Does anyone here work for a family office? I work at a new family office and would like to know what programs other offices are using (Advent); makeup of office (analysts, lawyers, accountants); and the investment process used. thanks in advance
Worked for one with (now) about $1.5B aum. They used Advent (axis) (likely Apx now), Informa (PSN), and datastream. They managed some satellite equity exposure in house, but used targeted sub advisors across 5 asset classes. They had proprietary excel client balance (dcf) sheets for tracking all client assets; pretty darn slick actually. Two co-CIOs, and two investment analysts. A few people running advent, 1 compliance officer, and a bunch of client service/associates. No lawyers in house, but had dedicated resources. Two of the client service folks had their CPAs, and a bunch of CFAs, MBAs and a CFP or two.
WTF
why do they need “bunch of client service/associates.”
Are you familiar with how a (multi) family office works? It’s a concierge service model. You’re not just some RIA with tons of assets. You’re basically the family’s butler. You handle everything from investments to going on trips with the family to handle the crap the family doesn’t want to deal with. Need to rent a private jet? They’ll take care of it. The daughter is visiting a college? Send a client associate with her to be sure she’s okay and pay her expenses.
Anything the family needs, you provide it. That takes a lot of client facing people. It’s a great model and I highly recommend either working for one or - better yet - have enough money to afford hiring one.
^ Do they happen to need personal security, wingmen, and/or pimps? I should test the waters and get in on this gravy train.
My WTF was for a 5 year lag in reply from the OP.
thanks sweep the leg
how are the future career opportunities for the investment team at family offices? It sounds like they mainly hire external managers?
Work for a single family office. We have mostly people with CPA/CFA backgrounds in Canada and MBAs in the US. Backoffice is comprised of a few accounting staff run by a CPA. We outsource all legal and get private wealth management to help with a lot of reporting functions. We have no client service, obviously because we only have one client. Family offices range from doing all external managers (with outsourced selection) to doing everything in house. We do direct investments and some trading strategies in house, and we also use external managers.
wow sounds much like working at a fund for you with a job security of working for the govt.