A new study of single-family offices that manage at least $100 million or more in investable assets found that most families view their SFO as mainly a private investment office.
   
“Soft” responsibilities, like coordinating education, providing concierge services and organizing philanthropy, are considered significantly less important SFO tasks, says the study, done by the Wharton Global Family Alliance, a collaboration between faculty at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, the IESE Business School at the University of Navarra in Spain, SDA Bocconi School of Management in Italy, Singapore Management University and family businesses.
   
Some of the other findings from the study, Single Family Offices: Private Wealth Management in the Family Context, include:
• The majority of the families who participated in the study are entrepreneurial. In most cases, families with SFOs are majority shareholders in their family’s business operations and are intimately involved in the family business. Approximately half of the family businesses reported more than $1 billion in revenue.
• Among survey respondents, 53% of European families declared their wealth as exceeding $1 billion, compared with 26% of those from the Americas and 33% from the rest of the world.
• Families are deeply involved in the operations of their SFO, and in nearly half of the offices studied, a family member acts as its head. These SFO heads usually have a managerial background, either from working in the family’s business or in a similar industry.

The research was conducted during 2006-2007, and the report is based on more than 40 in-person interviews and 138 completed surveys. The survey is intended to illuminate family office structure and practices. For more information, visit http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1964.