How the Family Office Industry Developed

In the Swiss Alps, Richard C. Wilson introduces the subject while traveling to speak at a family office conference.

Richard C. Wilson gives his account of how family office work developed, from trusted stewardship of property to private banking and today's family office models. He explains why the term can mean different things across the industry and describes the priorities he associates with the work. The video is a high-level history.

In this video: Richard C. Wilson (Family office conference speaker)

What they said

1. Stewardship predates the label. Richard traces the idea back to owners leaving someone to protect land and resources while they were away. He uses kings, nobles and earlier groups as examples. (at 0:28)
2. Entrusted care needs oversight. Richard says Thomas, a trust and estates executive in the family office space, told him the trust concept reaches back to appointing someone to watch land and belongings. He says another person was appointed to check that work. (at 1:25)
3. Paper wealth changed the work. Richard links the modern form to wealthy industrial families with money held as paper money. He says the work centered on protecting and reinvesting it through private banking and trust services. (at 2:20)
4. The office label expanded. Richard says the term grew from managing one family's wealth to managing a few families with a shared operating business or strong long-term ties. He distinguishes single-family offices from multi-family offices by the number of families served. (at 3:18)

In their words

"I thought it was only appropriate to record a video here at about 10,000 FT elevation"

"I think that the family office trend is not slowing down at all"

Why it matters if you are building or preserving great wealth

Richard says firms use "family office" for different client arrangements. The label alone doesn't tell a family whether a firm's service model fits its needs.