Investing
How family offices manage capital: allocation, asset classes, direct deals, policy statements, and due diligence.
Framework
Family offices invest differently from most institutions because they combine long time horizons, significant tax sensitivity, concentrated legacy positions, and multi-generational goals that no single mutual… · 9 min read
Asset allocation is the process of deciding how to divide a family's capital across different categories of…
An Investment Policy Statement (IPS) is a written document that defines how a family office will invest. Covering…
Liquidity, concentration, and risk management are three foundational disciplines that family offices apply to protect…
Asset Classes
Public markets. Stocks (equities) and bonds (fixed income). Form the liquid core of most family office portfolios…
Real estate commonly appears in family portfolios in three forms: direct ownership of physical property, funds that…
Private equity and venture capital are pools of capital that invest in privately held companies. Businesses whose…
Private credit is lending that happens outside the traditional banking system, where a family office or other investor…
Hedge funds, infrastructure, and commodities are the "diversifier sleeve" that families often add to a portfolio…
Cash and treasury management is how family offices decide where family cash sits, how much to keep on hand, and how to…
Direct Investing
Direct investing means a family office writes a check directly into a company, property, or loan. Bypassing a fund…
A co-investment is a direct stake in a single deal that a private equity or other fund sponsor offers to select limited…
Deal sourcing, monitoring, and exits describe the full lifecycle of a direct investment inside a family office, from…
Process
Due diligence is the structured process a family office uses to investigate an investment. Whether a fund commitment or…
Manager selection is the process a family office uses to identify, evaluate, and hire external investment managers.…
An investment committee (IC) is the group of people a family office formally empowers to make or ratify investment…
Performance measurement and benchmarking is how a family office evaluates whether its investments are actually earning…