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“This second edition handbook by Dr. Kirby Rosplock is a true
gift to our family wealth community. Before her first edition, there
was hardly any book we could recommend to those searching for
answers. With the advent of this new benchmark, private families
and their advisors searching for an integrated guide on family
offices need look no further. I continue to highly recommend this
thoughtful resource, as private families deserve more clarity and
guidance.”
—Thomas R. Livergood, CEO, The Family Wealth Alliance;
Founder, Bespoke Advocate
“Few institutions are changing as fast as family offices. As the

global community is transformed and as enterprising families
want to do more than shelter their wealth, their concerns for the
future lead them to gather and define multiple financial and non-
financial activities they want to pursue. The first edition was a
treasure of information but in response to the vast changes taking
place every day, a second edition adds even greater value by sniff-
ing out the vast shifts that are occurring. This new edition is actu-
ally a new piece of work that should take its place beside the first
edition as a more current view of practices that are more than just
reactions to global change; they are defining the nature of the new
global community that is continually being remade.”
—Dennis Jaffe, PhD, consultant; advisor; author, Borrowed from
Your Grandchildren: The Evolution of 100-Year Family
Enterprises; Cross Cultures: How Global Families Negotiate
Change Across Generations; Stewardship in Your Family
Enterprise: Developing Responsible Family Leadership Across
Generations; and Working with the Ones You Love: Conflict
Resolution & Problem Solving Strategies for a Successful Business
“The Complete Family Office Handbook provides readers with tacti-

cal guidance, serving as a ‘how-to’ both for families looking into
creating an office as well as those evaluating the wealth manage-
ment structures they have in place. Kirby’s willingness to go into
detail and her use of case examples demonstrate that while every
family office is unique, the factors that go into operational deci-
sions tend to have similarities across different families.”
—Rebekah L. Kohmescher, CFP®, CPA, CEO, Altair Advisers, LLC
“If you are one of the many executives and family members who
bought The Complete Family Office Handbook upon my insistence,
head back out and get this second edition, as it is probably time to
reexamine how your office has (or hasn’t) evolved with the fam-
ily. For those looking to build a new office, this second edition is
even more powerful than the first. With expanded content,
sharper insights, and more robust examples, it sets the nuanced
context, which family members and executives alike need, to
make wise decisions capable of aligning the office and the family.”
—Jim Coutré, family office and philanthropy professional
“Kirby Rosplock has written a book that will become an essential

reference for families wishing to establish a long-term strategy for
building an enduring legacy across generations. It helps to
unwrap the mysteries of the family office and provides an invalu-
able guide, containing a wealth of cutting-edge information and
insights. It is a comprehensive toolkit for any family embarking
on the journey of establishing a family office and for executives
who operate—or aspire to operate—within a family office.”
—Dominic Samuelson, CEO, Campden Wealth
“With thoughtfulness and clarity, Kirby Rosplock has brought to

life the important questions to ask and steps to follow in creating
and effectively governing a family office. Wealth owners, and
their advisors, will gain insight into why long-term success
depends on the ability to clarify shared values, vision, and pur-
pose, at each generation, and how to dive into those challenging
conversations.”
—Anne Hargrave, consultant and coach to organizations, family
businesses, and families of wealth
“A comprehensive body of work that serves as an immediately

useful tool to help families through the uncharted waters of fam-
ily office formation and operation. As families struggle to find
meaning beyond financial wealth, Dr. Rosplock’s book addresses
the business, family, and philanthropic legacy that family offices
can provide. The second edition of The Complete Family Office
Handbook will be an indispensable tool sitting on the top shelf of
your desk. Immensely helpful. “
—Preston Root, Root Glass Company
“My 2014 copy is full of Post-it notes. The Complete Family Office
Handbook is current, independent, comprehensive, and compel-
ling. Rosplock’s second edition has distilled the wisdom and
guidance of all the major experts in the family office world and
made it easy to read. I feel comfortable handing this book to CIOs
and nonfinancial people alike. She summarizes big issues with
great aplomb and catches the important details. A definitive
handbook.”
—Joseph Reilly, family office consultant
THE COMPLETE
FAMILY OFFICE
HANDBOOK
THE COMPLETE
FAMILY OFFICE
HANDBOOK
A Guide for Affluent Families
and the Advisors Who Serve Them
SECOND EDITION
Kirby Rosplock, PhD

Copyright © 2021 by Kirby Rosplock. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.
This book is the second edition and presents research and insights of the family office marketplace
gleaned from working independently with clients and families. Not all information and experiences
herein may apply, and the views and professional opinions and experiences of the authors and
contributors, individuals and family office advisors, should use these opinions and experiences as
guideposts and not as hard and fast rules. There are many exceptions to the cases and advisement
presented in this book, and each family should work with their team of qualified experts, accountants,
and legal advisors to determine the best course of action(s) appropriate to their specific situation(s).
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as
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or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of
merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales
representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable
for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is Available:
ISBN 978-1-119-69400-7 (Hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-119-69409-0 (ePDF)
ISBN 978-1-119-69407-6 (ePub)
Cover image: © Alexandre Olive/Shutterstock

Cover design: Wiley
Printed in the United States of America.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This book is dedicated to my family, the families involved
in writing the book, and families who are seeking clarity on
how to preserve, promote, and sustain family wealth.
Contents
Foreword xix
Preface xxi
Acknowledgments xxv
CHAPTER 1
Introduction to the Family Office 1
Kirby Rosplock, PhD
A Macro View of Global Wealth 2
Billionaire Update 7
How Much Do I Really Need to Fund a Family Office? 10
Purpose and Definition of the Family Office 11
Historical Background of the Family Office 12
Family Office from the Industrial Age to Current 13
Key Roles of the Family Office 16
The Executor and Trusted Advisor 16
The Guardian and Watchman 17
The Librarian and Guru 19
Family Office Orientation to Family, Strategy, and Operations 19
Conclusion and Final Thoughts 24
Notes 24
CHAPTER 2
Family Office Evolution: Inceptions and Archetypes 27
Kirby Rosplock, PhD
Inception of a Family Office 27
Scale: How Much Is Enough? 28
Impact of the Family Business on the Family Office 30
Attractions and Challenges with Embedded Family Offices 30
Separating the Family Office from the Family Business 32
Sudden Wealth 33
The Investment-Focused Family Office 34
Family Offices Through the Back Door 35
Family Business Exit and Liquidity Event 36
ix
x Contents
Family Office Archetypes 37

The Founder’s Family Office 37
The Virtual, Administrative, and Compliance Family Office 38
The Philanthropic Family Office 39
The Direct Investment and Investment Offices 39
The Family Business–Focused Family Office 40
The Multigenerational-Focused Family Office 41
Mathile Case Study 42
Background: Inception 42
Evolution of the Family Office: Strategic Planning Cycles 43
A Multigenerational Perspective 44
Alignment, Urgency, and Action 45
Discovery and Steps 47
Involving Outside Experts 48
Notes 50
CHAPTER 3
Comparing Family Office Solutions: Multi- and
Single-Family Offices 53
Kirby Rosplock, PhD
Trends in the Family Office Landscape 54
Determining Family Wealth Management Needs 58
Why the Single-Family Office Solution? 59
Why the Multi-Family Office Solution? 65
Questions to Ask During the Evaluation Process 68
Pathways to Selecting a Multi-Family Office 74
Godspeed Case Study 75
Introduction 75
Background of the Family and Family Office 75
A Trigger and Decision for a New Direction 76
Journey to Find What Is Next 76
Decision-Making Process 77
Final Cut 78
Key Insights and Outcomes 80
Notes 82
CHAPTER 4
Family Values, Mission, and Vision and the Family Office 83
Kirby Rosplock, PhD
Introduction to Values 83
The Process of Exploring Values 85
Contents xi
Values Statement 86
Mission Statement 87
Values, Mission, and the Family Office 88
The Importance of Vision 89
Elements for Successful Family Office Visioning 92
Building Your Family Office Vision 94
Pitcairn Family Case Study 95
Five Steps to Creating a Family Vision 98
Step 1: Clarifying the Process and Expectations 99
Step 2: Vision Retreat Pre-Planning 99
Step 3: Staging a Vision Retreat 100
Step 4: Timing for a Vision Retreat 100
Step 5: Aligning Vision and the Strategic Plan 100
Notes 102
CHAPTER 5
Establishing and Structuring of Family Offices 103
Ivan A. Sacks, Esq., Partner, Withers Bergman LLP
William J. Kambas, Esq., Partner, Withers Bergman LLP
Question 1: What Legal Form Should the Family
Office Take? 105
Choice of Entity 107
Deciding Between an LLC and a C Corporation 107
Case in Point 113
Question 2: Who Should Pay for Establishing and Operating the
Family Office? 114
Question 3: Who Should Own the Family Office and How? 116
Legal Ownership 117
Beneficial Ownership 117
Models of Ownership 117
Question 4: Who Should Manage the Family Office and How? 119
Structuring the Legal Formalities 120
Structuring the Scope of Services 122
Family Philanthropy, Legacy, and Social Capital 125
Managing Regulatory and Estate Planning Concerns 125
Question 5: How Are Family Offices Structured to
Optimize Tax Efficiency? 126
Tax Deductibility of Services Provided by the Family Office 129
State and Local Tax 131
Question 6: Can a Family Office Be Structured to Manage Risk? 132
Case in Point 132
Risk Management Through Architecture 133
xii Contents
People-Oriented Risk Management 133

Balance Sheet, Cash Flow, and Economic Risk Management 133
Question 7: What Is the Process of Establishing and Structuring
a Family Office? 134
Notes 137
CHAPTER 6
Strategic Planning for the Family Office 139
Kirby Rosplock, PhD
Creating a Family Office Strategic Plan 140
Discovery 141
The Family Capital Review 142
The Family Background 143
The Advisor Network Review 145
The Estate Plan Review 145
Mapping and Summarizing Legal Entities 146
Family Office Stress Tests 147
Risk and Insurance Management Considerations 150
Family Office Risk Assessment and Insurance Planning 151
Family Member Risk and Insurance Planning 154
Overview of Capital Sufficiency Analysis 155
Simple vs. Sophisticated Approach 156
Using Capital Sufficiency in the Family Office 156
Case in Point: Doryman Family 157
Key Takeaways 164
Notes 166
CHAPTER 7
Legal and Compliance Standards and Practices for
Family Offices 167
David S. Guin, Esq., Partner and US Commercial Practice Group Leader,
Withers Bergman LLP
Regulations Affecting Family Offices: Dodd-Frank Act 167
Case in Point 169
The Single-Family Office Exemption 170
Case in Point 174
Clients of the Family Office May Need to Report Beneficial Ownership
of Securities of Publicly Reporting Companies 175
How to Report Beneficial Ownership 176
Ownership of Securities in the Ordinary Course of Business 176
Passive Ownership of Less than 20 Percent of a Class of Securities 176
Other Acquisitions 177
Contents xiii
Clients of the Family Office May Need to Report Beneficial Ownership

as Insiders of Publicly Reporting Companies 177
Reporting Insider Status on Form 3, Form 4, or Form 5 178
How Do I Determine Beneficial Ownership in a Multi-Tiered
Family Holding Structure? 179
Are You an Institutional Investment Manager? (The Answer May
Surprise You.) 180
What Is an Institutional Investment Manager? 181
Reporting on Form 13F 181
Determining If the $100 Million Threshold Has Been Met 183
Confidential Treatment 184
Are You a Large Trader? 184
The SEC Gets Personal About Insider Trading 186
Compliance Policies 188
What Are the Components of a Good Compliance Policy? 189
Document Retention Policies 190
What Are the Components of a Good Document
Retention Policy? 192
The Compliance Function: In-House Versus Outsourced 192
Special Issues for Family Offices When Considering Regulatory
Requirements 193
Notes 194
CHAPTER 8
Investment Management and the Family Office 197
Kirby Rosplock, PhD
Family Office Investment Management 198
Concentration 199
Measuring Success 200
Lifestyle and Legacy 201
Time Horizon 203
Hurdles to Growing Wealth 205
Family Office Investing: Paradigm Shift 206
Passive Versus Active Asset Management 208
A Practical Approach to Asset Allocation 209
The Investment Process in a Family Office 210
Investment Review 210
Investment Governance 211
Investment Objectives 214
The Investment Policy Statement 214
Investment Committee 217
Why Would a Family Establish an Investment Committee (IC)? 218
How Does a Family Establish an Investment Committee? 218
How Does an Investment Committee Usually Operate? 218
xiv Contents
Strategic and Tactical Asset Allocation, Manager Selection, and

Investment Monitoring 221
CIO Function: In-House Versus Outsourced 223
Notes 228
CHAPTER 9
Family Office Operations and Information Technology 231
John Rosplock, COO and CFO, Tamarind Partners, Inc.
Robert Kaufold, President and Chief Risk Officer, Cauldera LLC
Family Needs Drive Family Office Systems 232
Family Office Operations 233
Accounting 233
Reporting 233
Financial Reporting 235
Data and Decision Archiving 236
Family Office Management 238
Security 239
Other Technology 239
Assessing Operational Complexity 240
Simple to Complex Systems 242
Complex System Technology 244
Operations Lens to Insourcing Versus Outsourcing 247
Technology Considerations: Buy or Build 249
New Technology Due Diligence and Onboarding 250
Keys to Success 254
Notes 256
CHAPTER 10
Family Office Talent, Compensation, and Recruitment 257
Kirby Rosplock, PhD
Introduction 258
Family Office Staffing 259
Single-Family Office Organizational Chart 261
Gender and Family Office Executives 267
Recruiting Family Office Talent 268
Finding a Good Chemistry and Culture Fit 269
Background Checks 271
Compensation 272
Methods for Determining Annual Incentives 274
Managing Family Office Talent 276
Role Clarity and Job Description 276
Reporting Hierarchy and Authority 276
Contents xv
Performance Management 277

Communication and Trust 278
Recruiting Internationally 278
Case Study: Setting Up the Office 279
Family or Non-Family at the Helm 280
Family Member Compensation 281
Notes 282
CHAPTER 11
Governance Issues for the Family Office 285
Barbara Hauser, JD, Independent Family Advisor
Kirby Rosplock, PhD
Governance Issues for the Family Office Itself 286
Benefits of a Good Board 286
Importance of Independent Directors 288
Interim Stage of Advisory Board 289
Accountability to the Family 289
Participation in Long-Term Strategy 289
Next Generation Issues to Address 290
Succession Planning for the Family Office and
Its Executives 290
Governance for the Family Itself 293
Analysis of Existing Decision-Making Process 295
Hallmarks of Good Governance: Transparency, Accountability,
and Participation 296
Benefits of the Family Creating Its Own Governance Process
and Structure 297
How to Create the Family Governance 298
Family Councils 299
Family Constitutions 300
Kettering Family Governance Case Study 302
Notes 309
CHAPTER 12
Family Education and the Family Office 311
Kirby Rosplock, PhD
Stewardship of Wealth 313
Psychology of Wealth and Child Development 314
Elsa’s Story 316
Overcoming Communication Challenges 317
Case Study: Waithram Family 319
xvi Contents
Clear Expectations and the Power of Inherited Wealth 322

Inspiring Entrepreneurship and the Next Generation 325
Case Study: Jennifer’s Story 326
The Power, Influence, and Inspiration of Mentors 327
Creating a Family Education Plan 329
Notes 333
CHAPTER 13
Family Entrepreneurship and the Family Bank 335
Warner King Babcock
Kirby Rosplock, PhD
What Is a Family Bank? 335
Two Mindsets to Your Family Bank 338
Establishing and Funding a Family Bank? 339
Five Principles for Family Banks 340
Democratize 340
Harmonize 340
Customize 341
Flexibilize 342
Professionalize 342
Mini-Case Study: Intra-Family Financing of New Family Businesses 343
Organizing a Family Bank 344
Entity Choice 345
Evolution of Family Banks: From Simple to Complex 346
Mini-Case Study: A Family Bank Designed to Develop the Next
Generation 349
Good Governance: Family Bank Boards, Committees, and Trustees 350
Mini-Case Study: Family Bank Without Good Governance 351
Limitations of Trusts 352
The Role of the Family Office 353
The Role of Outside Experts 354
Tax and Legal Considerations of Family Banks 355
The Anderson Family Case Study 355
Notes 359
CHAPTER 14
Legacy, Philanthropy, and Impact Investing 361
Kirby Rosplock, PhD
Introduction to Legacy 362
A Generational Lens to Legacy 362
Defining Legacy 364
Financial Legacy 365
Contents xvii
Social Legacy 366

Philanthropic Legacy 367
Philanthropy, Impact, and Sustainable Investing 368
Opportunities and Challenges of Philanthropy, Impact, and
Sustainable Investing 371
Family Philanthropy and Foundations 373
The Root Family Legacy and Evolving Their Philanthropy 374
The Family Office Supporting Family Philanthropy 377
Cordes Family Case Study 378
Notes 386
CHAPTER 15
Private Trust Companies: Creating the Ideal Trustee 389
Miles Padgett, Partner, Kozusko Harris Duncan
Don Kozusko, Partner, Kozusko Harris Duncan
The Broader View 389
What Is a Private Trust Company? 389
What Are the Differences Between a Private Trust Company
and a Commercial Trust Company? 390
Why Do Families Consider Creating a PTC? 392
What Are the Key Considerations to Be Addressed Prior to
Pursuing a PTC? 392
Steps to Creating a PTC 398
Choice of Regulatory Regime 398
Geographical Convenience 400
Substantive Trust Laws 401
Trust Company Laws 402
Public Policy Environment 404
Trust and Trust Company Taxes 405
Achieving Success in a PTC: Setting Priorities 405
Fostering Beneficiary Development Should Be the
Primary Objective of the PTC 406
Principles and Practices for a Successful Private Trust Company 408
The Parable Family 409
Notes 416
Appendix A: Family Office Complexity Assessment 419

Appendix B: Family Office Technology Segments 423
About the Author 425
About the Contributors 427
Index 431
Foreword
A wise woman once told me, “Jay, the only reason to have resources is so I can
have services.”
Kirby Rosplock has provided us with a handbook that comprehensively
describes the services, both qualitative and quantitative, that family offices of
various types can provide to families with resources. A “handbook” is defined
by Webster’s Third International Dictionary as “a concise reference book cover-
ing a particular subject of field of knowledge—a manual.” Kirby’s book is just
such a concise reference manual to the field of family office services.
What is the purpose of services provided to families by family offices,
regardless of whether the family office is a single-family or multi-family office?
The purpose is the removal of obstacles to an individual family member’s
ability to integrate and use resources normally created by a previous genera-
tion of his or her family, toward that individual’s greater freedom, thriving,
and flourishing. These obstacles, if not removed, may not only lead to the
failure to flourish of those individuals, but to the risk of entropy—entropy as
entitlement, dependence, and remittance addiction—that leads to the entire
families’ system failing. These obstacles then become a detriment not only to
the dynamic preservation of the individual’s and the entire families’ financial
capital, but, much more importantly, obstacles to the growth of their human,
intellectual, social, and spiritual capital.
As Kirby describes, these four capitals require services that are qualitative
and substantially more complex to provide than those that serve families’
quantitative needs. She makes clear that distinctions between service p roviders
frequently lie along the divide between services that are purely quantitative
and those single-family and multi-family offices that offer qualitative services
as well.
In my opinion, this distinction is of great importance to a family’s success
in obtaining the family office services it needs to overcome the obstacles or,
one may say, the “risks” to their family that entropy poses.
xix
xx Foreword
All of us who serve families seeking to avoid the suffering decreed for a
family by the universal cultural proverb “shirt sleeves to shirt sleeves in three
generations,” in its many iterations, are in Kirby’s debt for giving us a concise
understanding of the services available to us and to the families we serve. This
understanding will assist us to help these families avoid the proverb’s sad fore-
cast and the suffering it represents as the bonds of family rupture. How much
better to find and use the quantitative and, more importantly, qualitative
services a family office offers to help families flourish for many generations
through the enhancing of each family member’s journey of happiness!
Thanks, Kirby.
James (Jay) E. Hughes, Jr.
Preface
If you are reading this book, you are likely in one of three camps: you are an
individual considering the possibility of building or joining a family office,
you’re an individual with an existing family office and looking for ideas of
how to enhance or transform it, or you may be a professional working in
wealth management or advising enterprising families who is looking for
leading-edge resources to better serve your clients. Whichever category you
find yourself in, this second edition book provides you with current knowl-
edge, research, and cutting-edge approaches from thought leaders in the
family office industry and gives you real-life examples and experiences to
guide you as you envision, plan, and develop your family office. But, before
you turn further in the book, you may find it helpful to understand that this
book is geared to the family owners and their offspring, first and foremost;
however, wealth advisors and other professionals may find the commentary
and recommendations useful to apply with their families as well.
The first edition of The Complete Family Office Handbook was released by
Wiley in 2014. Jay Hughes, Jr., who provided the Foreword, and I had con-
versations to the lack of practical information about how a family office oper-
ates, the services it provides, how it is managed, and why they exist in the first
place. I never thought I would be the one to try and codify such a massive
body of knowledge, but perhaps my curiosity or my hope to solve for similar
issues in my own family was the catalyst. Thankfully, the support and wisdom
from so many exceptional family office executives and families inspired my
drive and determination to see this through to fruition. Our family office
consulting firm, Tamarind Partners, Inc. (www.TamarindPartners.com), has
been working closely with many notable family offices to carry on the
research, knowledge, and advice provided in the first edition.
Fast-forward to 2020, a year that will be forever marked by the world-
wide pandemic. Revising the book during a global crisis provides a lot of
perspective to consider the permanency of the family office construct as well
as how to make it disruption-ready. Yet, this journey to write this second
xxi
xxii Preface
edition book is also deeply personal. As a family member, owner, board

member, and a co-trustee of a family foundation, much of the content in
this book is germane to me and my family. Since writing the first edition, I
experienced a lot of change and witnessed how quickly the family office
landscape adapts with new technology, AI, better security, cybersecurity, and
new policies and procedures. The second edition also reveals new insights
gleaned from working to bridge generational knowledge gaps on the family
education front. Tamarind Learning (www.TamarindLearning.com),
an education learning solution for families, their offspring, and advisors, was
launched in 2019 to solve the learning gap and provide learning paths that
are flexible and customizable.
Spending nearly two decades researching and writing in the family busi-
ness and family office universe, the second edition that follows is a combina-
tion of more than 80 interviews with family office executives, family office
owners, industry leaders, and family members. Additionally, I reviewed hun-
dreds of articles, books, and research reports and collected data from families
in the United States, to Europe, the United Kingdom, the Middle East, Asia,
and Australia. Yet, the more I learned along this journey, the more I realized
how much there is to learn. As a result, I collaborated with leading attorneys,
from Withers Bergman LLP and Kozusko Harris Duncan LLP, independent
advisors around governance, family banks, entrepreneurship, family office
operations, and information technology. This book provides their wisdom,
many years of experience, and thoughtfulness to the important and distin-
guishable needs of the family office client.
The Handbook is laid out in a chronological order. Chapter 1 introduces
the family office concept, its purpose and definition, as well as key roles of the
family office; Chapter 2 overviews the family office evolution from inception
and highlights key archetypes; Chapter 3 compares the multi- and single-
family office solutions; Chapter 4 discusses a family’s values and how to create
a family office mission and vision statement. Chapters 5 and 7 are written
by prominent attorneys at Withers Bergman LLP. Chapter 5 provides guid-
ance on family office formation and the legal structuring of a family office.
Chapter 6 shares strategic planning considerations, capital sufficiency analy-
sis, and the importance of reviewing the family office fact pattern on topics
including estate, financial, wealth transfer, and insurance planning. Chapter 7
clarifies the legal, fiduciary, and compliance requirements for a successful fam-
ily office today. Chapter 8 reviews the investment management approach of
the family office. This chapter discusses investment concentration, measuring
success, time horizon, and the investment governance including investment
objectives, policies, and committees. Chapter 9, c o-authored by two family
Preface xxiii
office experts, discusses family office IT and operations considerations. This

chapter offers advancements and best practices in information technology,
operations, and risk management to enhance your family office’s performance.
Chapter 10 expands on family office talent management, best practices with
hiring talent, incentivizing, managing, and retaining key employees, com-
pensation, and performance management. Chapter 11, which is co-authored
with a leading family office governance expert, discusses family governance,
succession planning, and the role of boards, hallmarks of good governance,
and applications and process to set up governance. Chapters 12 sheds light
on new thinking for family education and the family office, stewardship,
psychology of wealth and developing an education plan. Chapter 13, which
is co-authored with a leading family bank expert, provides insights to the
setup, structuring, and planning to create a family bank and the use of intra-
family loans to inspire the next generation wealth holder. Chapter 14 expands
and includes discussion on legacy, philanthropy, and impact investing and
the family office. Finally, Chapter 15 of the book concludes with a new
chapter from leading attorneys from the law firm Kozusko Harris Duncan.
The book provides fresh new cases with updated insights to the various
attributes of the family office and gives research to the inner workings
of some leading family offices. To learn more about Tamarind Partners, Inc. or
Tamarind Learning, please visit our websites www.TamarindPartners.com or
www.TamarindLearning.com.
Acknowledgments
This book took a village to write and there are many to thank for their sup-
port, wisdom, time, introductions, and professional experiences. First to the
families and family offices who shared their personal stories—this book is
only possible because of your trust. Thank you to my family and especially
my husband, John, who provided constant support and encouragement and
contributed to Chapter 9. Thank you to Jay Hughes for giving me the cour-
age to take on this task and being an inspiration, advocate, and mentor.
My deepest appreciation for the wisdom and knowledge shared by (in
first-name alphabetical order) Abby Raphael, Alex Scott, Allan Zachariah,
Amy Braden, Angelo Robles, Ann Kinkade, Anna Nichols, Anne Ethridge,
Annette Rahael, Barb Quasius, Barbara Hauser, Benjamin Kinnard, Bill
Thomas, Bill Woodson, Bob Casey, Bruce Arella, Carolyn Friend and Jamie
Weiner, Carly Doshi, Chad Harbeck, Charles F. Kettering, III, Charlotte
Beyer, Chelsea Cannon, Chelsea Toler-Hoffmann, Chris Battifarano, Chris
Cincera, Cricket Harbeck, Christin McClave, Christina Burroughs, Claudia
Sangster, Clay Mathile, Dan Berg, Daniel Goldstein, Daniel Gottlieb, David
Friedman, David Toth, Daisy Medici, David Friedman, David Guin, David
Martin, David Lincoln, Dennis Jaffe, Dennis Kessler, Denny Charad, Dianne
H.B. Welsh, Dirk Junge, Dominic Samuelson, Don Kozusko, Doug Borths,
Doug Dubiel, Drew Mendoza, Ellen Miley Perry, Edouard Thijssen, Edward
Marshall, Elizabeth Minkin, Euclid Walker, Fran Lotery, Fredda Herz Brown,
Grant Kettering, Greg Curtis, Gregory T. Rogers, Gunther Weil, Hania
Hammoud, Hartley Goldstone, Howard Cooper, Ian D’Souza, Iñigo Susaeta
Córdoba, Iris Wagner, Ivan Sacks, Jack Parham, Jason Born, James A.
Grubman, James E. Hughes, Jr., Jane Flanagan, Jay Totten, Jean Brunel, Jean
Case, Jean B. Harbeck, Jennifer Barber, Jennifer Kenning, Jesus Casado, Jim
Coutré, Jim Greer, Joanie Bronfman, Joe Calabrese, John A. Warnick, John
Benevides, John Carroll, John Davis, John and Eileen Gallo, John Rau, Joline
Godfrey, Josh Kanter, Joe Lonsdale, Joni Fedders, Juan Luis Segurado, Juan
Meyer, Juan Roure, Judy Green, Julie Zorn, Justin Zamparelli, Karen Neal,
Kathryn McCarthy, Kay Berglund, Keith Lender, Keith Whitaker, Kelly
xxv
xxvi Acknowledgments
Atkins, Kent Lawson, Kevin Morrissey, Kit Johnson, Laurent Roux, Lee
Hausner, Linda Bourn, Liesel Pritzker Simmons and Ian Simmons, Linda
Mack, Lisa Niemeier, Lisa Ryan, Lyat Eyal, Maria Elena Lagomasino, Mark
Haynes Daniell, Martin Whittaker, Mark Tice, Matt DaCosta, Matt Walker,
Maya Imberg, Michael Black, Michael Sallas, Miles Padgett, Mindy
Kalinowski Earley, Mindy Rosenthal, MJ Rankin, Mykolas Rambus, Nava
Michael Tsabaris, Nazneen Kanga, Norman Smorgon, Olivia Dell, Olivier
Richoufftz, Patricia Angus, Patricia Cole, Paul Cameron, Paul McKibben,
Paul Westall, Peter Carney, Phil Strassler, Preston Root, Preston Tsao, Rachel
Gerrol, Ralph Wyman, Ray Maas, Rebecca Gooch, Rebecca Oertell, Reuben
Vardanyan, Richard Arzania, Rino Schena, Richard Milroy, Richard Sauer,
Rick Fogg, Rick Stone, Robert Kaufold, Robert Danzig, Robin Satyshur, Ron
and Marty Cordes, Ryan Eisenman, Santiago Ulloa, Sara Hamilton, Sean
Davis, Sebastian Lyle, Stephanie and Eric Stephenson, Stephen Campbell,
Stephen Prostano, Steven Hoch, Steve Legler, Steven Weinstein, Steven
Hirth, Susan Massenzio, Susan Remmer Ryzewic, Tayyab Mohamed, Thomas
J. Handler, Esq., Thomas Mahoney, Tom Livergood, Tom McCullough,
Thayer Willis, Tim Brown, Trish Botoff, Ulrich Burkhard, Victoria Vysotina,
Vahe Vartanian, Warner King Babcock, Wayne Osborne, Wendy Spires,
Wendy Craft, Will Froelich, William Kambas, and Zipi Shperling.
CHAPTER 1
Introduction
to the Family Office
Kirby Rosplock, PhD
Family offices serve a vast array of functions for a family and their wealth.
Those family office functions are commonly bespoke to the needs of the spe-
cific family for whom they were designed; therefore, when asked about the
definition of what a family office is, the answers often vary from person to
person. Generally speaking, family offices are designed to prepare family
members to collectively manage, sustain, and grow their wealth across multi-
ple generations. Family offices can aid families in managing the numerous
risks that accompany affluence. In addition to offering a potentially wide
array of services, such as tax, fiduciary, and compliance needs; investment
management, risk management, estate planning, and trust administration;
philanthropic advisement, financial education programs for family members;
and family governance and wealth-transfer planning, the family office ideally
has a higher purpose to bridge generations in order to create continuity and
cohesion for families around their wealth.
The last decade has featured disruptive turbulence in financial markets,
impressive technological and medical advancements, and dramatic shifts in
the global landscape. Family offices need to respond to these changes with
equally dramatic adaptations if they are to remain relevant and effective. For
example, in 1918, the average human life expectancy was roughly 39 years.1
One hundred years later, the average expectancy was 80.3,2 and current statis-
tics indicate that approximately 500,000 people around the globe are aged 100
or older. Moreover, the 100-plus population is predicted to almost double
with each coming decade.3 Increases in human longevity mean that family
1
2 The Complete Family Office Handbook
offices, which once operated on the assumption of needing to survive 100

years, now need to plan on surviving 500 years and manage the multiple inter-
generational wealth transfers and leadership transitions associated with this
kind of longevity. Low-return financial market environments inject additional
complexities, requiring that family offices and their staff members develop
additional strategies, competencies, and skill sets to support the achievement
of the family’s multiple objectives. Thus, the aim of this volume is to construct
a futurist lens of the family office: Rather than focusing primarily on concerns
of luxury, buying, and traditional investing, we propose the 500-year view of
the family office and introduce the leading-edge perspectives and practices for
how family offices and their staff members can support the coming ultra-
lifespan of the families they serve.
This second edition updates the first book that demystified the concept
of the family office and clarified who should consider starting their own
single-family office or joining a multi-family office. The second edition pro-
vides context, updates, and improvements to inform family office setup,
structure, and design as owners more clearly define their family office’s over-
arching purpose and vision. This book provides expanded coverage regarding
the types of family offices in existence, along with who owns them and pays
for them, and what services may be rendered by the offices. This guide is
designed to be a useful tool for affluent families, individuals, and philan-
thropists, as well as for practitioners and industry professionals, as it outlines
the important functions family offices may render today and for the genera-
tions of family members yet to be born.
In this chapter, we review the macro futurist trends in global wealth to pro-
vide context for understanding the basis, purpose, and definition of the family
office. We then consider the family office’s historical roots in Western econo-
mies, which is grounded in the growth and proliferation of family enterprise.
The roles the family office plays regarding its client families are then discussed.
A Macro View of Global Wealth
Given that family offices exist to help families sustain and grow their wealth
and successfully navigate the various risks that come with that endeavor,
measuring affluence and understanding affluent families are important first
steps. Yet, there is an art and a science to assess affluence, which begins with
defining how much you must have to be considered wealthy. While we all
have our own definitions, most industry research firms classify individuals
with a minimum of $1 million net worth as high net worth (HNW) and
individuals with at least $30 million net worth as ultra high net worth
(UNHW). Due to the associated costs and complexities, family offices gener-
ally do not become a realistic wealth management solution until families
enter the UHNW category. To provide some context, the total population of
individuals reporting a net worth exceeding $1 million is currently 22.8 mil-
lion, with these individuals collectively having a combined net worth of $94.1
trillion.4 This wealth tends to be concentrated among the upper strata of
ultra-wealthy individuals. For example, the world’s top 10 wealthiest indi-
viduals retain a combined fortune of more than $743.8 billion (all amounts
are in US dollars).5 More telling, the UHNW population collectively holds
more than $32 trillion in wealth (34 percent of the total wealth held by indi-
viduals with $1 million-plus net worth). This is particularly noteworthy con-
sidering that the UHNW population consists of only 265,490 individuals—just
1 percent of all individuals reporting net worth above $1 million.6 Table 1.1
provides the growth of the UHNW population.
Examining the global distribution of the UNHW population reveals that
these individuals predominantly live in the US (accounting for 31 percent
of UHNW individuals), followed by China (9 percent) and Japan (nearly 7
percent). In 2018, all seven major world regions recorded declines in ultra-
wealth, albeit with regional variation. For example, while the Middle East
UNHW population grew 6.8 percent, its wealth fell 0.1 percent. Meanwhile,
ultra-wealth in Latin America and the Caribbean dropped by 7.1 percent,
and its UNHW population fell by 6 percent. Net worth in Asia fell at a
faster rate than in both North America and Europe, with Hong Kong drop-
ping by 11 percent. Moreover, plunging stock markets resulted in Asia’s high
net worth (HNW) population—individuals with net worth of $1 million to
$30 million—growing only 0.6 percent in 2018.7
Prominent research firm Wealth-X concentrates solely on understanding
the demographics and wealth profile of HNW and UNHW populations.
According to Wealth-X, men comprise 86 percent of the UNHW popula-
tion and retain 90 percent of the wealth, although the proportion of women
has trended modestly upward in recent years, to 14.6 percent in 2018. Fur-
thermore, women accounted for nearly 20 percent of the under-50 global
ultra-wealthy class, suggesting that shifts in global wealth distribution and
intergenerational wealth transfer, cultural attitudes, and tech-driven entrepre-
neurship have expanded women’s opportunities to create wealth.
Asset allocations in 2018 reflected investor caution in the wake of the
global financial crisis, tighter monetary policies in some major economies,
and slowed growth and tumultuous stock performance around the globe.
Specifically, ultra-wealthy portfolios reflected more than one third (36.5 per-
cent) in liquid assets (cash, income, and dividends) as well as an increase in
cash-equivalent holdings. Overall shares of private holdings dropped slightly
to less than a third (32.1 percent) in recent years, likely due to regional and
country variations in entrepreneurship rates, access to finance, economic
development, cultural trends, and attitudes to wealth preservation. Mean-
while, public holdings remained steady at one quarter (25.3 percent) of total
assets, although a slight dip was noted due to volatile capital markets and
fewer IPOs and M&As in 2018. Alternative assets (e.g., real estate, luxury
goods, fine art, yachts, private jets) accounted for the remaining 6.2 percent
of UHNW portfolios. Wealth-X credits another shift—the increased popula-
tion of those with a combination of inherited and self-created wealth—to
several factors: (a) the rapid increase of UHNW individuals (and subsequent
focus on self-made fortune) across Asia and the Middle East, (b) the rise of
UHNW women involvement in business and entrepreneurism, and (c) one
of the largest-ever intergenerational transfers of wealth, including significant
handovers in China. The scale of intergenerational wealth transfer under-
way emphasizes the need to assure that family offices are established when
required and that those in existence are high functioning.
The primary sectors for the UHNW population are banking and finance
(22.9 percent), indicating the key role financial services has played in creating
wealth according to a wealth management survey. This was particularly true in
liberalized capital markets of the US, Europe, Japan, and Hong Kong. Although
revenue growth continues to face challenges in the wake of the global financial
crisis, this industry remains a dominant force for both dynamic wealth creation
and wealth preservation. Furthermore, the ultra-low interest rate environment
has aided wealth gains in consumer and business services as well as in real estate,
the next most significant industry among the ultra-wealthy. Specifically, growth
of the middle class across the emerging world, given rising incomes, urbaniza-
tion, and digitization, are driving growth in consumerism and residential invest-
ment within these regions. Moreover, tech-driven innovation and the growth in
the population of luxury-minded wealthy millennials in Asia and the Middle
East create new channels for wealth creation in consumer and business services.
With regard to the 22.4 million individuals comprising the HNW popula-
tion, three sectors were particularly noteworthy: wealth management, luxury,
and philanthropy.8 In wealth management, significant changes have occurred
in recent years, sparked by regulatory changes and concerns for profitability
in low-return markets. Moreover, shifts in the global HNW demographics,
given the rapidly expanding population of HNWs in Asia, have caused a
significant effort to develop or import HNW services locally. China has been
a particular focus for the professionalization and development of wealth man-
agement services. Asian Private Banker reports that although the five largest
wealth managers in the region have seen a 25 percent increase in assets under
management, the population of new advisors has grown by only 7 percent,9

spawning an intense war for talent and more sophisticated talent manage-
ment programs. One key focus is developing automated financial advisory
software and portals, along with other tech-based and hybrid human-tech
wealth management offerings in the effort to increase more effective, effi-
cient, and inexpensive solutions. Providers in this arena include such con-
tenders as SigFig, Betterment LLC, and Scalable Capital.
The luxury industry has been subject to ongoing self-examination and
reinvention as its players adjust to various imperatives, such as the needs
to develop genuinely holistic global brands and build international growth
beyond the mushrooming and now highly competitive China market, appeal
to “next generation” luxury consumers, and compete effectively in online lux-
ury sales. Notable recent developments include a proliferation of online luxury
products, growth of luxury experiences, expansion of multichannel content
marketing by luxury brands, and ongoing product and brand innovation.10
Although a strong global economy, healthy stock market returns, and rise
of digital donation platforms sustained philanthropic giving over most of the
previous decade, economic factors such as escalating economic uncertainty and
stock market volatility slowed donors’ momentum and shifted how nonprofits
engage with the HNW population. Thus, although annual charitable giving in
the US rose from $340 billion in 2013 to $410 billion in 2017, giving slowed
in 2018 to $390–$397 billion (a 3 to 5 percent decline).11 Regulatory factors
fueling the slowdown included tax-related legislation that increased the stand-
ard deduction on federal tax returns (and significantly reduced the number of
households itemizing deductions for charitable gifts), reduced corporate tax
rates, and included exemptions for estates.12 Nevertheless, HNW individuals’
motivations to give (e.g., personal fulfillment, concern for the less fortunate,
belief in the cause) remain strong, and donor-advised funds have surpassed
private foundations as the fastest-growing charitable giving vehicle, expand-
ing HNW donors’ creative options for charitable giving.13 Wealth-X notes
that despite the attention mega donors like Jeff Bezos and Michael Bloomberg
receive, HNW donors continue to play key roles in driving philanthropy.14
Another notable trend among UHNW individuals is their use of mul-
tiple service providers rather than one individual private banking firm, and
the proliferation of providers makes the effects of their behavior even more
powerful. While UHNW individuals are confident in allocating and manag-
ing their own risk capital, they are relying on wealth advisors for managing
risks related to their liquid capital. UHNW individuals seek less volatility, for
example, how the bond markets have tended to perform, with the return ben-
efits of the equity markets. Private banking professionals and organizations
must respond by seeking deep understanding of their clients’ needs and the
needs of potential clients. For example, new wealthy entrepreneurs tend to
want flexible, customizable investment platforms. While this often does not
make economic sense for investors with wealth in the $50 to $100 million
range, it can be viable if reasonable platforms are identified, and if the family
itself can operate it. Such requests demonstrate the growing market for finan-
cial advisors who can provide family office–like service at this level.
Related trends, especially notable among self-made UHNW individuals
in Asia, are their proactive participation in their wealth management coupled
with their expectation of higher returns. Among this population, there is a
confidence in wealth creation and a greater appetite for risk. Currently there
is a large amount of private wealth in privately owned and family-owned
businesses, and an avoidance of public markets. Single-family offices are thus
looking for such enterprises for investment opportunities, and those enter-
prises are seeking entrepreneurs and families that have had success in building
businesses to invest in them. They prefer this investment to private equity or
venture capital. Wealth-X predicts an increase in liquidity in privately owned
businesses, not from IPOs or private equity fund investments but from family
to family.
Billionaire Update
Although the billionaire segment showed dramatic gains in 2017, these gains
were not sustained in 2018 due to challenges such as slowed growth, perva-
sive trade tensions, and slumping equity markets. Ultimately, both the global
billionaire population and billionaire wealth dropped (5.4 percent and 7 per-
cent, respectively),15 although regional variations were evident. North America
showed a population increase of 3 percent, with a smaller increase of 1 per-
cent across all of the Americas. Nonetheless, billionaire wealth in the Americas
still dropped by 6 percent. Of all regions, Asia-Pacific sustained the biggest
losses, with a 13 percent reduction in its billionaire population and 9 percent
drop in billionaire wealth. The Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA)
region registered more moderate declines, with a 5 percent drop in the bil-
lionaire population and 7 percent drop in billionaire wealth.
Given regional differences, it is helpful to consider the three archetypes
Wealth-X highlights in the billionaire population: 1) philanthropy-focused
US billionaires, 2) young, and 3) self-made Chinese billionaires, and fam-
ily business–focused German billionaires.16 The US billionaire population
is the largest and richest (average net worth of $4.3 billion) of any region,
thanks to the nation’s robust technology sector, number of large companies,
widespread business opportunities, and mature financial services sector.

Nearly two thirds (63 percent) of US billionaires are self-made, although a
sizable group (18 percent) also inherited their wealth—usually through well-
established family-owned businesses. These individuals also are notable for
their extensive involvement in nonprofit and social organizations.
The Chinese billionaire population is second largest in the world and
younger than any other group: On average, Chinese billionaires are 56 years
old (versus 66 years old globally) and nearly a quarter (22 percent) are under
50 (compared to only 10 percent globally). Given the relatively short his-
tory of Chinese economic liberalization, private ownership and family-owned
businesses, 95 percent of its billionaires are self-made (compared to only 56
percent globally). Key industries for these billionaires include real estate,
industrial conglomerates, manufacturing, and technology.
Germany is home to the most billionaires in the EMEA region, and most
of this wealth has been created through billionaire-run, family-owned busi-
nesses. Of further note, roughly 20 percent of German billionaires are female
(compared to only 11.7 percent globally). The long-standing success of these
family businesses is evident in that more than 60 percent of German billionaires
made their fortunes through a combination of inheritance and self-creation.
Figures 1.1 and 1.2 present data on growth of the billionaire population.
FIGURE 1.1 World by Wealth Tier
2,604 $8,562bn
2018 Billionaires Total wealth
WEALTH TIER
$50bn+
NUMBER OF $25bn–$50bn TOTAL
BILLIONAIRES $10bn–$25bn WEALTH ($bn)
8 $5bn–$10bn 646
17 $2bn–$5bn
94 642
$1bn–$2bn
1,352
236
1,543
858
2,523
1,391
1,856
Source: Wealth-X, Billionaire Census 2019

FIGURE 1.2 Percentage of Change of Billionaires by Wealth Tier
Percentage of change Absolute change

2017–2018 2017–2018
Number of Total wealth WEALTH TIER Number of Total wealth
billionaires ($bn) billionaires ($bn)
–15.4% –2.5% $50bn+ –2 –17
$25bn–$50bn
–19.5% –14.7% –4 –110
–13.0% –10.0% $10bn–$25bn –14 –150
$5bn–$10bn
–14.2% –12.0% –39 –210
$2bn–$5bn
–10.3% –8.0% –98 –220
0.5% 3.6% $1bn–$2bn 7 65
Source: Wealth-X, Billionaire Census 2019
While these profiles help generate some insights about the general popu-
lation of those wealthy enough to possibly have a family office, the question
remains: How many affluent families are utilizing the services of a family
office? The short answer is that we do not know precisely, primarily due to
privacy, anonymity, and exclusivity requirements of the family office, and
how and if a family identifies as having a family office. I estimate there are
at least 5,000 family offices in the US alone, while EY estimates the global
population of family offices to be at least 10,000.17 I further contend that
these numbers would double if you include embedded family offices (those
housed within operating companies). Moreover, a sizable proportion of
families disdain the term family office, and I often hear families sheepishly
deny they do have one, even when they actually have all the services, struc-
tures, and goals of what a family office provides. This reveals the difficulty
in accurately tallying the number of family offices: It relies on families to
self-identify as one!
In the wake of the global financial crisis of 2008 and pandemic of 2020,
there has been higher scrutiny for Wall Street, as regulatory bodies such as the
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are developing clearer defini-
tions of the family office to monitor these organizations’ advisory practices
and activities. The Family Office Rule defines a single-family office as “any
type of qualifying entity that provides investment advice to a single fam-
ily including traditional family offices and private trust companies.”18 While
this definition remains broad, the implication is that the proverbial kimono
for many family office outfits has been shredded, requiring many families to
carefully determine whether they need to legally register as such. Doing so
will aid consumers and the industry in distinguishing single-family offices
from registered investment advisors (RIA), those who advise on investments
beyond the immediate family members.
How Much Do I Really Need to Fund a Family Office?
One of the greatest ongoing debates in the family office space is the “How
much does it take?” discussion to warrant starting a single-family office.
Decades ago, experts in the field might have said anywhere from $50 to $250
million. Today, experts such as Kathryn McCarthy, a seasoned advisor who
has spent more than two decades working for families including the
Rockefeller family, states that current operating costs to build out a fully
functioning family office typically begin in the range of $500 million to $1
billion. Why has the number increased so significantly? One reason is the
new reality of uncertainty, coupled with low-return markets, which can cause
investment returns to stall or drop while overhead remains the same or
increases due to regulatory and compliance costs. McCarthy further cautions
that deciding whether to create and maintain a single-family office requires
more consideration than simply the size of the family’s assets. For example,
does the family want employees, and does it want to govern and operate a
family office?19
As further evidence of McCarthy’s point, family office sizes vary con-
siderably. In a series of five reports on single-family offices commencing in
2009, the Family Wealth Alliance, a professional organization that serves the
family office community, found that of the 34 family offices it surveyed,
the offices’ financial size ranged from $42 million to well over $1.5 billion,
with a median of $275 million assets under supervision and a mean of $516
million.20 Tom Livergood, founder and CEO of the Family Wealth Alliance,
currently estimates that the average single-family office size is approximately
$600 million, although some Unicorn offices (on the rise in recent years)
number in the multiple billions in net worth served.21 These statistics indi-
cate, as the old adage goes, “If you have seen one family office, you have seen
one family office.” Like snowflakes, no two family offices are alike.
Moreover, many family offices do serve families with far fewer than $500
million—perhaps in the range of $50 to $200 million or more of investable
assets. McCarthy coins most of these family offices as “coordinator family
offices,” where most of the family office services are outsourced and per-
haps one or more family members runs the family office operations with the
support of a bookkeeper or accountant. Most of these families with smaller

family offices also tend to identify with the concept of being a family office,
underscoring the point that the scale of a family’s wealth does not necessarily
correlate with classification as a legally established family office.
Furthermore, the key question may not be how much the family has
today, but how they anticipate investing, spending, and organizing around
that wealth or operating business. I have seen families with several billions
who decide to not establish a fully built out family office. Therefore, remem-
ber that the ranges presented in this section are general rules of thumb rather
than strict guidelines. Ultimately, starting a family office or joining an exist-
ing multi-family office represents an individual decision that extends beyond
questions of net worth and instead depends on the family’s overarching objec-
tives, time, and energy.
Purpose and Definition of the Family Office
The wealth management industry generally defines a family office as “an

organization dedicated to serving wealthy individuals and/or families on a
diverse range of financial, estate, tax, accounting, and personal family needs.”22
Thus, the purpose of the family office is to manage and oversee the wealth
management affairs of highly affluent individuals and their families in regard
to such issues as tax, wealth transfer, investment management, governance,
estate planning, risk management, compliance, education, communication,
financial education, and more. Primary areas of family office services include:23
1. Advisory: risk management, insurance, compliance and regulatory assis-

tance, tax, and legal advisory
2. Financial planning: investment management services, philanthropic man-
agement, life management, and budgeting
3. Strategy: business and financial advisory, estate and wealth transfer, train-
ing, and education
4. Governance: reporting and record keeping, continuity and succession
planning, administrative services
Because the family office “has a deep understanding of the planning,

generational, and tax issues so important to wealthy investors,”24 it truly plays
a key role as integrator and coordinator of all the wealth affairs of the fam-
ily. These characteristics distinguish the family office from other financial
institutions because it is uniquely positioned to execute long-term strategic
planning on multiple fronts. Putting the family office in the context of a

football team, it becomes the quarterback and “coach” for the management
of the family’s financial and wealth affairs, providing a centralized point for
the family to unify around their wealth. The office can collaborate with the
family’s professional team members (lawyers, accountants, tax advisors, fam-
ily business advisors, among others) to decide when to move forward and
execute on certain goals (pass or rush, in football speak) and when to refrain
from following through on certain objectives (to kneel down, as it may be in
football terms). Further, the family office is not only about ongoing mainte-
nance and monitoring of wealth, it is about deriving the strategy to sustain
and grow the wealth across generations for a family yet to be born—like
enacting day-to-day strategies focused on winning the season championship,
rather than winning just a single game. Like the football coach, the family
office coordinates, organizes, and aids the many players in implementing a
plan for achieving the family’s wealth management goals.
The family office also is uniquely positioned to help individuals under-
stand the context of their family wealth, a progressive point of interest
adopted by leading wealth experts such as Jay Hughes, Dennis Jaffe, and Sam
Lane among others. Such authors have outlined the many forms of capital the
family possesses and how these should be managed. Specifically, in addition
to basic financial capital, families also need to manage their human capital,
the individual family members and what they do; intellectual capital, what
the individual family members know and how they learn, communicate, and
make decisions together; and social capital, how they engage with their larger
societies.25 Jay Hughes further asserts that managing the family’s human and
intellectual capital should be of higher priority even than managing its finan-
cial capital.26
Although each wealth expert has a slight variation on how they define
family wealth, the concept of wealth consisting of both the material and
immaterial has significant implications for intergenerational wealth transfer,
which is rapidly expanding on a global scale. Family wealth is as old as time
and is a significant driving force in perpetuating the need and ongoing inter-
est to the creation of family offices.
Historical Background of the Family Office
Although the exact origin of the first family offices is not well documented,
the literature suggests that the first family offices emerged in Europe after
large, land-owning families liquidated their assets.27 European family offices
were often embedded in the estate offices of French, British, and German
nobility in the nineteenth century or earlier and land ownership played a
much greater role in wealth preservation in the United Kingdom and Europe
than in the United States.28 While the roots of the family office began in
Europe following the Crusades approximately in the 1400s to 1500s, the US
family office originated shortly after the Industrial Revolution (1712–1942)
and the incredible fortunes that were generated during this booming era.29 In
North America, the family enterprise is the bedrock that supports the domes-
tic economy, contributing approximately 59 percent of the gross domestic
product in the United States30 and 45 percent in Canada.31 As a result, much
of the wealth in North America is the direct result of the success of the family
enterprise. The impact of the family enterprise as it relates to private equity
transactions is significant: In 2018, there were 164 private-equity deals
involving a vehicle that manages the assets of a wealthy family—a 36 percent
increase on the previous year.32 Thus, the vast majority of concentrated wealth
in families is linked to the family enterprise and the ways in which their
resources are managed.33
Family Office from the Industrial Age to Current

The Rockefellers, perhaps the most well-known ultra-wealthy American fam-
ily, created one of the first—if not the first—family offices in the United
States. John D. Rockefeller amassed an enormous fortune as a result of the
success of his Standard Oil Trust Company. By 1900, Standard Oil domi-
nated the domestic oil refinery business and controlled 80 percent of all oil
refinery capacity in the United States.34 After a number of years of litigation,
the Supreme Court ruled that Standard Oil was a monopoly that had to be
dissolved. Standard Oil was dissolved into six sub-oil companies, and John D.
Rockefeller became the largest single stockholder in these companies—the
predecessors of Exxon, Mobil, Amoco, and Chevron.35 By 1913, it was esti-
mated that Rockefeller’s holdings in these companies were valued at
$900 million.
In 1882, prior to the dissolution of Standard Oil Trust, John D.
Rockefeller started the Rockefeller family office, which over 138 years has
evolved from a small office managing JDR Sr.’s personal business and fam-
ily matters to a multi-family asset management and wealth advisory firm
known as Rockefeller Capital Management headquartered at 45 Rockefel-
ler Plaza. Rockefeller Capital Management and its subsidiary, the Rockefel-
ler Trust Companies, manages assets for members of the Rockefeller Family
and other high-net-worth families, as well as for institutions that include
foundations, endowments, and corporations. Rockefeller Capital Manage-

ment has approximately 400 employees1 in New York, Washington D.C., and
other locations.
Recognized as one of the greatest philanthropists of his era, Rockefeller
donated an estimated $530 million to various charities during his lifetime.
In addition to his generosity to the public good, Rockefeller understood the
opportunity that centralizing his family’s wealth afforded his immediate fam-
ily and generations to come. Although John D. Rockefeller, Sr. had three
daughters and one son, he passed the vast majority of his wealth ($250 mil-
lion of $274 million in oil stock) to his son, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., leaving
just $24 million to be divided among his remaining daughters.36 This appli-
cation of primogenitor, or the passing of the wealth to the oldest male in the
family, was a common practice in the early twentieth century. The goal was to
keep the wealth aligned with the bloodline and family namesake.
Continuing his father’s wealth transfer intentions and planning, John
Rockefeller, Jr. was able to protect the vast amount of the family wealth
prior to President Roosevelt’s 1934 proposed tax wealth increase—the gift
tax. Through elaborate estate planning and gifting, Rockefeller, Jr. created a
number of substantial generational-skipping trusts, each worth $20 million
for his wife and six children.37 In this manner, the Rockefeller clan was able to
perpetuate their family’s tremendous fortune from generation to generation.
Through John Rockefeller Sr.’s and Jr.’s keen insights into aggregating and
leveraging the amassed fortune, and their strategic planning of transferring
wealth to future generations, the Rockefeller family established the model for
transgenerational wealth transfer.
The wealth of other legendary affluent families, such as the Mellons,
Scripps, Phipps, Lairds, Nortons, Pitcairns, and DuPonts, became the foun-
dation for many of the larger US private investment companies, family offices
and/or trust companies.38 Some of the families’ wealth was converted into private
investment companies that are known today as Bank of America Private Bank,
Fiduciary Trust, Glenmede Trust Co., Laird Norton Wealth Management,
Whittier Trust Company, Northern Trust, Wilmington Trust, CIBC National
Trust (formerly Atlantic Trust), Bessemer Trust, and Pitcairn Trust Company.
Again, the aggregation and concentration of these families’ wealth gave them
an enormous advantage and opportunity to grow and perpetuate their family
wealth for generations to come. This is another strategic advantage of the family
office that continues to be an important advantage for families today.
The story of the creation of Bessemer Trust provides another example of
an historic, renowned family who understood the value of aggregating their
collective wealth. Henry Phipps, a partner of Andrew Carnegie, established
Bessemer Trust Company in 1907 as a family office.39 Phipps requested that
$50 million, a portion of the amount he received from the sale of Carnegie
Steel to J.P. Morgan, be invested by the family office.40 Managed by the fam-
ily office, the initial $50 million investment grew to an estimated $1 billion
that was divided among 100 of Phipps’ descendants in 2004.41
In the early 1970s, with a staff of 200, Bessemer struggled to remain cost-
efficient as a single-family office, paying out an estimated 2 percent of assets
under management annually.42 In 1975, Phipps family members hired new
management and opened their doors to other affluent individuals and fami-
lies to become a multi-client family office. As of 2019, Bessemer Trust had
more than $100 billion of assets under supervision, more than 2,500 client
relationships served from 19 offices, and fiduciary responsibility for 10,000
trusts.43 The Phipps family recognized that, in order to grow and maintain
the success of their family’s wealth, they needed to shift their model of wealth
management. At the time, the concept of bringing in outside clients was a
novel and progressive idea.
The Pitcairn family started another well-conceived family office. John
Pitcairn (1841–1916) was a Scottish immigrant who became one of the 1883
co-founders of Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company, known today as PPG Indus-
tries (PPG). The company was quite successful; by the twentieth century,
the company manufactured 65 percent of all plate glass made in the United
States.44 Following the death of John Pitcairn, his three sons formed the Pit-
cairn Company, a family holding office that managed the financial and estate
planning affairs and maintained the family’s voting control of PPG. The three
sons, Raymond, Theodore, and Harold, had a total of nine children, and by
1951, there were 61 descendants of John Pitcairn. The success of PPG is evi-
denced by its incredible dividend payout as, “between 1938 and 1985 alone,
the [PPG] corporation paid over $320 million in dividends to their holding
company.”45
In 1973, Pitcairn Company celebrated its fiftieth anniversary as a family
office and had grown to more than $200 million in assets under management,
after paying over $750 million in dividends.46 In the late 1980s, the Pitcairn
family decided to liquidate their personal holding company by selling nearly
all their assets, including their PPG stock. In 1987, the family reconstituted
the family office as a private trust company, Pitcairn Trust Company, located
in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, and began a new chapter as a multi-client fam-
ily office.47 Pitcairn’s departure from a single-family office model was similar
to other large family offices, such as Bessemer Trust and Rockefeller Fam-
ily Office, which made the transition to a multi-family office. As of 2019,
Pitcairn had $5.8 billion under management. In speaking with Dirk Jungé,
the great grandson of John Pitcairn, and retired chairman of Pitcairn Trust
Company, Dirk shared the weight of his family’s powerful heritage and their
tremendous pride, but also his deep sense of stewardship to the wealth gener-
ated over a hundred years prior. Dirk has dedicated most of his entire profes-
sional career to leading the family enterprise and has invested tremendously
in the family capital to fortify generations to come.
Pitcairn’s successful family office is due in part to the intention and effort
the family has made in establishing a strong governance structure with their
growing number of family members. The Pitcairn family maintains an advi-
sory council that is comprised of family members. In addition, they have cod-
ified several generational rituals, such as family meetings and retreats, which
help build community and strengthen familial bonds. Giving members of the
family a free choice to participate in the affairs of the family and the family
office strengthens overall cohesiveness, as they typically choose to participate.
Further, these rituals and governance practices provide clear guidelines and
expectations for family members as they grow up in the family system. They
also foster increased and open communication, clarity of family member roles
and responsibilities, and greater family harmony. A more detailed discussion
of the Pitcairn Family Office will be shared in Chapter 4 on the family’s mis-
sion, vision, and evolution.
Key Roles of the Family Office
Although the family office tends to wear many hats for the family, if we were
to condense down the key roles that the family office may serve a family, we
would find there are typically three core functional areas: executor and trusted
advisor, guardian and watchman, and librarian and guru. See Figure 1.3,
which outlines the various hats of the family office.
The Executor and Trusted Advisor

For many families, the family office is the primary keeper and executor of
transactions and legal documents. Although the families make the final deci-
sions, there is a critical function that the family office plays in implementing
and executing transactions based on those decisions, monitoring and comply-
ing with the industry rules and regulations, housing and storing critical docu-
ments related to strategy, and planning and building continuity and context
to the wealth management efforts by the family. Thus, the family office may
have to manage or oversee a variety of different tasks and transactions such as:
• Liquidity of family units and various entities.

• Diligence, risk considerations, and time horizon planning for entities.
• Process, method, and steps for transaction approval.

• Assessing the impact that a transaction may have on legal structures.
• Understanding the impact a transaction may have on tax expense or savings.
• Overseeing administrative tasks to be completed once the transaction
is complete.
• Documenting and archiving relevant legal, compliance, estate planning,
business planning, and/or tax documents.
FIGURE 1.3 The Many Hats of the Family Office
Guru Executor
Family
Office
Librarian Advisor
Watchman Guardian
Source: © Tamarind Partners, Inc.
The trusted advisor is a critical function of the family office regardless

of the type of family office (discussed in the next section) or the stage of the
family office. With the responsibility of being a person of confidence and
trust to the family, these advisors are devising the processes enacted for the
management of the family’s wealth and business affairs.
The Guardian and Watchman

“Are you going to protect the family, Michael?” asks Sandra Bullock, who
plays Leigh Anne Tuohy, Michael’s adopted mother in the movie The Blind
Side. Tuohy, who takes in the homeless Michael Oher, uses the analogy for
Oher’s need to protect his teammates and his quarterback’s blind side the
way he would protect his own family. The family office adopts Oher’s same
Another random document with
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jockeys aux livrées de toutes couleurs, ils prennent un petit galop et
s’arrêtent à la limite désignée.
Un monsieur à l’air vénérable abaisse un petit drapeau. La
cavalcade s’ébranle d’un seul mouvement et fuit avec une rapidité
vertigineuse. Lorgnettes braquées, têtes anxieusement penchées ;
exclamations émues, qui accompagnent chaque péripétie de la
course.
Et, pendant que la poussière s’élève sous les pieds du petit
escadron, je me sens gagner, moi aussi, par l’émotion des autres.
Cette émotion, je la connais : ce n’est, ni une affection particulière
pour Fille-du-ciel ou Parfait II, ni une passion effrénée pour
l’amélioration de la race chevaline, qui fait battre tant de cœurs.
C’est le jeu, le jeu de hasard sous sa forme la plus brutale : le pari,
qui a pris possession de nous tous et dont le démon nous emporte le
long de la piste.
Fille-du-ciel ! crient des milliers de voix. Je vois la bête écumante
arriver sur nous : je la crois déjà victorieuse, quand tout d’un coup,
de la masse des distancés, un cheval se détache. En quelques
bonds énormes, il a rejoint le concurrent, qui, jusqu’alors était sûr
d’arriver premier. Il l’atteint, le devance d’un galop furieux et passe
comme la foudre devant le poteau, qui marque le but et la victoire.
C’est Grand Paresseux, qui vient de battre tous ses rivaux, de
confondre les calculs les mieux établis. Je me sens quelque peu
exalté : j’ai gagné deux cent cinquante fois ma mise et je regarde,
non sans ironie, mon ami, qui n’en revient pas.
— Vous me disiez pourtant que jamais, de mémoire de Grand
Prix… — Ne m’en parlez pas ! Je n’y comprends plus rien. Un
cheval à 250 contre un. C’est à désespérer de tout. Enfin, allons
toucher votre argent.
Nous partîmes triomphants, traversant les rangs piteux des
décavés, très nombreux ce jour-là. Mon aimable guide ne pouvait se
consoler de voir ses plus belles hypothèses démenties par le fait
inattendu, incontestable.
— Allons ! fis-je en riant ! Avouez que, sous prétexte de courses,
vous m’avez montré tout simplement, le jeu des Trente-six Bêtes.
— Il n’y a qu’une bête dans l’affaire, répondit-il rageusement :
c’est le public, dont j’ai l’honneur de faire partie. Mais on ne m’y
reprendra plus. Je veux être pendu, si je retourne aux courses !
LA PRESSE
Je ne connaissais encore la presse européenne que par la

lecture de quelques journaux, lorsque mon ami me proposa de
visiter un des établissements où l’industrie moderne met au jour ces
puissants moteurs de l’opinion publique.
Venez, me dit-il. Il faut que vous assistiez à la genèse d’un
numéro de journal ; que vous voyiez comment fonctionne, dans ses
organes intérieurs, cette puissance née d’hier et qui, aujourd’hui,
gouverne réellement notre monde européen.
Nous nous arrêtons, dans une rue de largeur moyenne, devant
un immense édifice, qui ressemble à un palais plutôt qu’à une usine,
et qu’on prendrait pour l’habitation d’un millionnaire, n’étaient
d’immenses rouleaux de papier blanc qui, debout sur le trottoir,
attendent que l’atelier les absorbe, pour les rendre sous forme de
feuilles imprimées, découpées et pliées.
— Regardez tout ce papier, fit mon guide. C’est la pitance
quotidienne de la feuille que vous allez voir imprimer. Le nombre des
rouleaux vous indique un tirage d’environ deux cent mille
exemplaires.
— Deux cent mille !
— Oh ! n’allez pas croire que ce soit là le maximum. Je pourrais
vous en montrer, qui dépassent le million. Si je vous ai amené ici,
c’est que j’ai des amis dans la maison et qu’il vous sera plus facile
de tout voir et de tout comprendre.
Nous gravissons les marches d’un large escalier. Je suis tout
étonné de n’y rencontrer que fort peu de personnes, moi qui
m’attendais à trouver là tout le mouvement inséparable de la
fiévreuse activité d’une grande feuille.
— Patientez un peu, fit mon ami. Les rédacteurs, à cette heure,
sont tous à leur poste.
— Et le personnel de l’imprimerie ?
— Il fait usage d’un autre escalier, débouchant sur un des côtés
de la maison. De cette manière, chacun est chez soi et l’on évite
l’encombrement.
Nous entrons. Un garçon, à l’uniforme du journal, nous mène
jusqu’à une porte, sur laquelle on lit ces mots : « Cabinet du
Rédacteur en chef ».
Les présentations faites, et le but de ma visite exposé, nous
commençons notre exploration.
Voici, d’abord, une vaste salle : la majeure partie en est occupée
par une table immense, dont le bois disparaît sous les journaux
amoncelés. Tout autour, une douzaine d’hommes de tout âge, sont
assis, lisant, prenant des notes, écrivant. Notre entrée ne leur fait
pas lever la tête ; ils sont bien trop pressés, pour perdre une
seconde.
— Voyez-vous ce jeune homme brun, monocle à l’œil ? C’est le
chef du reportage. Très actif, très adroit, ayant ses entrées partout et
sachant se les procurer, quand il ne les a pas. Un seul défaut :
lorsque les renseignements lui manquent, il se livre quelquefois à la
production du canard…
— Du canard ?
— Vous n’y êtes pas. Le canard n’est pas l’oiseau savoureux que
vous connaissez : c’est un volatile d’un genre tout spécial, qui naît
dans quelques journaux à court de nouvelles. Pour intéresser le
lecteur, on fabrique alors une bonne histoire à sensation, qui prend
son vol par le monde : c’est le canard en question.
— Alors, je sais ce que c’est. Il y a peu de temps, une feuille très
sérieuse pourtant, m’a servi de ce gibier. Vous savez que la Gazette
officielle de Pékin est rédigée sous l’inspiration directe du
gouvernement ; ses rédacteurs se bornent à reproduire ce qu’on leur
communique et, par conséquent, ne sont d’aucune façon
responsables. Vous figurez-vous ma stupéfaction, lorsque je vois
dans un grand journal que, depuis l’origine de notre Gazette, deux
cents de ses rédacteurs avaient été décapités ? J’étais indigné !
Comment peut-on publier de pareilles faussetés ?
— Bah ! Ce sont de petits détails, auxquels nous n’attachons pas
trop d’importance. La rectification finit toujours par arriver : la vérité
reprend ses droits ; l’inventeur du canard n’est pas décapité, lui non
plus, mais se voit laver la tête de façon magistrale. Mais tenez, voici
de quoi vous intéresser : Regardez ce gros homme, à figure si grave
et dont chaque geste montre quelle importance il attache à ce qu’il
fait. Comme il paraît pénétré de la grandeur de sa tâche ! Que
pensez-vous qu’il fasse ?
— C’est sans doute la forte tête politique de l’endroit ?
— Vous gelez. C’est le rédacteur de l’article « La Mode du Jour ».
Il est en train d’apprendre au public féminin comment on devra
s’habiller cet été.
— Et celui-ci, qui, armé de gigantesques ciseaux, taille et
découpe avec acharnement ?
— Il fait la cuisine.
La cuisine ! Je ne comprenais pas très bien, mais de crainte de
paraître ridicule, je n’osai demander d’autres éclaircissements.
— Et son voisin, cet élégant, qui frise sa moustache ?
— Il fait le Cabinet.
Il me sembla que je rougissais. Mon ami ne me laissa pas le
temps de l’interroger et continua :
— Tenez, là-bas, de l’autre côté de la table, vous voyez ce
vieillard : il fait le Salon. Il est, en ce moment, dans son coup de feu.
Mais il vous intéressera moins que cet autre personnage, qui n’a pas
son pareil à Paris, pour faire les Chambres.
La cuisine ! le cabinet ! les chambres ! le salon ! Je ne savais ce
que tous ces détails de ménage venaient faire dans un journal ; je
commençais à croire que mon ami se moquait de moi, lorsqu’il
ajouta, en me désignant un grand gaillard qui venait d’entrer comme
un coup de vent :
— Ah ! voilà le titulaire du rez-de-chaussée. En retard, comme
d’habitude. Il fait manquer le départ une ou deux fois par mois. Mais,
que voulez-vous faire ? Il est indispensable et il le sait bien. Il n’y a
que lui pour passionner le public et le tenir haletant.
Décidément je n’y étais pas. Je regardai mon cicerone d’un air si
ébahi, qu’il se mit à rire de bon cœur.
— Je vous demande pardon, dit-il, mais je ne l’ai pas fait exprès
et les mots ne sont pas de moi, pas plus que le jeu de mots, qui a
déjà été commis souvent.
Et il m’expliqua ce qu’on entendait, dans le langage spécial de la
presse, par les expressions qui avaient causé mon étonnement. A
mon tour, je ris bien de cet amusant quiproquo.
A ce moment, le secrétaire de la rédaction vint nous rejoindre.
— Le numéro est à peu près fait, nous dit-il. Si vous voulez
descendre avec moi, à l’imprimerie, je pense que ce que vous verrez
pourra vous intéresser.
Nous suivons notre guide qui s’engage, avec nous, dans un
escalier tournant, assez étroit.
Dans l’atelier, l’équipe, au grand complet, travaille fiévreusement.
La main droite va, avec un mouvement d’une régularité automatique,
d’une précision de machine intelligente, des petits casiers qui
renferment les lettres, au composteur placé dans la main gauche,
pendant que les yeux restent attachés aux petites bandes de papier
découpé, qui contient la copie. Tout cela se fait dans un profond
silence : on sent que tous les cerveaux sont absorbés par le travail.
Seule, la machine à vapeur, placée dans la salle voisine, annonce sa
présence par quelques ronflements.
J’assiste à la mise en page, au tirage des épreuves. Maintenant
on serre les formes, que l’on porte au clichage. Puis, les demi-
cylindres de métal sont appliqués sur les cylindres de la machine
rotative, qu’on met en train.
— Tout va bien… Marchez ! Alors commence un spectacle qu’il
faut avoir vu, pour se rendre compte de l’impression qu’il suggère.
Actionnée par les rubans de transmission, se met en marche la
machine, qui va donner la consécration définitive à tous les efforts
isolés que j’ai vu collaborer jusque-là.
L’énorme rouleau de papier, mis en place, commence à tourner,
d’abord lentement ; puis il va plus vite ; puis il court avec une rapidité
vertigineuse. En même temps, tournent les lourds cylindres qui
portent les caractères ; les rouleaux qui les couvrent d’encre,
tournent, eux aussi, du même coup. Entre les clichés, le papier,
comme une anguille, se glisse, monte, descend, serpente, avec un
mouvement si intelligent, qu’on croirait qu’il sait ce qu’il fait. Enfin,
d’innombrables aiguilles le percent, le coupent, le séparent en
feuilles ; celles-ci arrivent, huit à la fois, de chaque côté de la
rotative, sur une espèce de grillage, qui semble une main
gigantesque.
Elles vont, les deux mains, sans cesse ; elles comprennent qu’il
faut qu’elles se dépêchent et elles travaillent avec ardeur. Elles
s’élèvent, s’abaissent, abattant à chaque coup sur les planches leurs
seize journaux et recommençant, recommençant toujours.
Je ne crois pas que l’industrie moderne possède un instrument
plus apte à montrer sa toute-puissance.
Nous sortons enfin. Dans la rue, des voitures roulent, portant aux
gares ou distribuant en ville et dans la banlieue, les numéros du
journal. Les vendeurs des kiosques, les camelots se pressent : c’est
à qui aura, le premier, les exemplaires dont il a besoin. C’est un
mouvement bruyant, une agitation tumultueuse, qui se prolongera,
longtemps encore, après notre départ, portant à la terre entière la
pensée, qui venait d’éclore là.
Toute cette vision m’avait profondément ému. Seul enfin, je
repassai dans mon esprit les scènes variées qui s’étaient déroulées
devant mes yeux et me demandai comment cette imprimerie,
découverte par mes compatriotes il y a des milliers d’années, avait
pu prendre un si merveilleux développement, dans cette Europe qui
n’avait pourtant réinventé la presse qu’il y a peu de siècles.
Je me dis que, pour opérer toutes ces merveilles, il avait suffi à
un observateur de génie de remarquer ce fait si minime en
apparence : que la vapeur d’un peu d’eau bouillant devant lui,
soulevait le couvercle de la bouillotte. Et je compris qu’une nouvelle
ère s’était alors ouverte pour l’humanité et que la science avait pris
définitivement possession du globe terrestre.
A TRAVERS CHAMPS
Ce jour-là, je m’étais échappé de la ville : heureux comme un

écolier en vacances, j’allais, à travers champs, laissant au hasard le
soin de me conduire, regardant tout ce qui pouvait tenter ma
curiosité, et modifiant sans cesse la direction de mes pas, suivant le
spectacle qui m’attirait.
Les environs de Paris forment, par place, un potager
merveilleusement cultivé. Les légumes que la grande cité dévore,
allongent au loin leurs lignes régulières, aux intervalles
méthodiquement tracés et forment un tableau qui ne manque pas de
charme… ni même de poésie.
Oui, de poésie. Je ne suis pas de ceux qui regrettent les
empiètements de l’homme sur la nature rebelle. Je ne regarde pas,
comme fatale à l’idéal, l’époque où, suivant l’expression d’Alfred de
Musset :
… « Le globe rasé, sans barbe ni cheveux,

Comme un grand potiron, roulera dans les cieux. »
Rien, au contraire, de plus poétique que ces triomphes de la

civilisation sur la sauvagerie, du cultivateur sur le sol ingrat.
L’« océan de choux et de navets », que produit, grâce à la sage
application de l’engrais naturel, la presqu’île de Gennevilliers, ne
m’effraye pas.
Loin de là : je me plais à contempler ce chef-d’œuvre de la
patience humaine et je ne déplore qu’une chose : c’est que l’Europe
ne présente pas partout un spectacle aussi vivant, aussi joyeux ; que
les terrains incultes y soient encore si nombreux ; que la friche et les
broussailles occupent d’immenses espaces, que le laboureur n’a pas
encore utilisés.
Ce n’est pas que je sois ennemi juré des sauvages grandeurs de
la nature abandonnée à elle-même : les paysages glacés des Alpes ;
les sommets calcinés des Pyrénées me fascinent par leur horreur
grandiose et je ne les revois jamais sans être profondément ému.
Mais cette désolation, cette stérilité, est-ce là la véritable poésie ?
Pour que le globe soit beau, est-il donc indispensable qu’il soit mal
peigné ? Ne peut-on lui couper les cheveux et lui faire la barbe, sans
l’enlaidir ? en l’embellissant même ?
Toute conquête de l’homme sur la nature ajoute à la beauté de la
terre, contribue à la poésie de l’existence. N’y eût-il que cette
pensée : « tel hectare de terre, hier couvert de brousse, aujourd’hui
rendu fécond, peut nourrir une famille entière ; » la conclusion
inévitable suffirait pour satisfaire les exigences poétiques les plus
raffinées.
C’est ainsi, du moins, que nous avons posé et résolu la question
en Chine. Partout où il a été possible, nous avons déraciné la forêt
et fait passer la charrue. Nous y avons beaucoup gagné. L’Europe
ne perdrait rien, certes, à faire aussi la barbe à la nature, à défricher
tant de terrains, encore inutiles, qu’on rencontre jusqu’aux environs
mêmes de Paris.
C’est une chose curieuse, en effet, que la comparaison des
traitements différents que nous faisons subir à la terre. Chez nous, il
n’est pour ainsi dire pas un coin de champ, qui ne serve au paysan.
Le laisser stérile nous paraîtrait un véritable crime, un acte d’impiété
envers la terre, qui veut être fertilisée par l’homme, et lui rend au
triple ce qu’il lui a donné. Quelle est la situation de l’agriculteur en
Europe ?
Le paysan français, par exemple, est, depuis un siècle, le plus
riche de l’Europe. Le morcellement des héritages a créé une classe
très nombreuse de paysans propriétaires ; petits propriétaires, qui
cultivent eux-mêmes, et vivent du produit de leur sol.
Sobre, patient, laborieux, ne reculant devant aucune peine ; se
sacrifiant, lui et sa famille, à la terre qu’il adore, le paysan ne se sent
pas heureux cependant et, trop souvent, émigre vers la ville et les
grandes usines.
Je crois que cette différence dans la situation des agriculteurs
français souvent mécontents, et des laboureurs chinois, si satisfaits
de leur sort, tient principalement à trois causes : le budget, le
caractère agricole de notre gouvernement, et la constitution de la
propriété.
Le budget de la Chine est, en effet, prodigieusement faible, en
comparaison des dépenses et recettes d’un grand État européen.
Les impôts indirects : mines, douanes et sel, n’en constituent qu’une
très faible portion. La presque totalité du revenu est fournie par
l’impôt foncier, qui divise les terres en quatre classes, suivant
qu’elles sont irriguées ou non, qu’elles ont été récemment conquises
sur les eaux, etc.
Cet impôt est, en moyenne, de 1 fr. 50 à 5 fr. par hectare, ce qui
fait environ 3 fr. par tête ; tandis qu’en France, l’impôt payé par
chaque habitant s’élève à plus de 75 fr. De sorte qu’une famille
chinoise, composée de huit personnes, ne paye que 24 fr. ; tandis
qu’une famille d’agriculteurs français, de 4 membres, paye 300 fr.
Je n’ai pas besoin d’insister sur l’énormité de la différence, qui
saute aux yeux. Je dois ajouter pourtant que, dans les temps de
disette, le gouvernement accorde des remises d’impôts et des
exemptions totales, tout en pourvoyant aux besoins immédiats par
les immenses réserves, entassées dans ses magasins de riz.
D’autre part, notre gouvernement offre un caractère tout spécial.
Isolés du reste du monde pendant une longue période d’années,
nous n’avons pas eu, pour ainsi dire, de politique étrangère ; l’action
de nos gouvernants était donc tout intérieure et se résumait en deux
mots : maintien de l’ordre et soins donnés à la terre. Et, cela est si
absolument vrai, qu’on pourrait dire que, pendant une suite
prodigieuse de siècles, notre gouvernement a été un immense
ministère de l’agriculture, appliquant tous ses efforts au sol ;
enseignant au paysan l’usage de l’engrais naturel ; couvrant tout le
pays d’un gigantesque réseau de canaux d’irrigation ; se faisant, en
même temps, l’économe de la nation, et accumulant dans ses
greniers, par l’impôt foncier payé en nature, le superflu des années
de bonne récolte, seule ressource de tous dans les temps de
famine.
L’Europe, au contraire, absorbée par des guerres d’État à État,
n’a pas joui de la tranquillité indispensable pour créer un
gouvernement aussi exclusivement pratique, aussi spécialement
consacré à la surveillance et à la direction de la principale industrie
nationale. En même temps, elle était obligée de recourir à toutes
sortes de taxes indirectes, gênantes pour le commerce et l’industrie
qui, au contraire, chez nous, sont absolument libres et ne se voient
jamais entravés dans leur essor par l’intervention administrative, ni
arrêtés par des impôts spéciaux ou des droits d’octrois.
Enfin, la constitution de la propriété du sol, après avoir traversé
des phases diverses, s’est fixée définitivement en Chine, au système
actuel, très avantageux pour tous et dont une expérience prolongée
nous a démontré la supériorité.
La propriété, en Chine, a d’abord été collective, comme elle l’est
au début de toutes les civilisations ; puis elle est devenue
individuelle, telle que nous la voyons fonctionner actuellement en
Europe.
L’appropriation individuelle du sol ne tarda pas à développer une
foule d’inconvénients, sur lesquels je n’insisterai pas ; on les a
constatés ailleurs, et les livres des économistes regorgent
d’arguments pour et contre ce mode de propriété. Quoi qu’il en soit,
la situation, en Chine, était devenue insupportable. Il se produisit un
courant d’opinion puissant en faveur du retour à la propriété
collective.
Nos collectivistes finirent par triompher, et, réorganisant la
propriété de la terre sur une nouvelle base, en confièrent
l’administration à des directeurs contre lesquels on chercha, bien
entendu, à prendre toutes les garanties possibles.
Il arriva ce qui devait arriver. Après un certain temps, les
directeurs prirent la place de la collectivité et les simples
administrateurs d’autrefois devinrent les seuls propriétaires du sol.
Jamais propriétaires n’avaient été plus tyranniques, plus durs
pour la masse des dépossédés.
C’est alors que, vers le troisième siècle de l’ère actuelle, un
nouveau mouvement se dessina avec netteté.
Lassé de la propriété individuelle, désillusionné sur la propriété
collective, le Chinois chercha et trouva un nouveau mode
d’organisation. Par étapes successives, l’État devint seul propriétaire
de la terre chinoise, dont l’individu ne put plus être que le simple
possesseur.
J’ai dit ailleurs de quelle manière la terre fut alors répartie, entre
les agriculteurs. Je ne reviendrai donc pas sur ce sujet.
Voyons maintenant, comment fonctionne le nouveau système.
L’État est propriétaire du sol, qu’il loue à chaque famille
moyennant une redevance. C’est cette rente du sol, qui porte le nom
d’impôt foncier.
Le paysan n’est que le fermier de l’État. S’il néglige de cultiver sa
terre, il n’est pas seulement frappé par la diminution de ses récoltes,
il sait aussi que le gouvernement pourrait lui reprendre des champs,
comme cela s’est fait déjà.
Simple fermier, il est évident que le paysan ne peut comparer son
usufruit au droit de propriété qui, dans l’ancienne Rome par
exemple, était le droit d’user et d’abuser. Il est usager, et il le sait
bien et agit en conséquence ; son intérêt, d’ailleurs, est en parfait
accord avec le droit de la communauté nationale.
Sans doute, il peut vendre sa terre, mais il ne vend jamais que
l’usufruit ; l’État reste nu-propriétaire. Ce droit de vente si restreint
est encore limité par une sage mesure : le champ patrimonial, celui
qui renferme, en général, les tombeaux de la famille, reste
inaliénable. Il constitue, pour chaque famille, une espèce de réserve
obligatoire, de garantie assurée contre la misère.
Nos gouvernants ont voulu que chaque famille agricole fût en
possession d’un terrain assez grand pour la nourrir. Ils ont distribué
la terre en conséquence, et ont veillé, depuis, à ce que les parcelles
ne vinssent point se réunir pour former de grands établissements
agricoles, concentrés entre les mains de quelques possesseurs.
Les exploitations sont donc restées petites. C’est, du moins, le
cas le plus général. Elles varient de 1 à 4 hectares de superficie. Il
en est de plus grandes, mais le cas, en somme, est assez rare.
Je n’hésite pas à attribuer principalement à cette organisation de
la propriété, l’aisance du paysan chinois. L’individu est privé d’un
droit, c’est vrai. Mais l’expérience nous a démontré que ce droit, non
seulement n’est pas nécessaire, mais encore est nuisible et qu’une
nation d’agriculteurs n’est jamais aussi riche, aussi heureuse, que
lorsqu’elle travaille paisiblement la terre, constituée en propriété
nationale.
LA BIBLIOTHÈQUE NATIONALE
— Il pleut et le ciel est si couvert, que nous en avons

probablement pour toute la journée. Si vous voulez, au lieu de
patauger dans les allées détrempées du Champ-de-Mars, nous
allons visiter la Bibliothèque Nationale.
J’avais déjà entendu parler de cette collection incomparable de
livres et de manuscrits, mais je ne la connaissais encore que de
nom. Je fus donc heureux de profiter de l’occasion qui se présentait,
pour examiner de près la grande institution dont on m’avait dit tant
de bien.
Arrivés rue de Richelieu, nous franchissons la porte. Au vestiaire,
on nous débarrasse de nos parapluies et nous nous dirigeons vers
le secrétariat.
Ma carte d’entrée facilement obtenue, nous pénétrons dans la
salle de Travail ; à la porte on nous remet un bulletin, que nous
devrons présenter en sortant.
Mon ami m’explique le fonctionnement, assez facile, du contrôle
des livres remis aux visiteurs. Puis, je regarde autour de moi.
L’immense salle offre aux savants, aux journalistes, aux
étudiants, environ trois cents places. On est fort à son aise pour
travailler là, assis dans un bon fauteuil, devant une table de
dimensions très suffisantes. La lumière arrive de haut et éclaire,
sans fatiguer.
Mon ami demande un livre. — Il est de bonne heure et le public
n’est pas encore très nombreux. Néanmoins, il faut compter que
nous avons de vingt à trente minutes à attendre, avant qu’on
m’apporte mon volume.
Je trouvai le délai un peu long.
— C’est le grand défaut de la Bibliothèque. Le personnel n’est
pas assez nombreux. Lorsque la salle est pleine, comme vous le
verrez tout à l’heure, il faut bien plus longtemps. Je vais vous faire
connaître, en attendant, l’organisation de la Bibliothèque.
Tout autour de la salle, collés au mur, de nombreux rayons
renferment des livres, mis à la disposition du public. Ce sont, en
général, des ouvrages à consulter : dictionnaires de toutes les
langues anciennes et modernes ; encyclopédies diverses ; auteurs
classiques ; traités relatifs à la géographie et à l’histoire ; enfin,
ouvrages de bibliographie. Au fond de la salle, une immense table
spécialement affectée aux revues et autres publications périodiques
les plus importantes. Il y en a une centaine, plus intéressantes les
unes que les autres.
Les ouvrages relatifs à la bibliographie sont indispensables, en
l’absence d’un catalogue. Car, le fait est malheureusement
indiscutable : le catalogue n’existe pas, pour le public, du moins.
Depuis quelques années, seulement, on a mis à la disposition des
lecteurs un tout petit catalogue, comprenant les ouvrages le plus
récemment arrivés.
Mais, à côté de ce défaut, que de qualités ! Les seuls volumes de
la salle permettent déjà de faire des études assez complètes, de
creuser bon nombre de sujets. Puis, n’est-ce pas une chose
admirable, que de voir l’État mettre gratuitement à la disposition de
ceux qui veulent s’instruire, une réunion pareille de trésors
littéraires !
C’est là, du reste, un caractère commun, en France, à tous les
établissements qui peuvent servir à éclairer le public. Jardin des
Plantes, ménagerie, musées, fabriques nationales, bibliothèques
quelconques : le visiteur peut tout voir, tout examiner, sans
débourser un centime. Tandis que, dans bien d’autres contrées de
l’Europe, tout se paye. Et, c’est la plus cruelle des ironies que de
demander de l’argent à l’homme, en général, le plus pauvre de tous :
à l’étudiant, au savant !
La question du catalogue est, d’ailleurs, aussi une question
d’argent. La Bibliothèque n’est pas assez riche pour dépenser les
quelques centaines de mille francs nécessaires.
Je ne pus m’empêcher de manifester mon étonnement au sujet
de cet état de choses.
— C’est très ennuyeux, me dit mon guide, mais ce n’est pas
notre faute. Je ne sais pas à quoi les générations qui nous ont
précédés, dépensaient leur argent. Mais il est certain qu’elles n’ont
pas fait ce qu’il fallait. Et nous, nous ne pouvons le faire. La situation
européenne nous force à dépenser plus d’un milliard par an, pour
l’armée et la marine. Nous n’avons pas à notre disposition les
ressources dont nos pères n’ont pas fait l’usage voulu, et nous
sommes obligés de nous résigner et d’attendre.
— Le budget de la Bibliothèque est donc bien petit ?
— Une centaine de mille francs par an. Juste ce qu’il faut pour
faire marcher la machine très économiquement, et acheter les
ouvrages étrangers indispensables. Nous n’y arriverions pas, sans
une très sage mesure prise par le gouvernement il y a un siècle, et
qui oblige tout imprimeur à déposer un exemplaire de chaque œuvre
qui sort de ses presses, pour la Bibliothèque Nationale. C’est une
faible dépense pour les éditeurs et une immense économie pour le
grand institut que vous visitez.
Je trouvai, en effet, cette mesure très sage et très intelligemment
conçue. J’admirai sans réserve la simplicité d’une prescription
légale, à laquelle peu de gens, peut-être, font attention et qui obtient
des résultats énormes, à si peu de frais.
Je remarquai encore la parfaite politesse des employés de tout
rang et la peine qu’ils se donnent pour satisfaire les visiteurs.
Puis, mon ami ayant reçu son livre, se mit à travailler. De mon
côté, je m’emparai du volume de la « Géographie Universelle »,
d’Élisée Reclus, qui traite de la Chine et je me plongeai dans la
lecture de ces pages, doublement délicieuses pour moi.
Bercé par le style harmonieux du grand écrivain, du charmeur qui
a su rendre la science, en apparence la plus aride, plus attrayante et
plus passionnante que le roman et la poésie, plus vivante que la
peinture et la sculpture, je ne m’aperçus point de la fuite rapide des
heures.
Mon ami vint m’éveiller de mon extase.
— Il est midi. Voulez-vous déjeuner ?
— Avec plaisir : où déjeunerons-nous ?
— Ici même, si toutefois vous voulez vous contenter de
l’ordinaire, modeste mais très suffisant, de la maison.
— Il y a donc un restaurant, dans la Bibliothèque ?
— C’est une innovation, qui ne date que de quelques années.
Venez et vous jugerez.
En face du vestiaire, une petite salle offre la pâture aux
travailleurs affamés. Les plats sont très simples, mais fort bons. Le
service est fait, comme je ne l’ai jamais vu dans aucun restaurant,
par des gens pleins de prévenances, qui savent bien à quel public ils
ont affaire et le traitent en conséquence, voient tout d’un coup d’œil
et — chose extraordinaire — vont, viennent, s’acquittent de leur
service, sans faire le moindre bruit. On dirait qu’ils ont peur de
troubler la pensée de ceux qui viennent se restaurer, de leur faire
perdre le fil de leurs idées.
Je sors de là, enchanté. Le repas n’était pas digne de Lucullus ;
mais s’il était simple, il était excellent et d’un bon marché
exceptionnel ; et l’on n’est pas dérangé par les cris, les bruits, les
poussées, habituels dans les restaurants même le plus en vogue.
Nous rentrons dans la salle de Travail. Je demande quelques
volumes chinois et je m’aperçois que mon pays n’est pas encore
suffisamment représenté à la Bibliothèque. Les traductions des
Évangiles en chinois, les livres rédigés dans notre langue par les
missionnaires, sont trop nombreux, par rapport aux trop rares
œuvres de nos lettrés, qui ne peuvent pas donner une idée exacte
de la richesse de notre littérature nationale. Mais les explications
que m’a données mon compagnon sur le peu de ressources mis à la
disposition des administrateurs de la grande collection, me font
comprendre que ce n’est là qu’une question de temps et que l’avenir
comblera ces vides.
Mon ami a fini de prendre ses notes. Nous quittons la salle de
Travail, pour monter à la division des manuscrits, où j’ai vu des
merveilles. Manuscrits de toutes langues, de tous temps et de tous
pays : français, allemands, arabes, hébreux, égyptiens ; chefs-
d’œuvre de la calligraphie ; exemplaires uniques, qu’on ne retrouve
nulle part ailleurs. Toutes les races et tous les siècles semblent
s’être concertés pour réunir là leurs trésors les plus précieux : depuis
le papyrus égyptien jusqu’au bambou de l’Inde et du Thibet, à
l’écorce de mûrier de la Chine, au parchemin de l’Europe du moyen
âge.
Il y a là des volumes que le copiste a dû passer sa vie à parfaire.
D’autres, où l’art a pris la forme la plus singulière. Ainsi l’on me
montre, dans une vieille Bible manuscrite, deux pages couvertes de
dessins.
— Que voyez-vous là ?
— Une rosace, entourée d’arabesques.
— Regardez bien.
— J’ai beau m’évertuer : je ne vois que des arabesques autour
d’une rosace.
On me donne une loupe : et je ne suis pas peu surpris de
constater que les traits de la rosace, les contours délicats des
arabesques sont formés de lettres minuscules : si petites, qu’il est
impossible de les lire à l’œil nu ; que le copiste a dû les écrire à la
loupe pour tracer dans un si faible espace, le volume tout entier des
Psaumes !
De là, nous passons au cabinet des Médailles, où m’attendent de
nouvelles surprises : que de pièces rares, chefs-d’œuvre de la
patience et du religieux amour de l’art !
Je sors un peu ébloui. Je jette un coup d’œil, en passant, au
cabinet des Estampes, que je me promets de visiter plus à fond, une
autre fois.
Nous voici au grand air. Je peux repasser mes impressions et les
analyser. A l’immense satisfaction d’avoir vu de si belles choses, se
mêle le regret, que j’éprouve très vivement pour mon pays, de ce
qu’il ne possède rien de comparable à ce monument merveilleux.
Nous n’avons pas, en effet, d’institution équivalente. Les
bibliothèques impériales de Pékin ne s’ouvrent, de par la nature
même des livres qu’elles renferment, qu’à un petit nombre de
privilégiés, aux docteurs de l’Académie des Han-Lin, par exemple.
Puis, ces bibliothèques de même que nos collections de province,
sont presque exclusivement chinoises : elles n’ont pas le caractère
international de la grande Bibliothèque parisienne.
Il est vrai que, jusqu’ici, le besoin d’une réunion de livres de ce
genre, n’existait pas. Tant que nous fûmes renfermés chez nous,
notre propre fonds nous suffisait. Maintenant, que les contacts avec
le reste du monde deviennent de jour en jour plus fréquents, nous
avons besoin, nous aussi, de connaître davantage l’étranger, de
nous assimiler ses lettres et ses sciences, d’étudier le passé,
d’apprendre l’histoire des peuples avec lesquels, dans la suite des
siècles, nous n’avions eu aucune communication.
C’est dire que le jour n’est pas loin où nous jetterons aussi les
bases d’un établissement analogue ; où nous fonderons, pour les
besoins sans cesse augmentés de nos lettrés, une bibliothèque
universelle, dans laquelle les nouvelles générations pourront trouver,
avec les chefs-d’œuvre des lettres chinoises, le panthéon des
littératures et des sciences de tout le reste du globe habité.

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The Complete Family Office Handbook

2nd Edition Kirby Rosplock

Complete Family Wealth 2nd Edition James E. Hughes

Insurance Handbook for the Medical Office E Book 14th

Complete Casting Handbook: Metal Casting Processes,

The Handbook of Systemic Family Therapy, volume 1: The

Complete Italian Grammar 2nd Edition Marcel Danesi

Family Assessment Handbook: An Introductory Practice

The Umarova Crime Family Series Books 1 - 5: The

The Handbook of Systemic Family Therapy Volume 4 :

“Few institutions are changing as fast as family offices. As the

“The Complete Family Office Handbook provides readers with tacti-

“Kirby Rosplock has written a book that will become an essential

“With thoughtfulness and clarity, Kirby Rosplock has brought to

“A comprehensive body of work that serves as an immediately

Kirby Rosplock, PhD

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is Available:

ISBN 978-1-119-69400-7 (Hardcover)

Cover image: © Alexandre Olive/Shutterstock

Printed in the United States of America.

Family Office Archetypes 37

People-Oriented Risk Management 133

Clients of the Family Office May Need to Report Beneficial Ownership

Strategic and Tactical Asset Allocation, Manager Selection, and

Performance Management 277

Clear Expectations and the Power of Inherited Wealth 322

Social Legacy 366

Appendix A: Family Office Complexity Assessment 419

edition book is also deeply personal. As a family member, owner, board

office experts, discusses family office IT and operations considerations. This

Kirby Rosplock, PhD

offices, which once operated on the assumption of needing to survive 100

A Macro View of Global Wealth

management, the population of new advisors has grown by only 7 percent,9

widespread business opportunities, and mature financial services sector.

FIGURE 1.1 World by Wealth Tier

Source: Wealth-X, Billionaire Census 2019

FIGURE 1.2 Percentage of Change of Billionaires by Wealth Tier

Percentage of change Absolute change

–13.0% –10.0% $10bn–$25bn –14 –150

0.5% 3.6% $1bn–$2bn 7 65

Source: Wealth-X, Billionaire Census 2019

How Much Do I Really Need to Fund a Family Office?

support of a bookkeeper or accountant. Most of these families with smaller

Purpose and Definition of the Family Office

The wealth management industry generally defines a family office as “an

1. Advisory: risk management, insurance, compliance and regulatory assis-

Because the family office “has a deep understanding of the planning,

planning on multiple fronts. Putting the family office in the context of a

Historical Background of the Family Office

Family Office from the Industrial Age to Current

foundations, endowments, and corporations. Rockefeller Capital Manage-

Key Roles of the Family Office

The Executor and Trusted Advisor

• Liquidity of family units and various entities.

• Process, method, and steps for transaction approval.

FIGURE 1.3 The Many Hats of the Family Office