outsourcing for the other areas of responsibility.
CFO Salary Ranges and Compensation
Base salary frequently ranges from $175,000 -
$250,000. Salary, combined with short-long term
bonuses, deferred compensation and (although
less common than the other senior positions
noted) may include co-investing opportunities,
combined compensation frequently will range
between $300,000 - $550,000. SFOs created
by financial figures frequently prefer CFO type
'CEOs' so that the investing aspect remains
the domain of the family principal; in such
cases cash flow, business management /
accounting, personal accounting, partnership
and LLP interest as well as estate planning are
paramount talents in the key executives.
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SFO PERSONNEL (CONTD)
Chief Legal Officer (CLO)
A Chief Legal Officer (CLO) is common in
more substantial SFOs. However, as stated
throughout, it is all about what is best for the
family's needs. A key benefit for the family is
building out an SFO organization that is highly
customized.
Job Responsibilities
Families with highly complex and/or multiple
business interests can benefit greatly from hiring
an in-house legal professional. The CLO can
evaluate business, real estate and complex
investment opportunities from a different
perspective than the other senior executives
of the SFO. The CLO can negotiate business
transactions and perform closings as well.
The CLO may be hired for both business and
personal needs, or have a focus on the personal
family needs, organizing and monitoring family
trusts and partnerships, as well as trust &
estates issues.
As noted earlier in the section on CFO, for the
principal who remains an active investor (this is
how their wealth was created), a highly talented
and trusted attorney can be the choice of the
CEO.
Families of significant wealth often need multiple
specialized experts in business, patents,
litigation, marriage law/pre-nuptials, trust &
estates, etc. A well-diversified and connected
CLO can manage these areas through
internal staff and outsourced relationships and
coordinate all efforts.
CLO Salary Ranges and Compensation
Similar to the CFO position, base salary
frequently ranges from $175,000 - $250,000.
Salary, combined with short-long term bonuses,
deferred compensation and (although less
common than the other senior positions
noted) may include co-investing opportunities,
combined compensation frequently will vary
between $300,000 - $550,000.
Director of Philanthropy
Some families elect to create a Director of
Philanthropy position. Most commonly, the
family's philanthropic initiatives are directed
through a separate entity, such as a family
foundation(s), as opposed to directed by the
family SFO.
It is always recommended to create separate
entities for the SFO and the family foundation(s).
Until a family's philanthropic mission and giving
level is sufficiently expansive to warrant hiring
a full time director, typically an engaged family
member assumes the responsibility for the role.
Most families of significant wealth desire
to improve their ability to identify and verify
philanthropic opportunities for causes that are
in alignment with their family values, investment
focus, and personal passions. More often, the
decision is based on passion and engagement,
and less so by financial motivations.
Job Responsibilities
The family member or director selected to
undertake this endeavor needs to understand
how philanthropic endeavors fit within the family
mission statement and business plan. Focusing
active family members and engaging younger
generations in their passions is critical to this
role.
The Director of Philanthropy, along with a
specific philanthropic advisory committee,
sources and vets philanthropic opportunities
aligned with the family mission statement and
business plan. If the family seeks outside
contributions, fundraising experience is
preferred, with both traditional and online
expertise. Executive management experience
at a foundation or other charitable experience
would be recommended.
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SFO PERSONNEL (CONTD)
How the family should donate money to various
organizations involves legal and tax implications.
This is best left to experienced in-house or
outsourced legal and tax professionals. Family
foundations, charitable remainder trusts, and
charitable lead trusts are all viable options.
The Director of Philanthropy should assist
in managing the process and distributions
to charity (no matter the vehicle), as well as
following through to gauge and measure the
results.
Families are encouraged to organize applicable
philanthropic giving vehicles only after they are
fully committed to giving. The first step is to
develop a philanthropic strategy built around the
family mission statement and business plan. A
truly engaged family member is often needed to
drive this process. Philanthropy is an excellent
way for younger family members to feel active in
the family decisions.
Philanthropic giving goes deeper than tax
benefits, and helps to teach the younger family
members about compassion, giving and choices.
Director of Philanthropy Salary Ranges and
Compensation
If going outside the family to fill the position,
salary can range from $100,000 - $200,000.
Director of Information Technology
Large SFOs frequently hire a Director of
Information Technology (IT). This position is
vastly underrated and should be considered in
all SFOs. This position advises and coordinates
the technical infrastructure of the SFO. Many
SFOs have critical computer needs and highly
specialized software requirements that all need
to be supported and upgraded on an ongoing
basis.
This position should positively impact family
connectivity and communications as well as
costs and control of the SFO.
This position can range from $100,000 -
$150,000, depending on the complexity of the
technology infrastructure required.
Family Office Manager
The Family Office Manager is a unifying position
that focuses on the SFO running as efficiently
and effectively as possible. This position can
involve HR functions (managing directly or
in coordination with an outsourced firm). The
Family Office Manager frequently is the conduit
for the family and in-house staff and assists with
coordinating outsourced professionals.
The Family Office Manager is commonly less
defined by a traditional role than other positions.
The position requires a person of diverse talents
who learns quickly, is highly organized, and
initiates solutions.
In smaller SFOs, the Office Manager will
coordinate business and personal services for
the family, in conjunction with the executive
assistant.
This position can range from $100,000 -
$150,000.
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SFO PERSONNEL (CONTD)
Executive Assistant
Families can have one or multiple executive
assistants depending on the size and number
of employees of an SFO. Frequently, there is an
executive assistant to the key family leader(s)
and another executive assistant assigned to key
SFO personnel.
The responsibilities of this position, particularly
at the personal level, can vary widely. An
executive assistant may act as the primary
person coordinating household management
and personal household staffing needs. They
may manage multiple personal matters such as
medical information, insurance, family vehicles,
child care, and collectibles. They may be the
primary conduit to the family leader for personal
appointments, calendar management and
children's needs.
Personal service and impeccable organizational
skills are the hallmarks of this qualified
professional. Being infallible under pressure and
proactive in the identifying and meeting needs of
the family or key SFO personnel. The executive
assistant is excellent at communication (written
and verbal) and proficient in technology.
This position can range from $75,000 -
$135,000.
Bookkeeper
This position often supports the CFO, or in
smaller SFOs without a CFO, may take on
additional responsibilities. Managing payroll (or
coordinating with an outsourced firm), handling
receivables, paying business and personal
family bills, coordinating medical and insurance
claims, processing and coordinating mail (this
may also be handled by an executive assistant)
are just some of the traditional responsibilities of
this position.
This position can range from $50,000 - $90,000.
Family Security Director
Many families are rightly concerned about
security and are finding a need to hire a
Security Director to manage and mitigate family
residence, business, cyber and outside activity
risks. If not a direct employee of the family or the
SFO, the security director can be an outsourced
specialist. In larger SFOs, the Family Security
Director is also responsible for the security
measures within the SFO, including offices,
technology security and family safety.
This position can range from $100,000
$200,000.
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F1-
I
Trend 1
Trend 2
Trend 3
fa
Global Trends in SFOs
SFO success depends in large
part on how effectively the family
reevaluates and reexamines its
goals and objectives...
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GLOBAL TRENDS IN SFOs
Trend 1: There is tremendous upside potential
for successful development of family offices in
strategic growth markets of Asian, Latin America,
the Middle East and Russia that adapt to the
following global and industry realities:
•
A tectonic shift in family wealth from
mature to strategic growth markets. The
nature of this new family wealth is, by
definition, entrepreneurial.
•
75% to 80% of first-generation family
wealth will likely be transferred within the
next decade.
•
Say adios to the traditional tax-neutral
offshore family wealth model. SFOs in
strategic growth markets must vigilantly
monitor the tax, legal and regulatory
environment in jurisdictions where wealthy
families maintain assets.
•
Family education and governance, which
enable families to link their values across
generations, must become a priority for
global SFOs.
•
Operational efficiencies require families
of means that have newer family offices
to outsource and delegate critical portions
of SFO management to highly trusted
advisors.
•
Global political risk requires
entrepreneurial families to evaluate and
manage, where possible, how certain
geopolitical upheavals (such as the Arab
Spring, for example) will impact their
businesses and their SFOs.
Trend 2: All global families—regardless of
geography, industry, ethnic make-up, dynamics
and individual objectives-share certain
common imperatives to effectively develop
relevant standards in the following areas:
•
Retaining top management talent
•
Sustaining growth and profitability
•
Optimizing global capital structure
•
Adapting to evolving risk profile
•
Building a cross-border family agenda
•
Anticipating global political change
•
Mapping tax, legal and regulatory priorities
•
Evaluating strategic relationships
•
Embedding family vision and values and an
ethos of responsibility in the SFO culture
SFO success depends in large part on
how effectively the family reevaluates and
reexamines its goals and objectives, especially
as family leadership changes, against this
standard set of common imperatives.
Trend 3: An SFO's approach, tone and
achievable results vary in different parts of the
world, requiring global advisors to adopt different
strategies—especially in a post-financial crisis
environment.
Family governance and family wealth-planning
strategies may be unfamiliar to SFOs in
certain strategic growth markets, but they are
increasingly aware of the adage of •shirt sleeves
to shirt sleeves in three generations." Many
recognize the need for proper family governance
and family wealth-planning strategies during the
lifetime of the family wealth creator.
However, even after implementing a family
governance system during the design phase
of an SFO, families must constantly refine and
reevaluate their values, vision and mission
throughout the fife of their SFO.
First-generation entrepreneurial wealth creators
in strategic growth countries now demand
independent, thoughtful and authentic advice
and family client leadership from their bankers
and advisors. Instead of hawking opaque
financial products to meet artificially mandated
sales quotas, everything now must be carefully
and individually tailored to meet the complex
business and personal needs of the families—
which is the way it should have been all along!
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The Modem Single
Family Office 1
The Modem Single
Family Office 2
The Modem Single
Family Office 3
SFO Profiles
A full-time general counsel with deep
experience on direct deals and hedge
funds oversees the SFO's global dealings,
direct investment and seeding activities...
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•
SFO PROFILES
The Modern Single Family Office 1
This family office was created in 2003 in New
York by a successful proprietary quant trader at
a large global bank. Its primary mandate was
to aggressively manage his assets by pursuing
exceptional long-term returns. Currently in his
late 40s, this wealth creator is married with two
young children.
The SFO employs 11 individuals. The CIO, a
former hedge fund manager, formalized the
SFO's investment philosophy: to create positive
absolute returns that have low correlation to
major market indices, by focusing wholly on
generating alpha. From lime to time, tactical
bets are taken on directional long or short
opportunities. The CIO hired an analyst to
custom design and maintain a technological
platform for account aggregation, reporting
and an analytical risk management tool, plus
top-level researchers, operations people and IT
professionals. A full-time general counsel with
deep experience on direct deals and hedge
funds oversees the SFO's global dealings, direct
investment and seeding activities.
The top-tier professionals, who have been
through a few market cycles, know how to
manage risk and anticipate reversals. They
receive attractive compensation, including
base salary and a discretionary bonus. Senior
managers receive phantom stock. Profit
participation consists of half cash and half in an
investment with the fund which vests in three
years. when they achieve and exceed their
investment activities. All investors, principal and
outside the investment vehicle, pay full fees,
which are currently 1 and 10.
The SFO's investors consider multiple
investment opportunities several times a year
and travel the world to narrow their ideas down
to two or three core themes for which to do
-deep dive' research. In the spring of 2011. most
of the portfolio was allocated as follows:
•
18% in mortgages and credit,
•
15% in equity-event driven and equity long/
short,
•
14% in macro/emerging markets,
•
8% in quant strategies
•
6% in direct positions and hedges including
highly convex option trades as protection
from disruptive market events
40% in real estate, private equity, seed
deals and carbon credit arbitrage
The SFO operates with a central prime broker
and works with 15 smaller niche-focused hedge-
fund managers who traffic in less crowded
spaces and have most of their personal wealth
invested in their funds. These relationships come
with advisory board seats, favorable terms and
high transparency.
Internal talent with connections to the industry
helps the SFO source smaller managers through
fellow SFOs, traders, analysts at institutional
banks and other hedge fund managers. The
SFO opted not to bear the cost and time of hiring
direct and internal investment teams, but it has
pulled investment teams from other institutions,
such as one team of Ph.D.s lifted out to do a
specific trading strategy. After the team was
spun out, the SFO remains part owner of this
independently operated investment firm.
Family principals will someday step back from
the risk as the importance of preservation,
charitable giving and their own legacy come to
the fore, but for now they are fully engaged with
the market.
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SFO PROFILES (coNrtv
The Modem Single Family Office 2
A successful entrepreneur created this family
office in 2005 after the sale of his insurance
company. He hired a dynamic individual who
is sophisticated in finance and entrepreneurial
pursuits as CIO, and who is a first-generation
American and second-generation of wealth.
The CIO's father emigrated from Asia in the
1970s and launched a successful medical
services company, which he sold in the 1980s.
The family managed its own assets initially and
became appalled by the lack of transparency
and high fees associated with equity trading.
The founder created a software program that
would consolidate all public equities listed on
global stock exchanges and founded a broker-
dealer and clearing firm that they marketed to
active day traders in the late 1990s, which they
sold for a significant sum in the early part of
this century. The founder's younger son created
and directed the family's SFO and focused on
public securities. The older son worked on direct
private deals. The younger son also began
actively managing and co-investing his own
family's assets with those of this wealth creator.
The SFO's 30 employees include investment
and foundation talent, a CFO, IT professional,
bookkeeper and in-house legal counsel. The
CIO's unique compensation includes base
salary, a bonus for a part of the portfolio in which
he has full discretion, a piece of the carry, and
a carry on the overall portfolio performance if it
beats internal benchmarks.
They actively maintain relationships with 11
global banking institutions (while focusing on
four key relationships) to access top bankers,
researchers and traders, and for benefits
such as custody, lending, research and cash
management, although the office rarely
participates in opportunities that the banks
recommend. Instead, the banks' talent helps the
SFO flesh out ideas and collect the consensus
on the Street. A global trusted network of fellow
SFO investors, bankers, traders, hedge fund
managers, VCs and angel investors invigorates
the office with new investment ideas. The
SFO directly seeds emerging hedge fund
managers, as former prop desk trading talent
are in transition due to the regulatory climate.
The CIO talks weekly with many members of
the investment committee—key executives in
the SFO, select hedge fund mangers, bankers,
traders and college professors—and presents
the consensus direction to the wealth creator,
who is the final decision maker. The CIO has
discretion over part of the portfolio, and is
accountable for the success or failure of his
decisions.
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SFO PROFILES (CONTD)
The Modern Single Family Office 2 (cont'd)
With minimal direct international exposure, the
SFO owns stocks of companies with strong
international exposure. It has no current direct
allocation to hedge fund managers in emerging
markets, due to concerns about hedging risk
in such portfolios. The SFO maintains a small
allocation to commodities, while markets of
concern include the opaque fixed income
market, U.S. farmland, Australian real estate and
gold and coffee bean prices. The SFO elected
to redeem equity positions allocated to hedge
funds, as those managers were not active or
fluent in shorting.
Current Allocation Includes
•
20% cash
•
20% fixed income
•
30% equities
•
10% real estate
•
15% direct private equity
•
5% short-term position
Favorable terms on fees on hedge fund
investments are explored, but transparency and
liquidity are paramount. The management fee for
smaller managers only covers expenses, with an
incentive fee tied to success of the investments.
Because hedge fund managers achieve alpha
and outsized returns early in the hedge fund's
life cycle, the CIO makes managers put up first
loss of capital where possible, to align them with
the interest of the investors.
While the two families in this multi-family office
share risk tolerance, levels of service, expenses,
vision and purpose, its challenge will be to
integrate the wider families as the generations
age and the drive for absolute returns shifts to
wealth preservation.
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SFO PROFILES (CONTD)
The Modern Single Family Office 3
This European multi-generational SFO emerged
after the primary family business was liquidated.
The original patriarch mandated that the family
office's directors invest a significant percentage
of the SFO's assets in private and proprietary
business structures providing a high degree of
liquidity.
A dedicated third-party management team
distributes earned income from various
businesses to family members and actively
supports and directs the businesses that
generate consistent cash flow. This SFO does
not permit allocations of capital to outside
or third-party money managers, which has
proven less volatile than beta instruments and
has generated substantial returns on capital
invested. One of its key allocation requirements
is the ability to liquidate the portfolio without
having to rely on the sale of a core business or
asset.
Simple strategy guidelines were used with
each family beneficiary, and their collective
needs were broken down into subsets.
Direct beneficiaries and representatives for
beneficiaries provide groundwork for good
governance. Representatives are often a
husband or wife who represents a family of five
that is entitled to one share of the distribution,
to allow for one voice, preferably by bloodline.
Mandatory prenuptial agreements reduce
potential future dissent and the consequence of
losing one's beneficial stake.
48
The SFO's eligible voting members elected a
five-person board. They serve as gatekeepers
to whom management reports and serve two-
year terms. Board members generally refer all
business issues to management, who present
business solutions for the family office. Only
family members active in management can be
solicited for anything and can direct matters to
the third-party management team.
Expansion of beneficiary-eligible family
members across many generations has forced
the need for an extensive and comprehensive
infrastructure. The SFO needs automated
financial reporting and forecasting with footnotes
in five languages. At the core is an operations
program hosted across multiple international
servers, which integrates all family office
support needs including travel, common asset
usage scheduling, individualized security,
family and person-specific notifications, health
and emergency care, general and individual
financial reporting and banking access. The
SFO was designed as a focal point for a close-
knit, cohesive and loving group, with emphasis
during its creation on proper governance.
The organizational structure includes rules
of governance that take precedence over the
resulting financial entities and dictates the
best utilization of the financial structure. The
SFO's complex priorities, solutions and goals
emphasize wealth creation and distribution
events to support multi-generational family
members.
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SFO PROFILES fcasinv
The Modem Single Family Office 3 (cont'd)
This SFO eschews Wall Street's attempts to
force family offices into hedge funds, private
equity and fixed income. Instead, it takes a
grassroots approach to owning businesses and
targets the family's experience and skill sets
to enhance rates of return instead of taking a
shotgun, diversified portfolio of beta investments.
The main consideration before investing is taxes,
which has jurisdictional implications and financial
structure consequences. Estate planning for
future generations avoids costly disputes and
is constantly evolving based on tax changes.
The family believes sustainable charitable
evaluations are as important as investment
allocations and does not solely rely on consistent
donations each year.
The SFO insists on annual audits and third-
party administrators. Professional management
has no access to any accounts except petty
cash. Its trusted regional law firm helps reduce
costs, negotiates fees and places caps and
parameters. The SFO employs several firms
to keep each on its toes and never allows
its lawyers to control anything or have any
discretion. The SFO has strategically outsourced
personal security protocols with regard to health,
natural disasters, travel, kidnapping, extortion
and media management.
International families are complex and keeping
assets growing for a large family is risky. This
office has found a way to successfully manage
both issues.
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Conclusions
For families with substantial financial resources,
an SFO undeniably provides the ultimate in
control, privacy and customization for optimizing
the family's wealth, legacy and resources.
The collapse of renowned public and private
financial institutions, the panic in the global
economy, outright allegations of fraud among
financial superstars, and the proliferation of
conflict-ridden investment vehicles make it
imperative for high net worth families to consider
creating an SFO to control a family's destiny and
build upon a legacy of sustainability.
The CEO of a corporation does not run a
multi-billion dollar business alone or make
every decision in finance, accounting, legal,
marketing, and other areas. Similarly, the SFO
should be viewed as a way for the family to
build a talented, skilled and experienced team to
manage its wealth in all its forms.
The ability to create a custom SFO has never
been easier with the proper advice from
dedicated SFO organizations and consultants.
New technology, selective outsourcing and the
vast pool of talented individuals available in
the marketplace allow for a family of significant
wealth to create an SFO more efficiently and
effectively than ever before.
Creating a well-run SFO is a smart business
decision. As with any business, it requires a
clear mission, a fully thought-through business
plan and an understanding of the resources
available internally and on an outsourced basis
in the SFO marketplace. An effective SFO is a
highly valuable asset that preserves and creates
wealth for the family.
It is important that the family electing to move
forward with its own SFO follow all critical steps,
including hiring trusted consultants to help them
design the SFO and execute the plan. The family
needs to be 100% dedicated to the creation and
management of its SFO. A half-hearted attempt
won't lead to a long-term positive return.
Generations from now, after business interests
have been liquidated and/or greatly dispersed
and individual investments have been eclipsed,
the SFO stands as the family's unifying entity,
signaling a healthy and productive path for
those that follow. The family SFO stands as an
emblem of the values established and nurtured
by the family for the world to see.
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Authors
Angelo J. Robles
Angelo J. Robles is the Founder and CEO of the Greenwich, Connecticut•based Family Office
Association (FOA). a global membership organization that provides private educational and networking
forums with top experts, plus thought leadership and proprietary research about and for multiple
generations of wealthy families and the professionals who run their single family offices.
A member of the Princeton Council on Family Offices and the NYU Stem Family Office Council. Mr.
Robles has a long track record of leadership positions at top financial service companies, including
UBS. Before launching FOA, he engaged in several successful entrepreneurial ventures: He founded
the New England chapter of the Hedge Fund Association (where he also served as president)
and pioneered online retirement planning for Fortune 1000 executives with two Internet startups:
401KRollover.com and IRARollovers.com.
At FOA. Mr. Robles has spearheaded a series of provocative and groundbreaking Q&As with industry
experts, and white papers that address the unique needs of ultra high net worth families in the U.S.
and around the globe. These publications provide in-depth case studies of vibrant, multi-cultural single
family offices as well as sophisticated approaches to wealth protection and growth, philanthropy,
technology, social media, legal, tax, insurance and lifestyle concerns.
Mr. Robles has written several books and articles, and has appeared on Bloomberg Radio & TV
and quoted in Thompson Reuters. Institutional Investor. Opalesque, Registered Rep, HFM Week,
Investment News. EurekaHedge. The Luxury Institute. Private Asset Management, The Greenwich
Times and many others.
Amy Renkert-Thomas
Amy Renkert•Thomas is the Joint Managing Director of Withers Consulting Group, an international
consultancy helping families and entrepreneurs around the world with complex interests to articulate
what future success means to them and to decide what they need to do to achieve it. In 2009 Amy
founded Fisher Renkert Consulting LLC, a family enterprise consulting firm focused on governance
architecture and family enterprise succession planning. Prior to developing her consulting practice, Amy
was a Partner at Withers Bergman LLP, an international private client law firm, where she co-chaired the
firm's Family Office Group. She ran her family's 5th generation manufacturing company from 1990.2002
and currently serves as an officer and director. Amy received her BA from Yale, her JD from Harvard
Law School and her LLM in taxation from Case Western Reserve University School of Law. Amy resides
in Woodbridge. Connecticut
FOA would like to thank the contributions of:
Greg Coules
Logan Allin
Jamie McLaughlin
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Footnotes
' Raphael Amit. Wharton School. University of Pennsylvania; WHARTON GLOBAL FAMILY ALLIANCE:
Single Family Offices: Private Wealth Management in the Family Context 2004.
2 The authors wish to thank David Gum of Withers Bergman LLP. Wallace Head of Gresham Partners,
LLC, Ryan Harding of McDermott Will & Emery, and Joseph P. Toce, Jr. of WTAS LLC for their
assistance on SEC RIA registration requirements and related issues.
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53
Disclaimer
The Family Office Association (FOA) is an affinity group dedicated primarily to the interests of Single
Family Offices. FOA is intended to provide members with educational information and a forum in which
to exchange information of mutual interest. FOA does not participate in the offer, sale or distribution
of any securities nor does it provide investment advice. Further, FOA does not provide tax, legal or
financial advice.
Materials distributed by FOA are provided for informational purposes only and shall not be construed
to be a recommendation to buy or sell securities or a recommendation to retain the services of any
investment adviser or other professional adviser. The identification or listing of products, services, links
or other information does not constitute or imply any warranty, endorsement, guaranty, sponsorship,
affiliation or recommendation by FOA. Any investment decisions you may make on the basis of any
information provided by FOA is your sole responsibility.
The FOA logo and all related product and service names, designs, and slogans are the trademarks or
service marks of Family Office Association. All other product and service marks on materials provided
by FOA are the trademarks of their respective owners. All of the intellectual property rights of FOA or
its contributors remain the property of FOA or such contributor, as the case maybe, such rights may be
protected by United States and international laws and none of such rights are transferred to you as a
result of such material appearing on the FOA web site.
The information presented by FOA has been obtained by FOA from sources it believes are reliable.
However, FOA does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of any such information. All of such
information has been prepared and provided solely for general informational purposes and is not
intended as user specific advice.
2013 Family Office Association and Angelo J. Robles
EFTA01093387
To learn more about FOA contact:
Angelo J. Robles of Family Office Association
203.570.2898 . angeloafamilyofficeassociation.com
Family Office Association
500 West Putnam Avenue, Suite 400
Greenwich, Connecticut 06830
www. familyofficeassociation.com
FAMILY)
OFFICE
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