At Family Office Exchange (FOX), we have seen significant growth of interest in—and execution of—direct investments in operating businesses and real estate by FOX member families. In a 2018 FOX survey, more than 80% of respondents reported that they allocate capital directly to investments, bypassing external management, in order to get exposure on their own or through co-investment with other families.
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The FOX Global Investment Survey is designed to aid wealth owners and family office executives in their review of the family's allocation decisions and investment performance each year. This report highlights critical areas as to how families structure their investment decision-making, allocate across their portfolios, staff their investment teams, and in-source vs. outsource investment advice, all relative to 104 family office peers.
The 2019 FOX Survey on Values-Aligned Investing was completed alongside our annual Global Investment Survey.
Your fellow FOX members have contributed these investment planning tools and samples. Please note that these samples have been provided for illustrative purposes only, and may not represent the latest versions at the organizations listed.
Your fellow FOX members have contributed these advisor evaluation and selection process tools and samples. Please note that these samples have been provided for illustrative purposes only, and may not represent the latest versions.
Your fellow FOX members have contributed these real estate and property management planning tools and samples. Please note that these samples have been provided for illustrative purposes only, and may not represent the latest versions at the organizations listed.
Volatility in global equities subsided in the Fourth Quarter of 2015; however, 2016 will likely see multiple spikes due to the follow-through from low oil prices and concerns over China. Other current and fluctuating conditions of global capital markets add to the volatility. Amidst the turmoil, growth should stabilize in 2016 with the impact of China deceleration concerns likely to abate, Japan and Europe being on more stable footing for growth, and the CapEx revival in Europe.
For most financial assets 2015 was a challenging environment, with equities seeing negative or muted performance and fixed income facing its worst year since 2013 as yields slowly moved higher in anticipation of the Fed rate hike in December. Some of the macro themes of 2015 (a strong dollar and monetary tightening in the U.S.) will carry forward into 2016, but some will change and new themes will develop in the global economy. The outlook provides significant investment opportunities while recognizing the current risks and volatility of the market environment.
Important insights lie in the trends hidden under asset class classification of the hedge fund industry, which is expected to grow 25% annually in the next five years from $0.5 to $1.4 trillion dollars. To spot the trends, the asset categories should be useful for family offices to gain meaningful insights of major allocation shifts. A good place to start is to apply the widely recognized industry categories—Equity Hedge, Event Driven, Macro, and Relative Value—to the classification methodology.
Global equity markets rebounded sharply in October 2015 after the third quarter sell-off due to accommodative monetary policies and some better economic and earnings news. The gains faded late in the quarter on further weak data from China, weak exports, and more stress in the energy and commodity sectors due to oversupply mostly extracted by new technologies. As the world economies work through various transitions and uncertainty, investors are understandably anxious about the outlook for financial markets.