The Family Office: A Comprehensive Guide for Advisers, Practitioners, and Students

Heilbrunn Center for Graham & Dodd Investing Series

by William I. Woodson, Edward V Marshall

Family offices are private organizations that assume the daily administration and management of a wealthy family's personal and financial affairs. Historically, these repositories of great wealth were shrouded in secrecy, their activities conducted behind closed doors. Recently, family offices have acquired a considerably higher public profile: they represent a mere 7 percent of the world's ultra-high-net-worth population--yet control a staggering 50 percent of the wealth. As only a select few families now hold a disproportionate amount of global wealth, there are significant social implications to how such assets are managed and used.

This book provides an insider's view for anyone looking to understand family offices and how to best serve and advise them. The veteran practitioners William I. Woodson and Edward V. Marshall offer a thorough guide to family offices: why wealthy families create them, what they do, and how to manage them effectively. They present these insights through a series of problem-based learning cases that follow a single family's journey from the time of a significant liquidity event; through the creation, staffing, and management of their family office; and on to its succession. Each case study is supported by detailed background reference material. The cases and background materials are drawn from the authors' practical knowledge, network of industry experts, and experience advising family offices large and small. They shed light on the unique issues that ultrawealthy families face and the solutions they adopt to address them throughout the life cycle of a family office. This book is the definitive resource for practitioners and students, as well as family principals, advisers, service providers, and all others who engage with the world of family offices.

Genres: Finance, Business

368 pages, Hardcover

Published August 10, 2021

Reviews

[Jackie Hwang · Rating 3 out of 5]

Covers the basics of understanding the world of FOs/MFOs: I dont think it dives deeply in any area, but provides a good introduction. Helpful to learn to use an overview to figure out where to conduct your own research.

I think the frameworks and explanations of developing these frameworks was helpful, especially in understanding FO structure and general scope of services. While the case was pretty basic, it was nice to see a "real life" example of someone setting up a FO and how to use it.

5 main takeaways:
1) Understanding the needs of the client is paramount: allows you to be proactive and anticipate needs and focus on areas that are important for clients
2) How to best structure your FO to leverage external advisors and service providers
3) Topical knowledge, at least at a basic level, is important because it enables you to package and structure matters best for your client: ex how to leverage legal/tax structures to best obtain what your client needs
4) Conflict resolution is important as many of the inner workings of FOs is relationship based and will not always have a formal governance -> most of this business is relationship driven
5) Working through ambiguity to achieve goals for your clients and helping them define their goals is important

[John Sitler · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would give this book six stars if I could. It’s packed full of helpful guidance wrapped within a case-study format as the book’s protagonist comes into wealth and navigates establishing a family office. The book is very well researched with constant examples offered of best practice and/or useful regulatory- or data-driven insights. There is also an associated website that is stated to have additional educational materials … looking forward to continuing the journey. Super!

[Logan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good overview of all the factors - personal and professional - that a family office deals with and potential solutions to the challenges. This is a book that should be read not just once but referenced as needed when working with family offices.

[M Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

There was some useful information in this, but not nearly enough. I don't really think it would satisfy any of the constituencies in the title.

[Bleu]

Excellent read.