Today many family officers and other organizations have been facing interesting times. Existing family offices have been doing well and growing with great wealth under their management along with new family offices coming along. All family business has been existing for a long time and the desire to protect the family legacy and businesses with a new wave of wealth that can be invested in reshaping traditional family offices.

Currently due to introduction of technology, the market is being disrupted and with the upward growth especially in Asia and the global political and business environments it is not hard to see why plenty of family offices have been challenged to re-evaluate their purpose and strategies.

As the Trends keep evolving the shape of family offices the top ten family office trends will expect to have an increased impact on many family offices in the coming years.

Making sure smooth and successful planning for future generations is also integral to the long-term vision of the family office and the family it works for. These services will also include:

A smooth planning for the future generation and long-term viability of family offices, these services will include:

• Evaluating SWOT analysis of senior executives within & outside the family.

• Family board being re-evaluated for roles of non-family directors.

• Corporate social responsibility structuring for platforms and programs.

• Sharing knowledge and training programs for development.

• Estate transfer implementation plans.

• Family charter adoption, specifically aiming to:

1. Structure and mission of the family business to be formalized
2. Responsibilities of family and non-family members to be defined
3. Develop policies and procedures that are aligned with family values and goals

The largest family office with the highest assets under management will have to assess whether or not they need to outsource services. Outsourcing some type of services may be beneficial from a cost point of view, adding various advantages to family offices that include:

• Overhead and cost reduction, and productivity improved by staff.

• Advice from specialized skilled professional.

• When outsourcing investment management, the family office will be helped and defended by allowing investment decisions by external providers to be made.

• Performance and security will be highly monitored against any risk carried out by the management of the family office.

On another note, many other services are kept in the house. The reason for this is because it is related to confidentiality and the independence of the family office, and include:

• Higher levels of confidentiality and privacy.

• Assurance of independent and trusted advice.

• Consolidated management of family wealth.

• Skills that are required to develop family needs.

• Increased control over the family’s wealth.

• Keeping investment knowledge within the family.

• Making sure of important goal agreement, along with avoiding conflicts of interest with external providers.

Considering these situations, it is highly crucial to maintain the right balance and to identify the services best suited for in-house management. Many of the factors that are involved in the make-or-buy decision are quite specific to the setup chosen for the family office, in particular:

• The total size of the family and how many members want to be in the office.

• The wealth and complex nature of the family.

• The family’s geographical spread.

• The range of assets that are both tangible and intangible.

• The existence of a family business and the link between this and private wealth management.

• The skills and qualifications of family members.

• The importance of confidentiality and privacy.

• The consideration of whether the family office should be a cost or a profit center.

Some factors highlight how the family needs to determine its expectations and take care of important situations before they prepare a business plan for the family office.

Some of these include setting priorities and scope for the services that will be offered by the family office:

Who is going to be the beneficiary of the office and what are their strategies going to be to secure and grow its wealth over the next generations?

Where is the family’s philanthropy plan going to fit in the business model?

Is the business going to be an asset manager for all of the family members or is it going to be for a specific selected number of members of the family?

Will the family office be a financial advisory firm or are they going to be an educational facilitator for the coming generation of members?