Consulting

Our Services

We serve as thought partners for family enterprise – working closely with family members, governance entities, and executives of family offices and family-owned companies.

We Help Families

Answer Their Toughest Questions

Question – Where Do We Go Next?

Families that achieve long term success, must align strategy across three dimensions – individual, family and the family office. If these three fall out of alignment, the family system is open to long-term disruption.

We help families by collaborating across these three dimensions:

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1. Individual

What expectations are individual family members bringing to the family wealth and system?

We work with individuals to articulate individual Wealth Strategy, as covered in greater detail in our book When Anything is Possible

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2. Family

Where does the family want to go collectively:

Solicit feedback and input from family members
Benchmark other families
Develop shared view regarding future direction

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3. Family Office Strategy

The shared direction of the family must be grounded in the reality of what is actually achievable for the family office

Understand current reality for business, family and markets
Analyze and develop possible paths forward

Question – How to Accomplish What Must be Done?

Family offices are charged with the task of assisting the family in managing its significant complexity, but how best to do so?

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1. Family Office Design/Build

Design client service model and staffing model. In-source vs. out-source analysis
Assist family in selection of service partners – including out-sourced chief investment officer, multi-family office and asset class specific managers
Benchmark and negotiate fee schedules
Build and implement the infrastructure necessary to deliver the services:
- Vet and deploy portfolio reporting systems
- Develop/enhance governance structures
- Support design of investment data architecture and investment reporting

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2. Enhance

Often an existing family office needs additional resources to develop new services or improving existing ones. We can be deployed as a utility player to support a team. Examples:

Develop key policies and procedures
Technology needs analysis
Support and develop education programming
Develop communication programs

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3. Investment Governance

Before deploying capital, families need to get clear on their investment philosophy, oversight, and implementation mechanics of how their investment decisions are brought to life.

We do not manage assets, and work alongside the family and its investment partners to develop the ‘business rigor’ of how investment decisions are made.

Our Family Office Insights:

How Fast Must a Family’s Assets Grow?

One of the great challenges families face when allocating capital for the long-term is determining the right level of risk and return. This is exacerbated further by the fact that many believe that the investment strategies of families are roughly analogous to that of the endowment and foundation community.

What a Family Office Does

The primary role of a family office is to help manage the complexity of a family of significant means. Best in class family offices pursue this end by either following a strategy of exceptional coordination or exceptional comprehensiveness.

3 Recommendations When Moving From Operator to Investor

The magnitude and significance of the change when a family moves from being predominately an operator of a business(es) to an investor in businesses cannot be overstated.