What should I look for in a Multi Family Office™ advisory firm?

The Family Office Exchange, an industry member organization, provides guidance on the characteristics of an effective Multi Family Office™ advisory firm. In addition, the following characteristics are important if you are looking for a Multi Family Office™ advisory firm:

• Objective financial advice: no conflicts of interest in alignment of goals; distinction between financial advice and product selection; not compensated on products used by families.
• Breadth and integration of services: wide array of services; able to oversee the family's entire financial universe.
• Professionals with diverse skills and deep specialties: wide array of advice; provide specialty knowledge on certain topics such as taxation, estate planning, investing, philanthropy, and insurance.
• Hi-touch services: a high average net worth of families and low family-to-employee ratios (often approximately 3:1) allow for a great deal of focus and attention on each family.
• Multi-generational planning: the firm should work with the entire family - the patriarch, matriarch, their children and grandchildren, and all family members should be counseled from an early age. Family meetings are often coordinated and moderated by the family office.
• Extensive experience with similar families: the firm should have experience in working with families of exceptional wealth like yours.
• Deep expertise in active tax management: the firm should have the capability to add significant value through reduction of taxes on investable assets. This requires sophisticated tools and expertise, along with an uncommon sensitivity to the impact of taxes on a portfolio.
• Efficiencies through economies of scale: the firm should be capable of reducing money manager fees to families simply by aggregating the investable assets of its families, and should be able to provide greater access to a variety of investment and other solutions through the aggregate buying power of their families' assets.