More wealth does not automatically mean you need a family office.
Perspective · Family Office Strategy
The phrase family office can sound like the inevitable next step once a family reaches a certain level of wealth.
It isn’t.
A family office is an operating model — not a badge of wealth.
The more useful question is:
Has the complexity of the family’s affairs reached a point where dedicated coordination creates more value than it costs?
There Is No Magic Wealth Number
There is no universally accepted asset threshold at which a family should establish a family office.
The right answer depends on a combination of:
Wealth · Complexity · Geography · Family Size · Business Interests · Governance · Privacy · Control
A family with €100 million concentrated in one business may have very different needs from a family with €50 million spread across multiple jurisdictions, structures and generations.
The Complexity Test
Consider the following questions:
|
Question |
Increasing complexity |
|---|---|
|
Assets |
Are wealth and investments spread across multiple asset classes? |
|
Geography |
Are family members, businesses or assets in different jurisdictions? |
| Ownership | Are there trusts, holding companies or multiple ownership arrangements? |
| Enterprise | Does the family own or operate businesses? |
| Advisers | Are several banks and professional advisers involved? |
| Governance | Are decision rights becoming difficult to define? |
| Generations | Are multiple generations becoming economically involved? |
| Time | Is managing these affairs becoming a job in itself? |
The more boxes that apply, the stronger the case for a dedicated coordination function.
But a Family Office Does Not Have to Mean a Large Office
This is where families sometimes make an expensive mistake.
A family office can take different forms:
Single-Family Office
A dedicated internal team.
Multi-Family Office
Shared infrastructure and expertise across families.
Virtual / Outsourced Model
Selected functions provided externally.
Hybrid Model
A small internal core supported by specialist external providers.
PwC notes that establishing a family office should begin with understanding the family’s objectives, services, operating needs and the appropriate model — rather than simply building an organisation first.
The Cost of Building the Wrong One
A family office itself becomes another business to operate.
People need to be hired.
Technology needs to be implemented.
Governance needs to be established.
Controls, reporting, cybersecurity, and compliance need attention.
UBS’s 2025 research illustrates the point: staff costs represented around two-thirds of pure family-office operating expenses, while the overall pure cost of running a family office averaged around 41 basis points of assets under management globally in its survey.
The lesson is simple:
Don’t build infrastructure simply because you can.
Build it because the family actually needs it.
A Better Starting Point
Before creating a full family office, a family can ask:
- What are we trying to solve?
Coordination? Governance? Reporting? Privacy? Succession? Business interests?
- Which functions genuinely need to be internal?
Not everything requires employees.
- What should remain with external specialists?
Law, tax, investment management and other specialist disciplines may remain appropriately outsourced.
- What level of control do we actually require?
Control has a cost.
- Could a hybrid model achieve the same outcome?
Sometimes the answer is yes.
The Family Office Decision
A useful way to think about the decision is:
Complexity × Need for Control × Long-Term Family Requirements ↓ Appropriate Operating Model
Not necessarily a bigger office.
Not necessarily more employees.
Not necessarily another institution.
The right structure is the one that gives the family the appropriate level of control, coordination, and continuity — without creating unnecessary complexity of its own.
XYZ Perspective
The decision to establish a family office should be treated as a strategic design decision, not a status milestone.
For some families, the answer may be a fully staffed single-family office.
For others, it may be a hybrid structure, outsourced coordination or simply a stronger strategic layer around existing advisers.
The objective is not to build a family office.
The objective is to build the right operating model for the family.