Defining the purpose and objectives of your single-family office is the first step to maximizing its effectiveness.
A key part of this involves looking at the skills, knowledge and experience of the personnel in your family office and deciding what areas of investment are best suited to them and what would be best left to others external to the family office.
In light of this, outsourcing investment in certain asset classes that a specialist investment firm could do more efficiently and effectively is becoming increasingly popular. There can also be cost savings associated with this approach.
Key-person risk
Regarding the family itself, it is quite common to have a key person responsible for making all decisions for the family unit, creating a situation that becomes increasingly complex as wealth passes down the generations. Once control of wealth is handed down, issues relating to a lack of resource and a lack of capability can arise.
At Quilter Cheviot Europe, we specialise by utilising our investment management expertise so that the family office can focus on other areas of investment, such as private equity or real estate. Actively managing a portfolio of publicly listed equities and bonds is time consuming and there are clear benefits to be found drawing on the experience and research capabilities that we can offer.
Research capabilities
Our investment managers have an average of over 16 years industry experience and our research team contains 22 full time, industry and sector specialist professionals – combined they clock up in excess of 37,000 research hours per year!
The team possesses an extensive network of key industry connections, with access to fund managers, Chief Investment Officers (CIOs) and Chief Executives of businesses. We also have active involvement and voting within AGMs which aids our investment managers in considering the integration of ESG considerations into investments, if there are any. We are also able to tailor portfolios so that they restrict investments in areas perceived to be not in keeping with your investment parameters.
Where a family or individual does have in-house investment capability, or a Chief Investment Officer there can of course be some consideration on handing over the reins and undermining their own position.
Flexibility
The appointment of an investment manager, specifically tasked to create a bespoke portfolio for you, provides a large degree of flexibility to shape how it looks.
We are happy to work alongside advisers or engage in regular discussion with the Family Office CIO, providing updates on specific holdings and any allocation decisions. The Family Office CIO can offer their opinion regarding the shape of the mandate, requesting certain restrictions or preferences, but ultimately the responsibility rests with us to ensure that the portfolio remains within the stated risk parameters and seeks to achieve the defined objectives.
Mandate adherence
Following a considered and suitable mandate greatly increases the chances of achieving your investment goals. Before any investments are made, we would draw up an investment policy statement (IPS), set objectives and discuss parameters to ensure guidelines within which the portfolio will be positioned.
Unlike some in the marketplace we do not or sell products, rather we create a bespoke portfolio tailored specifically to your investment needs, calibrated to meet set objectives and remain within certain risk parameters. These can be discussed and updated by periodic or requested reviews.
Conclusion
Of course, no two family offices are the same – as the saying goes “once you have seen one family office, you have seen one family office.” But a recurring theme from our experience is that families regularly favour focusing on private equity and real estate investments and are increasingly inclined to outsource the more traditional asset allocation parts within their portfolio to a third party. They are particularly welcoming of outsourcing investment management in global equity and bond markets (and in investment funds which reflect these markets) to third parties such as Quilter Cheviot Europe. We would be happy to engage with you further on this outlining our services. If you are interested in further information, please contact Daragh Murphy or Andrew Fahy in our Quilter Cheviot Europe office.