A Single Family Office (SFO) is a private, customized wealth management firm that serves a single high-net-worth family. It provides a range of services including investment management, estate planning, tax management, philanthropic planning, and sometimes even personal services such as concierge and household management. The goal of an SFO is to preserve and grow the family’s wealth across generations while maintaining privacy and personalized service.
A purpose-built enterprise dedicated to stewarding the assets, legacy, and daily logistics of one lineage. Capital scale often surpasses half a billion dollars, enough to justify an in-house chief investment officer, tax counsel, estate planner, and concierge staff operating under a unified budget. Investment authority spans public markets, direct deals, and philanthropic endowment sleeves, all governed by an investment policy statement ratified in family board meetings.
Operations integrate consolidated reporting across multiple custodians, cash-flow projections that align lifestyle spending with illiquid capital calls, and cybersecurity protocols that guard both financial and reputational capital. Succession planning receives institutional rigor: next-generation education tracks, shadow voting rights, and phased governance seats build continuity so the office persists beyond its founding patrons. In effect, the SFO functions as a bespoke micro-institution whose shareholder roster shares DNA instead of ticker symbols.
