Investment Officers

Family offices are private wealth management advisory firms that serve certain investors. Family offices can invest on their own or in conjunction with other family offices, usually through a separate “private equity” entity that is funded by the family capital. One big advantage to most family office buyout structures is that they have no specific “hold” period, which means they can hold an investment for as long as there is opportunity for growth and return on investment.  

Family offices are different from traditional wealth management shops in that they offer a total solution to managing the financial and investment needs of an affluent individual or family. 

As compared to hedge funds, pension funds, endowments, and other institutions, family offices are not pooling third-party capital and then investing. They are operating with a single – or multiple – family’s assets and are not open to the general investing public.

As it stands now, generally all private family offices, regardless of asset size, are exempt from the requirement to fully register with the SEC as investment advisers. Family offices, which manage assets owned by family members are generally characterized as having only family members as clients, being wholly owned by family members, controlled exclusively by family members or entities, and does not hold itself out as an investment adviser to the public. Further, Section 409 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act permitted certain “grandfathered” family offices from SEC registration.