United Family Office

The United Family Office is a privately managed and commercially operated organization that hires employees to provide coordination, management, and maintenance services (in whole or in part) for the assets, needs, and desires of some wealthy families.

A joint family office is usually a private company that can be established around the world. In the past, it was mainly distributed in Europe (especially in Switzerland and London) and the United States. In recent years, more and more companies in Hong Kong and Singapore have provided related services.

The multi family office provides diverse services, and only a few companies can fully meet the needs of families in protecting and growing wealth. Therefore, it is important to carefully select the multi family office that best meets the needs.

Functions of the United Family Office

1. Provide services for conducting and/or supervising investments

Professional multi family offices can usually provide both wealth management and support family activities, but the core service of most multi family offices is investment management, which can be divided into two types, including investment or monitoring investment.

The family office and the family jointly determine the investment strategy, and the family office invests based on the determined investment strategy.

Monitoring investment: If the multi-family office itself does not provide services for implementing investment strategies, the multi-family office will jointly define strategic asset allocation with the family, and then entrust private banks, fund managers, or independent asset management companies to invest based on the determined investment strategy. The multi-family office will supervise the implementation of the investment strategy. Adopting a joint family office to strengthen control. Therefore, families must first determine the joint family office service model they belong to. Based on our experience, typically only about 10-15% of suppliers provide pure investment monitoring services.

2. Other services

The United Family Office can also provide a variety of services, including wealth planning, administrative management, asset integration, asset performance monitoring, charitable services, tax and legal services, custody, and risk management. In addition, the family office can assist in planning travel arrangements, coordinating insurance plans, managing family yachts, investing in private equity or managing real estate, and other services that meet the unique needs of the family, but each service is charged.

Some family offices provide general services internally, while others collaborate with specialized external partners. Families must be aware that the way in which a joint family office provides services (either internally or externally) will greatly affect the actual cost, quality, and overall service experience of the family.

Customized services

The joint family office meets the needs of you and your family. A multi family office may be responsible for investing or managing and monitoring the relationship between the family and the bank, managing all or part of the family assets, and may also be responsible for paying the current and future expenses of family members.

In addition, the family office can also manage the family's corporate holding structure and private investment structure, assisting the family in establishing wealth protection or other wealth planning structures (such as family foundations or family trusts). In most cases, wealth management, wealth planning, and safeguarding wealth (risk management) are the core services provided by family offices for the next generation..

Focusing on specific types of home office services

Although multi family offices typically provide diverse services, most of them are actually specialized in personal services such as asset management, charitable services, real estate management, or private equity investment, and their areas of expertise are usually related to the background of the founders of the multi family office. Therefore, families must ensure that the selected home office can focus on the services that the family values the most.

United Family Office

Commercial Multi-Family Office

A business joint family office refers to a family office operated by the founder for the purpose of achieving business profits. This is the most common type of multi family office, sometimes also known as a "multi client family office".

Commercial multi family offices account for approximately 95% of global multi family offices, and their founders are typically professionals such as former bankers, trustees, or lawyers. They aim to manage family wealth in an independent and comprehensive manner, meeting all other needs and desires of the family, while charging a certain fee.

Commercial joint family offices are usually composed of professionals with different qualifications and experience. Due to the commercial operation of these joint family offices, most of them will serve multiple families simultaneously.

For single family offices that also provide services and fees to other families, we also consider them as business joint family offices.

Private Multi-Family Office

Private and close family offices only manage wealth for a few wealthy families, and are composed of these families, or initially established by one family and then joined by other families to share the costs. This type of joint family office is sometimes referred to as a "closed" family office.

Private joint family offices and commercial joint family offices are subject to operating expenses. The former does not provide profitable services for everyone or office managers/employees.

However, there are several reasons why private multi family offices are very rare. Firstly, it is not easy to find other families with equal wealth and like-minded individuals to build a family office together. In addition, due to different families having their own needs, it is difficult to decide which services to provide and how to provide them. Also, how do families share the cost? Which family is ultimately responsible for the operation of the family office, and how do you calculate the compensation for these responsibilities?

In practice, some private investment companies operate in the form of private joint family offices, and some single family offices later develop into private joint family offices. However, finding a private joint family office is very difficult. Apart from their low-key operations, the original family also does not welcome other families to join (usually only invited families can join).

Virtual Multi-Family Office

A virtual joint family office refers to a group of independent professionals working together, operating like a joint family office. This is a relatively novel concept and a relatively niche service model.

Unlike commercial joint family offices. These professionals are all employed by their own companies, but they coordinate with each other and provide comprehensive advice to families in their respective professions. Virtual family offices can be seen as joint family offices that outsource all services, while virtual family offices typically operate commercially.

However, there are not many providers of professional virtual family office services. Therefore, it is a challenge to find these suppliers and coordinate their opinions without the actual involvement of family members in coordinating work. In addition, as the entire team is not concentrated in one place, families will be slower to accept the response needs.

Nevertheless, virtual joint family offices also have their advantages. Due to each consultant having their own office and serving as independent consultants for other clients, fixed costs (related to staff and facilities) can be greatly reduced. In addition, professional teams can flexibly combine or adjust according to family needs.