Profile makes sure that philanthropy
in Israel is effective and efficient.
The Family Office
The scope of the family office extends well beyond corporate, financial, and trust matters. Members of the ultra-rich category, regardless of the source of their wealth, contribute to and play many roles in society at large and welcome being taught, guided and wisely assisted by family office consultants in these endeavors. On a daily basis these well-to-do folks find themselves in social circles that include scions of other wealthy families, people in politics and government, leaders in the fields of medicine, industry, literature, music, art, and more. They are petitioned to support domestic and worldwide worthy causes and often select several organizations to which they donate large amounts of their time, energy, and money. For onlookers who follow their activities, the following questions often arise: How do they manage to know what to do in so many diverse situations? How do they, as representatives of their families’ reputations, know which paths to follow? The answers, very often, are that they are getting high-level expert advice from professionals at their family office.
Family office consultants work behind the lines. Whether they are mentoring a family group about to entertain royalty, finding a new agent for a leading author, or locating an appropriate college for a graduating high-school senior, one of the advisory team members is out there doing the legwork. When arrangements must be made to employ a personal trainer for the aging corporate founder or to assist his son in running the firm, one of the advisors will pleasantly say, “No problem, sir.” If a corporate heir is unable or unwilling to assume an active business leadership role, an advisor might bring in replacement management to do the job while making sure that the family member is protected and not pressured to relinquish power. At election time, the advisor might guide him to use his majority voting strength to maintain his controlling interest, letting the heir breathe a sigh of relief because he knows he is making a wise decision with excellent counsel. Family office consultants work diligently and discretely on behalf of their clients on a full-time basis. They are always there for them.
Consultants in a family office keep constantly in tune with the family’s needs. Whether their help is needed for tax and estate matters, for handling grant distributions from the family foundation, for dealing with family and business legal decisions, or for addressing any number of personal happenings, they are available. If the family decides to draft or update a long-term family mission statement outlining their perceived goals and obligations they will turn to their advisors for impartial opinions. And these they will get. The consultants will make suggestions, supply facts, or act as a sounding board. They will ask questions. What procedures do you want to follow to measure progress? What means should be considered to assess accountability? What would be a fair system for you, the family members, to use to deal with conflicts that might arise amongst you? Would you want to set up a non-partial body to handle such matters? Family office consultants offer guidance, counsel, and support in both business and daily life situations, in good times and in times of trouble. They rise to each challenge and use their intellect, knowledge, experience, ingenuity, and good judgment to assist their clients and to help solve their problems. In other words, they see to it that what needs talking about gets discussed, and what needs doing gets done.
The following excerpt is from
Building Wealth in Israel, by Douglas Goldstein,
director of Profile Investments.
The Multi-Family Office:
A Sharing Solution
Not many millionaires can be called as rich as Rockefeller. But many, especially those with investable assets topping the five-to-ten million-dollar mark, can enjoy many of the same personalized services. Over the last few decades, the Rockefellers, the Houghtons, the Whittiers, and others in these upper echelons began reorganizing their office structures or starting new ones that would allow other wealthy families to avail themselves of many of the same services they themselves enjoyed. Doing this, of course, enabled the founding families to not only share the benefits of professional management with others who might have similar goals, interests, and needs, but also to share the costs. And further, from the monetary point of view, the multi-family offices provided a stream of income to their founders. They became good businesses. In other words, Rockefeller & Co., Inc., an offshoot of the original Rockefeller family office, now provides extensive investment and recommendation services for those wealthy individuals who want to be counseled by the same experts who provide these opportunities to the Rockefeller family. These new multi-office clients want this kind of personalized attention and they are willing to pay for it. The Rockefellers are happy to help out. Running an office with a staff of two hundred is a big expense, even for them. Sharing costs, they feel, with other wealthy people has its advantages.
The multi-family sharing solution is a concept that is expanding in use as more and more well-to-do families feel their needs would be better served by a team of experienced dedicated professionals rather than by their own efforts. They know that time is precious and if the hours spent addressing complex issues were instead used to further their own businesses, to spend more time with their families, or to explore new avenues in life they would be better off. They also know that they are not as wealthy as the Rockefellers, the Gates’, the Waltons, the Arisons, and the Dells, and most likely they will never be so. But yet, in many ways they are similar. These very well-to-do individuals also need customized advice on developing overall strategies. They need help in investing assets, managing finances, handling taxes, writing wills and trusts, purchasing real estate, acquiring new businesses, giving and monitoring donations to charity, establishing philanthropic legacies, and many other matters. And, when possible, they want to find this high-level guidance, instruction, and encouragement all coordinated under one roof. When the ultra-wealthy needed these same services originally they established Family Offices. Now wealthy people, who may be far less affluent than those members of the famed financial dynasties, can similarly have their own needs addressed on a personalized basis. And, they can do this at a shared cost by becoming affiliated with a multi-family office.
