Ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) and high-net-worth families often have more complex wealth management needs than average families, from sophisticated investment portfolios and closely held businesses to multi-generational estate and tax planning. Meeting these needs may require the services of highly specialized professionals trained to deliver coordinated, comprehensive financial advisory services.
A multi-family office is one way to meet this challenge. Multi-family office services bring together the investment, tax, estate planning, philanthropy advisory, and family governance expertise required to manage your family’s wealth under one roof. This arrangement simplifies wealth management and saves time and effort, as you don’t have to coordinate between multiple firms, wealth managers and advisors.
Using a multi-family office integrates all the different components of your financial life — from portfolio management and tax-efficient investing to succession planning and charitable giving — to help ensure your legacy aligns with your values. As a result, you can be confident every aspect of your wealth is working toward accomplishing your long-term goals, your vision and the needs of future generations.
What Is a Multi-Family Office?
A multi-family office is a private family office and wealth management advisory team that supports UHNW and affluent families with their complex financial lives. The goal is to manage your finances more efficiently while maintaining a high level of service across all financial disciplines, such as financial planning, investment and portfolio management, tax services, estate planning and risk management.
Unlike a traditional wealth management firm that may focus primarily on investments, a multi-family office coordinates comprehensive wealth planning, family governance and lifestyle needs for multiple families, often acting as a central, trusted advisor for every major financial decision. In practice, this means your multi-family office team helps organize information, helps streamline communication among your advisors, and uses modern family office technology for reporting and collaboration so that everyone is working from the same playbook.
Who uses multi-family office services?
Multi-family office services have traditionally been reserved for UHNW individuals and high-net-worth families whose finances are more complex than they want to handle on their own. By using these services, you can devote more time and attention to your business, career and family and spend less time managing investment, tax and estate planning details.
Every family’s circumstances are different, so there isn’t a one-size-fits-all definition of who should use multi-family office services. However, given the cost of establishing and operating a family office, this strategy is usually best for clients with a minimum net worth of around $25 million, with single-family offices often reserved for wealthy families with $100 million or more in net worth. The more complex your family’s wealth — having sophisticated investments, diverse real estate investment holdings or multiple business interests, for example — the more likely it is you could benefit from a multi-family office structure.
Benefits of a multi-family office
Family office planning is a strategic way to consolidate wealth management for clients seeking coordinated financial services. You benefit from a dedicated, highly experienced family office team that focuses on supporting all your financial needs across generations. Other multi-family office benefits include:
- Seamless communication and aligned strategies across all financial disciplines, including portfolio management, tax planning, estate planning and philanthropy advice
- Enhanced privacy, transparency and reporting so that family members can stay informed and engaged in decision-making, often through regular family meetings
- Long-term wealth preservation and security, with an emphasis on protecting generational wealth for children, grandchildren and other heirs
- Proactive legacy planning, succession planning and family governance support to carry your values and vision forward
- Robust, scalable wealth management services that adapt as your needs evolve and as financial markets and family dynamics change, supported by secure family office technology and tools
How a Multi-Family Office Works Day to Day
While every firm is different, a typical multi-family office coordinates recurring activities, such as investment reviews, tax planning check-ins, cash flow and liquidity planning, and family governance meetings. Your team can also help you evaluate new opportunities, such as private investment deals or real estate investment projects, and coordinate with outside attorneys and accountants so that decisions reflect your overall plan rather than happening in isolation.
Multi-Family Office vs. Single-Family Office
There are two main types of family offices: multi-family offices and single-family offices. A multi-family office manages the financial affairs of a group of UHNW or high-net-worth families, while a single-family office manages the affairs of just one wealthy family.
Both may be viable options, but one may fit your needs better based on factors such as your net worth and need for personalized service. Below are a few of the main factors to consider.
| Feature | Single-Family Office | Multi-Family Office |
|---|---|---|
| Number of families served | One wealthy family | Multiple wealthy families |
| Personalization and flexibility | More personalized service and flexibility | High-touch, but less customization than a dedicated single-family office |
| Resources and control | Dedicated resources and complete control | Shared resources and less direct control |
| Typical minimum net worth | $100 million or more | $10-$25 million or more |
| Cost and complexity | Higher cost and operational complexity | More cost-efficient and operationally streamlined |
| Privacy | Maximum privacy | Strong privacy, but shared infrastructure |
| Staff | Dedicated in-house staff | Shared staff serving multiple families |
| Economies of scale | Limited economies of scale | Greater scale and access to specialized services |
A multi-family office can be an attractive option for affluent families that want access to institutional-quality investment strategies and coordinated wealth planning without bearing the full cost and complexity of running a standalone single-family office.
Multi-Family Office Services to Support Complex Wealth
Multi-family office services offer a wide range of solutions to support the complex wealth management needs of UHNW and high-net-worth families. These typically include the following:
- Investment management and portfolio management –Create and manage a diversified investment portfolio that aligns with your financial goals, risk tolerance and time horizon, including both public and private investments.
- Wealth preservation – Design sophisticated strategies to help grow and protect your wealth across multiple asset classes and generations, helping to preserve the financial future of your heirs and preparing them for responsible stewardship.
- Family governance – Align generations and establish a clear foundation for your family’s long-term goals with customized governance structures, regular family meetings and shared decision-making frameworks.
- Philanthropy advisory services and charitable giving – Help you make a greater impact on the causes and charities you’re most passionate about while complementing your tax and estate planning goals through strategic charitable giving.
- Tax planning and tax-efficient investing – Lower your income and estate tax burdens and boost potential after-tax returns with coordinated tax-efficient investing strategies across entities, trusts and investment accounts.
- Insurance and risk management – Help you protect the assets you’ve worked hard to acquire through sophisticated insurance and risk assessment strategies, including life, property and casualty, liability, and business insurance.
- Estate and wealth transfer planning – A thoughtful wealth transfer plan uses a variety of estate planning tools to help pass assets to heirs in a tax-efficient manner while preserving your family’s wealth, values and long-term vision.
Investment and Wealth Management Strategies
Every family’s circumstances are unique, which makes customized investment strategies and risk management critical for UHNW and high-net-worth individuals. Successful portfolio management isn’t just about choosing the right stocks and bonds — it’s about creating a comprehensive asset allocation strategy tailored to your specific needs, goals and priorities.
A well-diversified portfolio may include traditional public investments — such as stocks, bonds, Treasuries and cash instruments — as well as private equity, real estate and other alternative investments. Your wealth manager or financial advisor will ask detailed questions to understand your financial goals, family members’ priorities and overall financial picture. Based on this, they’ll create a customized portfolio that balances your short-term needs with your long-term growth potential, all within the level of risk tolerance you’re comfortable with.
Your investment strategy is flexible so that it can evolve along with changes in your life, your family dynamics and the financial markets. Professionals monitor your portfolio continuously, manage risk and rebalance as needed. Your wealth manager will integrate your investment plan with tax, estate and charitable strategies to support your comprehensive wealth management plan.
Philanthropy Advisory Services and Family Legacy
Philanthropy is a personal reflection of your family’s values, vision and legacy. Philanthropy advisory services help your family support your favorite charitable causes with purpose and precision while complementing your broader wealth plan. As a result, you can maximize your giving impact and help strengthen your family legacy for future generations.
The most meaningful philanthropy often stems from your family’s experiences and deeply held values. Family office services will help you translate your family’s history and priorities into a thoughtful giving strategy that aligns with your values and financial goals. An effective family governance structure — including regular family meetings and clear roles — helps you identify charitable objectives, educate younger family members and build a culture of stewardship.
Common charitable giving tools include donor-advised funds (DAFs), private family foundations, qualified charitable distributions (QCDs) and charitable trusts, which can all be integrated into your multi-family office services plan.
Estate Planning and Tax Efficiency
Navigating estate and gift tax laws is critical for UHNW families that want to preserve wealth across generations. Without thoughtful estate planning, estate and inheritance taxes can severely erode the value of assets passed on to your heirs.
Family office services help you implement estate planning tools and tax-efficient strategies designed to help lower estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer taxes so that your heirs receive more of your assets. Common tools and strategies include:
- Annual and lifetime gift exemptions
- Charitable remainder trusts (CRTs) and charitable lead trusts (CLTs)
- Irrevocable life insurance trusts (ILITs)
- Generation-skipping trusts and other wealth transfer vehicles
Capital gains management is another critical component of tax-efficient estate planning and wealth transfer. Your multi-family office will carefully structure transactions and coordinate with your tax planning professionals to help manage capital gains and other tax exposures. Remember that estate planning and estate tax strategies don’t exist in isolation; they’re part of a coordinated multi-generational wealth transfer plan designed to help preserve assets and pass on your family’s values to future generations.
Multi-Family Office Fees and Cost: What to Expect
Multi-family offices use several different fee structures to charge for services, and understanding family office cost is an important part of deciding which approach is right for your family. Common fee models include the following:
- Asset-based fees – These are based on the total amount of assets under management (AUM) and usually range within a band that often declines as assets grow.
- Fixed annual fees – This fee includes delivery of an agreed-upon scope of services by the multi-family office, with additional services billed separately.
- Performance-based fees – These are based on a percentage of the investment gains if the multi-family office exceeds a performance benchmark. This model aligns incentives with portfolio growth but is less common than pure asset-based or fixed-fee models.
- Hourly or service-based fees –These are fixed amounts charged for specific planning, consulting or administrative services and can work well for families that only need targeted family office services.
- Hybrid fee model – This structure uses a combination of the above models, such as a lower base annual fee or fixed fee plus a performance or project-based fee.
When families think about “setting up” a multi-family office relationship, the process typically starts with a discovery and onboarding stage where your team gathers information about your entities, trusts and family members then defines a service scope that fits your situation and budget. Asking clear questions about fees, included services and how often you will meet can help you decide whether a particular multi-family office is the right fit.
Frequently Asked Questions About Multi-Family Offices
Who should consider a multi-family office?
Ultra-high-net-worth and high-net-worth individuals and families with complex wealth management needs may benefit from multi-family office services. These services offer a strategic approach, consolidating all wealth management functions — from investments and tax planning to estate planning and philanthropy advisory services — into one coordinated solution.
What services do multi-family offices provide?
Multi-family offices offer a wide range of family office services, including investment management, portfolio management, family governance, philanthropy advisory services, tax planning, risk management, estate planning and wealth transfer planning. Some also offer lifestyle support, bill pay and education for younger family members.
How are multi-family office fees structured?
Multi-family office fees may be structured as asset-based, fixed annual, performance-based, hourly or service-based, or as a hybrid model that blends several approaches. Understanding the fee structure and what’s included is essential to comparing options.
How does a multi-family office differ from a single-family office?
A multi-family office manages the financial affairs of multiple wealthy families using shared resources, while a single-family office serves only one family and offers maximum control and customization at a higher cost. Both models focus on comprehensive wealth management, but the right choice depends on your net worth, complexity and preferences.
What is the difference between wealth management and a multi-family office?
Traditional wealth management typically focuses on investment advice and financial planning, while a multi-family office offers a broader suite of integrated multi-family office services, including family governance, succession planning and coordination across tax, legal and estate planning professionals.
We’re Here to Help
Creative Planning’s experienced team of family office advisors can offer comprehensive guidance to help you evaluate whether multi-family office services are appropriate for your family and how they compare with traditional wealth management or a single-family office.
