📈 Family offices are revolutionalizing finance
✨ The great wealth transfer is unlocking a world of opportunity
🗣️ Follow along to join the conversation
✉️ I send two weekly emails to thousands of people:
Mr Family Office Newsletter
Every Friday, a deep dive on a family
Mick Jagger (80) plans to leave no assets to his 7 children
“My kids don’t need $500 million to live well. Come on”
He plans to leave his wife Melanie Hamrick (37) and 6 year old kid some space to live and resources to live their lives comfortably
For the rest of the estate
Awkward amount to inherit:
$5 million
Greg: I'm good, anyway, cuz, uh, my, so, I was just talkin' to my mom, and she said, apparently, he'll leave me five million anyway, so I'm golden, baby
Connor: You can't do anything with five, Greg. Five's a nightmare
Greg: Is it?
The wealthiest families in the world hold secrets that are passed down through the generations
Educational secrets that even the most exclusive schools don’t teach
In fact, virtually all schools are horrible at teaching finance, whatever their fees
This is why Family Offices
I had breakfast with a family office principal today
His personal wealth is pushing €1 billion
He's a private man, keeps out of the media and has zero public profile. His family do the same
While he is well-known in his professional circle, he can walk down the street or
How do you keep a family together when the kids have flown the nest?
You can borrow a strategy from family offices
My kids are growing up and I’ve started to think about what life will be like after they eventually leave home, how to remain as close as possible
I want my
Early in my career, I worked with a banker who had a tactic he used to devastating effect
I don't know if it was because English was his second language or if he was just smarter and more confident than me. Probably the latter
He was supremely comfortable with silences
Like
Next time you are in a hotel, check the concierge for a pair of golden keys on his or her lapel
The mysterious keys are the sign of Les Clefs d'Or, a guild of elite international concierges
With just 4,000 members working in the most exclusive hotels across the world, Les
I met with a buddy of mine recently
He's 48-years-old and retired
He made some good investments, had some luck
"Let's catch up soon" I say
"yeah - sure mate, but I'm on vacation for the next 11 weeks"
2 weeks fly fishing Frying Pan River, Colorado
4 weeks in Thailand for a
Let's get down to brass tacks...
the $ comp at family offices:
• CEO
• CFO
• CIO
• COO
• Legal Counsel
• Portfolio Managers
• Investment Analysts
• Controller
• FD
• Tax Director
• Accounting Director
• Head of Security
• CTO
• Family Liaison
• EA
👇
I was on an early morning portfolio review call with an investment bank today
I'm always struck by how cold and clinical these guys can be in the face of world events
"The events in the Middle East"
And then straight into portfolio implications, the macroeconomic impact,
My daughter went down a social media rabbit hole that changed her life forever
As Florida bans social media for under 14s, I feel I should share her story
At the age of 11/12, we gave our daughter her first phone. Before long, she had discovered TikTok
Somehow she ended up in
'OK Boomer' trigger warning... 🚨🚨
Everywhere I look, I see young people prioritizing work-life balance over career ambition
I see recruitment problems in so many professions - law, banking, accounting, audit
The latest example I saw is a Head of Legal at a multi-family
How big is too big for a family home?
Fairfield Pond, the Hamptons
100,000 square feet of living space
63 acres
29 bedrooms
49 bathrooms
2 bowling alleys
2 tennis courts
1 basketball court
2 squash courts
@JoePompliano
Monaco is a fantastic location for UHNW individuals and family offices
But there are other great places:
Bahamas🌴 Belgium🍫 Bermuda🏝️ Boston🏫 California🌞 Cayman Islands🏦 Channel Islands🐄 Dallas🤠 Dubai🏙️ Florida🏖️ Greece🏛️ Hong Kong🏢 Houston🚀 Italy🍝 Liechtenstein🏰
I’m seeing a lot of ultra-wealthy families opting to home school their children
This is purely anecdotal, but my feeling is that there is a growing sense of disillusionment with public and private education
When asked for advice from new parents, I have one go-to tip
Kids have a knack of saying the funniest and sweetest things. They say things that make you burst into laughter and recount to their grandparents over the phone
You think you will remember, but you don't. There are a
I have paused investing in residential real estate
I have a decent-sized portfolio, but I am not adding to it any time soon
Here's why:
First up, don't get me wrong, I love RE. It's a great asset class and is easy to build wealth over time using leverage
You can make a lot of
Simon Cowell (64) plans to leave no assets to his son
“I don’t believe in passing down from generation to generation.”
His $600 million net worth will go to children or dogs charities
“I’m not too interested in money, but I don’t aim to have some pot of gold for my son. I’ll
In the last 10 days, I met with senior members of 7 family office
Here's what they had to say on current markets:
Overall Sentiment: Majority predict soft landing, S&P 500 at 5,000, inflation near 2%. Cautiously bullish on Western economic performance
Environment: Climate
Do a huge favor for your kids and your grandkids
Write your family history
The urge to study family history tends to kick in later in life. Often too late for those enlightening conversations with parents and grandparents
I advise wealthy families to document their family
The Idiot Index
Elon Musk has devised a metric he calls the "Idiot Index". This quantifies the extent to which the cost of a final product exceeds that of its fundamental components
For example, where the cost of a final product is $1,000, while the basic components' cost is
@DPurdyJackson
He’s also generated more jobs, wealth and economic activity than his secretary. He’s also donated tens of millions to charities and made more difference than most government departments would manage with the tax
We write small checks - as low as $25k
These are checks for deals ranging from RE, early stage VC, funds, private debt
We do this because there is power in small checks
Power for both the investor and investee
The downside:
We’re not going to get rich from these
A friend is transferring a substantial wine collection into his son’s name
The value of the collection is pushing 7-figures
I introduced him to a tax advisor I occasionally work with. Over a glass of Pinot Noir we discussed some of the practicalities and tax implications
At
50 career tips to get ahead
I have a college graduate joining the family office. It got me thinking about career advice
Here’s the advice I dole out to anyone who will listen:
1. your boss should never have to chase you for updates or progress reports
2. unless absolutely
Every year I am invited to a family office conference
Everything is provided for free
→ 5∗ spa hotel for me + partner
→ picturesque resort
→ inspiring key-note speakers
→ outstanding food and drink
→ gala dinner
I went once, now every year I turn it town
Every year, I
I have a lawyer who I love dearly
She often sends me emails on the weekend
But her sentences are long. Whole paragraphs are consumed by a single sentence with subclauses, parenthesis and modifiers
I used to print the mails, get a coffee and tackle the mails like a Sunday
Private Equity and Venture Capital beware:
Family Offices are emerging as formidable contenders in direct investment deals
This puts family offices in direct competition with PE and VC
So why the shift?
💥 the family office sector is exploding, with more family offices,
Family Office Strategic Asset Allocation
- shift in strategic asset allocation in light of potential inflection points in inflation, interest rates and economic growth
- tense geopolitics is the biggest concern for family offices around the world, although recession is the top
Private Equity and Venture Capital beware: Family Offices are emerging as formidable contenders in direct investment deals
Here are the reasons family offices have shifted to direct investing and some of the implications:
Who are the deal makers on Twitter?
Family offices. private equity, venture capital, angel investors, institutional investors, hedge funds...
Today seems like a good day to freshen up my timeline
Who should I be following?
Who should be following me?
FIRE is an interesting concept… but why would anyone with a decent career want to retire at the age of peak earning capability and peak interesting work?
I have a super smart buddy who has never reached his full potential. He puts it down to some bad luck, a divorce and a couple of questionable decisions
I have never worked with him, but he is sharp, eloquent and imaginative. I always thought that when the right project came
Let's do some deals 💥
Let's connect investors with deals 🤝
First Friday of every month, I invite my followers to share their deals
It sparks connections and discussions
Last month 88k people saw the tweet
Pitch your deals below 👇
→ 1 tweet
→ one-liner
→ key details
Do you think generational wealth is toxic ☠️☠️
"I don't want spoilt trust fund brats"
"my humble beginnings got me to where I am today"
Three reasons to think again
1. Survivorship bias
I didn't grow up rich
I'm fairly successful by most measures
Ergo, my upbringing gave me
Cracking the family office code
The 6 Family Office archetypes
And a bonus that doesn't make the chart...
the Fake Family Office
1/ The Founder’s Family Office
The starting point for most family offices
• Family office created after founder's financial success
•
There is no typical family office investment portfolio
Circumstances and backgrounds influence their approach to investment decisions, wealth preservation, and generation
To work with family offices, you have to understand them
7 archetype family office investment portfolios:
Managing generational wealth and privilege is a tightrope
A cautionary tale:
A friend of a friend’s wife just filed for divorce. She’s Brazilian, he’s a Brit. This is coming almost five years to the day after they were married. Five years is the minimum period they must be
My whisky collection has outperformed the S&P
That was the claim I heard over dinner recently
I wasn't convinced, so I looked into it
Much like wine collecting, whisky is one for the connoisseurs. Investors are usually passionate consumers
The appeal of whisky is that it's a
The nice-to-have perks of working in a family office...
the killer perk that trumps the rest
and how I benefitted
The perks:
✈️ PJs > business class
☀️ international playground - work from Monaco, Miami, Cayman.. say no more
⛵️ the family yacht is an ideal place to hold an
Let's do some deals 💥
Let's connect investors with deals
On the first Friday of every month, I invite followers to share their deals. This sparks incredible connections and discussions ⚡️
Pitch your deals to 9k+ professionals below 👇
→ 1 tweet
→ one-liner
→ key details
In January this year, I started out on Twitter with the lofty goal to hit 5k followers by the end of the year
I ticked over 25,000 today
🤯
Here are some of the accounts who have helped/inspired along the way:
@SecretCFO
- the OG inspiration behind me starting this account.
How would this make you feel:
Years ago, I worked with a brother and sister after the death of their father. Their dad died in his 90s. They were already in their 70s and were stunned to discover they were in line for a life-changing inheritance
Their dad had owned a business
What to read on deal structuring:📚
The Art of M&A: A Merger, Acquisition, and Buyout Guide - Alexandra Reed Lajoux and Charles M. Elson
Term Sheets & Valuations: A Line by Line Look at the Intricacies of Term Sheets & Valuations - Alex Wilmerding
Private Equity as an Asset
How the wealthiest families are allocating their capital to protect and grow their wealth
Family office asset allocation 2021 vs 2023
> Fixed income is back
> Outsized allocation to alternatives remains
> Cash holdings down
Top three fears in the next 1-2 years:
> recession
>
The Family Meeting / Retreat
A common practice for family offices
Often held off-site
Family meetings are family events, not board meetings
The emphasis is on:
🔹 clarifying strategic vision and getting buy-in
🔹 strengthening family values and culture
🔹 solidifying
countries with zero capital gains tax:
🇨🇭 Switzerland, 🇧🇪 Belgium, 🇲🇨 Monaco, 🇸🇬 Singapore, 🇳🇿 New Zealand, 🇭🇰 Hong Kong, 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates, 🇧🇧 Barbados
Do your kids know your net worth?
Your earnings?
Too often we shelter children from financial discussions
Is sharing caring or is silence golden?
(Inspired by one of my kids trying to google my net worth!)
What to read on deal structuring: 📚
The Art of M&A: A Merger, Acquisition, and Buyout Guide - Alexandra Reed Lajoux and Charles M. Elson
Term Sheets & Valuations: A Line by Line Look at the Intricacies of Term Sheets & Valuations - Alex Wilmerding
Private Equity as an Asset
What’s my net worth:
People here spend endless hours arguing about how to calculate net worth
Do you include your home, your car… blah blah
I’ve seen the same arguments rehearsed over and over again
I have never met a UHNW individual who calculates their net worth to the
The Family Office Dashboard: the financial nerve center
Dashboards track assets in real-time and report financial performance. They also help manage an array of family office tasks
→ 🔟 functions of a FO dashboard
→ 🔟 out-of-the-box solutions
The 10 functions of a FO
People don't realize how fast the family office sector is growing
FO > PE + VC
Very soon, family office assets under management will exceed private equity and venture capital combined
A wake-up call to vendors, investors, and founders
Sir Anthony Ritossa
→ Chairman, Ritossa Family Office
→ Host of the "World’s No. 1 Family Office Investment Conference"
→ 61,109 LinkedIn followers
→ Conman and thief
Here's the story:
After an underwhelming career as a hedge fund salesman, Australian Anthony Ritossa
Real estate has always had a special place in the heart of family offices
And now family offices have spoken... they picked their
#RE
winners and losers for the next 12 months
Winners:
- 30% of family offices have reported that they plan to expand their exposure to
You die tomorrow
What happens?
Here are the lessons from family offices to help manage financial matters after a death in the family
Family offices play a vital role in providing support and assistance during the challenging time following a family death
The family office
How our family office joined the private credit bandwagon
A few years ago, we co-invested in a European gin distillery as an LP. The distillery was a growing startup getting real traction in the market
We invested alongside another family office with hospitality expertise and
Corporate governance: not sexy, but essential
Failures in corporate governance can be fatal when you're:
- building your own business
- directing an organization (incl. family offices)
- conducting due diligence on a target company
13 corporate governance red flags: 🚩
One marketing tactic that usually fails with family offices:
Urgency/limited-time offers
Them: "we are closing on Friday, there's a lot of interest and only limited allocation available "
Us: "OK then, we'll look at the next deal"
Family offices can move quickly, I've seen
There’s an NDA I’d love to break
7/8 years ago I personally invested in a property deal. After 18 months the developer had missed several key milestones and I withdrew
In accordance with the contract, the developer was obliged to repay my initial investment + interest
He
This is Lester T Beaumont - 82-year old mining mogul and family office principal, net worth $2.4 billion
Lester has never used Twitter
He thinks social media is a monumental waste of time
And most family office principals agree
But here's why I don't care:
• the greatest
The secret to building generational wealth: optimism………… well, that’s only part of the story
I’ve noticed another personality trait that is key to the success of wealthy founders
Optimism is like rocket fuel. Optimistic founders drive their businesses forward. I love their
I asked family offices in my network to share their wisdom
The advice is priceless
Insights from:
- Texas-based single family office
- Gen 3/4
- $2 billion AUM
“Trust is the
#1
thing in a family office - it’s one of the few things that can’t just be bought. Helping