One of the most important aspects of the family office today is delivering value through a trusted advisor ecosystem and advancing your partnerships. Here we explore three examples of how partnership is key to the success of the family office:Family LearningOne family office worked with their advisors to create a learning event for the purpose of increasing shared understanding and also to have a fun time together. The family had the opportunity to meet their actual advisors, learn what the advisors do for the family, and also to increase understanding around the overall family business. A din...

With the election coming up in November and year-end following – then couple that with a pandemic that has completely disrupted the economy and interest rates – we can be certain tax and estate planning changes are coming.Here Mark Harder (Partner at Warner Norcross & Judd LLP) and Jamie Sanders (Tax Partner at RSM), give us their Top 10 things that are (or should be!) on your family’s mind before year end:Top off existing gift trusts and create new gifts to use exemptions.Reserve your professional advisors. Make sure your advisors know you need their time to put a plan in place.Create SLA...

Kent Lawson, Director of Technology Integration Services at FOX, explains how we can drive efficiencies by employing technology.In short, efficiencies means doing things quickly and with productivity, in a way that makes sense and is user friendly. Lawson recommends looking at things very specifically, taking a micro view. And then as well, we must evaluate a higher prospective overall, as a macro view. Further, you must make sure technology is involved in the strategic decisions in your family office.Lawson walks us through a case study showing how technology efficiencies can be employed.Back...

Here Rob Mallernee, a long-time member of FOX and the CEO and System Designer at Eton Solutions, looks at how family offices can use a process driven approach to help determine core competencies, and to understand clearly what should be insourced and outsourced.Mallernee examines the family office “as a service” (XaaS). Essentially, XaaS means:You buy a solution to a problem through access to that product, rather than through full ownership;This is often accompanied by complimentary services; andYou pay for this on a “pay per use basis.”Basically, you buy the output from someone else’s systems...

The pandemic is especially overwhelming as we view of all the headlines in the news and on social media. We don’t yet know the full effect the pandemic – how long it’s going to last or the impact it will have on our health, our families, our businesses or our livelihood. All of this together is why we see anxiety at a much higher level now. We may feel anxiety ourselves, or see it in our family, friends and colleagues.So how can you help? For all of us, safety and security comes first. When you see people who can’t focus, don’t enjoy pleasure, can’t fulfill daily responsibilities, or can’t exe...

Every other year FOX sponsors a Family Office Compensation and Benefits Survey. The 2020 survey had a total of 201 participants from across the United States, and was based on data collected from June 11-August 7. 60% of participants own one more more operating businesses, and 42% have professional HR staff to oversee compensation and benefits decisions.When asked, what are your greatest human challenges, it’s no surprise that 46% of offices answered finding staff with the right experience, closely followed by managing workload for current staff, and then employee succession.59% of respondents...

Covid-19 has certainly changed the landscape and created a new normal, along with many decisions and points of challenge. Here Cassie Atteberry (Principal at Talent Outside the Lines) and Neil Kreuzberger (President and Founder of Kreuzberger, LLC) share wise counsel to family offices for managing talent in this new paradigm.A lot of things look very different to us now. For one, we have a much heavier reliance on technology, both at work and at home. And we’ve seen a shift from work/life balance, now to work/life integration.However, despite so many changes, a lot is still the same. The famil...

To be successful in our ever-changing world, family offices need to embrace new technology like never before. The question is, how can a family office technology leader incorporate change to meet family members’ needs. One aspect is by replacing manual processes and older legacy systems with new tech offerings, such as process automation, data and analytics, visualization capabilities, and AI (artificial intelligence).Further, with the massive digital expansion, and as technology permeates the entirety of the family office, tech leadership must be part of strategic planning. Tech leaders must ...

In our fast paced world, we see how client needs and expectations are changing the role of the family office. Here, Mindy Earley (Chief Learning Officer at FOX), and Gaby Griffin (Market Leader, Business Owners and Family Executives at FOX), share how the family office can meet these evolving client needs.Griffin explains that along with changing roles inside the family office, is the growing complexity and risk profile of the family office. Rather than then the tax and accounting background of executives in the traditional family office, we are now seeing a deeper legal or corporate backgroun...

President of the Family Office Exchange, Bill Sullivan, shares key areas of change to help us understand the evolving landscape of the family office.First, as the modern family evolves, families are experiencing a change in priorities and more complex family dynamics are now the norm. Families also see an increasing focus on impact investing and the rising generation is often the key driver to clarify the family value proposition and contribution.Further, today’s family office requires thoughtful engagement from all generations for the sustainability of the broader family enterprise. As such, ...

"The general rule seems to be that the level of consciousness of an organization [i.e. its capacity and agility] cannot exceed the level of consciousness of its leader." -Fredric Laloux, author, Reinventing OrganizationsThe world that a few months ago seemed volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (or VUCA as many refer to it), makes us nostalgic for its normalcy. What we are experiencing today is humbling at a depth never seen in in our lifetimes. What family enterprises want from their Single-Family Offices (SFOs), and especially their leaders, is something no one knows yet. That an...

Addepar is a state-of-the-art wealth management platform that specializes in data aggregation and performance reporting for complex investment portfolios. Addepar helps over 400 clients, 40% of whom are family offices, gain global insights across asset class exposures. The Addepar platform has grown exponentially in the past few years with nearly $2 trillion managed on the platform today. Over 200 family offices have chosen Addepar, and so far this year 25% of new business has come through referrals from existing clients. This is a huge testament to their client experience.Addepar’s new Chief ...

Today’s technology moves at an exceedingly rapid pace. How do family offices stay ahead of the curve and plan for the future? Three experts offer insight as part of FOX’s recent Technology Showcase:Diana Ermini, Director of Financial Services Vertical at Sage IntacctRyan Kerry, CEO at KnowledgerMary Timmons, Chief Operating Officer, Global Family and Private Investment Offices Group at Northern TrustWhen asked what technology trends and advancements will most affect how family offices do business in the future, the panel agrees that data access, aggregation and management is a priority, as is ...

During the Covid-19 pandemic, it’s especially helpful to understand decisions that our peers are making around technology within the family office space. In that spirit, FOX provides this informative and insightful feedback from the attendee survey at our recent Technology Showcase.Here’s what respondents had to say:What technology projects did you have planned for 2020, pre-pandemic?20% responded that accounting related technology projects were planned.16% said investment projects such as portfolio accounting and performance technology.13% planned to focus on cybersecurity and technology infr...

SEI Family Office Services is an award winning, integrated back-office platform delivering a wide range of technology solutions for family offices. With 18 years of experience in serving family offices, SEI has over 220 clients and $365 billion in assets on the SEI platform. They serve eight of the 15 wealthiest American families and 10 global private banks.Paul Freeland is the Head of Sales & Service at SEI and shares innovations around SEI’s award winning Archway PlatformSM and the enterprise philosophy, including initiatives for 2020 and beyond.In the early years, SEI showed a relentle...

New technologies abound in our modern world. Here Dr. Peter Boumgarden, Professor of Practice Strategy & Organization at Washington University in St. Louis, shares insights around innovation and technology as relevant to the family office.Boumgarden believes that we cannot separate technology and innovation from human dynamics. As we embrace new technologies, we must leverage family continuity in order to move forward.As an example, Boumgarden explores the early vision of Disney, the founders of which wrote their original business strategy on a napkin sketch. As Disney drives it’s business...

Founded in 2010, Masttro is a privately held wealth management technology company providing an integrated platform for family office enterprises. Masttro serves both single and multi-family offices and financial services institutions across 24 countries.Padman Perumal, CEO of Masttro Americas, asserts that the wealth management industry has evolved enormously with the help of technology, but says there’s room for growth in expedience and automation. He shares four tech trends to empower and enable family offices through their technology journey:Data analytics – Data is truly an asset with real...

There is often confusion over what exactly is the vertical approach to venture investing. Constance Freedman, Founder and Managing Partner of Moderne Ventures, explains that vertical investing is simply another way to look at venture investing, by approaching it with a sector focus, or a vertical focus.We often see vertical investing broken down in two three categories:Classified as an industry, which could include something like real estate tech, energy tech or bio tech.Classified as technology, such as Software as a Service, Artificial Intelligence, Cryptocurrency, or Internet of Things.Clas...

The future of money is a timely yet complicated topic, especially with cryptocurrency in the mix. Thomas Anderson, Author of Money without Boundaries, shares foundational facts about money, and answers questions around the cryptocurrency ecosystem.The U.S. debt has quintupled in the last 20 years, with no real plan to pay it off. Neither party in congress has a strategy to balance our budget ever again. And the U.S. government solves this issue basically by making money.Anderson asserts that money is surprisingly a “nothing” concept. While theoretically money is vitally important to us, it’s c...

Innovation often comes out of conflict or hardship that forces us to develop new ideas and a new mindset to solve and overcome the conflict. Robert Wolcott, Co-Founder and Chairman of TWIN Global, asserts that the Covid-19 pandemic is such a time, when so much around us is changing, innovation is booming, and the future is top of mind.According to Wolcott, the most important input to innovation is building trust and relationships with people. A trusting relationship allows us to listen and believe in new ideas. When we have trust, we are more inclined to give new thinking a chance. With the un...

What is social impact investing? Is it reliable? Should you use it? Basically social impact investing is an investment strategy and a tactic to address pressing social and environmental challenges.Impact investing uses a range of approaches that vary based by personal goals. Some investors look at their current profile and make adjustments, while others proactively build their portfolio with impact in mind. And some investors seek high returns, yet others seek investments to make the most impact toward their cause.Like all good investing, impact starts with the investment rigor of understandin...

While Coronavirus looms large in the second half of 2020, it can feel like anyone’s guess as to the future of our economy. This pandemic crisis is like no other, so it seems like a losers game to make predictions. However, Jeff Brown, Founder and Managing Partner at Political Economy, LLC, believes we can indeed endure this Covid-19 rollercoaster by examining four key areas.First, the economy. Economists and policy leaders predict the global economy will end down about 5% in 2020, but then rise 5.4% by 2021 end. And consensus among economists is that the GDP will bounce back in 2021.What will ...

We all know the fundamental rule of investing is diversification. The more money that goes into any one area of a portfolio, generally the lower the returns. Diversification is especially critical in this Covid-19 era. Now more than ever families are looking for investments that can help them achieve the ideal asset allocation. Uncorrelated investment strategies can help.By definition an uncorrelated investment strategy contains both liquid and private investments that should produce returns only loosely correlated with the public equity market. We typically label them diversifiers, or niche i...

First we had computers, then we had mobile phones, and then the cloud. Now we have AI. Artificial Intelligence. AI has been around for 30 years, but is currently growing rapid fire. Rudina Seseri, Founder and Managing Partner for Glasswing Ventures, explains the power of this booming technology.By definition AI is machine intelligence that uses an algorithm to perform a human-like function, requiring some degree of reason, planning, problem solving, and even creativity, by which a person would need to leverage human intelligence to accomplish.AI is quite different from traditional software, wh...

We are delighted to share important highlights from the 2020 FOX Global Investment Survey. FOX produces this annual survey of 120 family offices, and offers insights into what these family enterprises are doing right now around investments.While the survey is focused on the end of 2019, it includes the notable effects of Covid-19, as not surprisingly, pandemic concerns grew immensely during Q1 and Q2 of 2020. In fact, when asked which global issue survey participants are most concerned about having a negative impact on their investment portfolio, 97% report that the pandemic is their biggest w...