Family Office

Family Advisory

Sage Stone guides families through the constantly evolving landscape of intergenerational wealth. We partner with ultra-wealthy and high-net-worth families at different stages of their journey. What is evident is that each family forges its own distinctive path to success and must therefore confront its own particular challenges along the way.

Uncovering the Purpose of Wealth

Through years of observation, we have identified many recurring themes and distilled five facets that matter most to successful families of wealth. This insight has shaped the development of a powerful family framework (The Sage Stone Gemstone) that can be applied to any family's unique situation. We employ this framework to help families discover what matters most to them – the purpose of their wealth.

The five facets of the Sage Stone Gemstone:

1. Financial Prosperity: Cultivating financial capital sustainably to meet the needs of current and future generations of the family.

2. Entrepreneurship: The family's capacity to harness its wealth to perpetuate an entrepreneurial mindset by sustaining its operating business and backing other entrepreneurs through the provision of both capital and talent.

3. Family Unity and Harmony: Deepening family relationships, values and trust, enhancing communication, problem solving and the capacity to undertake roles and responsibilities by leveraging each person's strengths while respecting their differences.

4. Learning, Engagement and Fulfilment: Empowering individual family members to pursue their personal aspirations through education, the creation of opportunities and following their passions so that they can live productive and fulfilling lives.

5. Community Impact: Dedicating the family's time, treasure, talent and ties to generate a positive impact on society through creating employment, supporting philanthropic causes, serving in the community, and paying taxes.

Building a Family Strategy

Once a family has articulated its Purpose of Wealth and the generations are aligned, we guide them in constructing and executing a Family Strategy that will chart their course through the intergenerational wealth journey – whether they are newly wealthy or several generations into that journey.

Crafting a Family Strategy is a complex undertaking that requires honest, open collaboration and skilled guidance. Sage Stone's role as an objective third party is essential in supporting family members to formulate, articulate and document their goals and aspirations.

The result is comprehensive, equipping the family with a bespoke plan for each of the five facets within the Sage Stone Gemstone framework. Combined, this constitutes the family's complete programme of work – their Family Strategy.

In our experience, dedicating the time to design and prioritise each element of the plan from the outset is a key driver of long-term success.

A modern Family Office

The purpose of the modern Family Office is to assist families in executing their Family Strategy and realising their Purpose of Wealth.

A range of Family Office models exists to help families meet their goals across generations. The four most widely used operating models today are:

Single Family Office – where a family creates and operates a separate legal entity dedicated exclusively to providing Family Office services to one family;
Business Family Office – where a family embeds a service function within their primary business to support family members – this can range from concierge services to wealth management;
Virtual Family Office – where a family engages external providers such as advisors from accounting firms, stockbroking firms and/or banking institutions – this can be coordinated from a home office; and
Multi-Family Office – similar to a Single Family Office except that it delivers a broader range and scale of Family Office services to multiple unrelated families.

Hybrid approaches are also available. For instance, Single Family Offices frequently discover significant value in partnering with a Multi-Family Office to mitigate key person risk, address any skill gaps and ensure continuity in the event of a major life event.

The optimal model depends on the particular circumstances of each family. The chosen model should be capable of serving the family well into the future, be cost-effective and offer the flexibility to accommodate change and manage key person risk. Critically, it must be able to deliver on the Family Strategy and maximise the positive impact of a family's wealth.

We call this approach the modern Family Office. At Sage Stone, we partner with many families to help them determine which Family Office model best suits their needs.

Multi-Family Office

We define a Family Office as the functional infrastructure—comprising people, systems and processes—that supports a Family Enterprise in planning, managing, transferring and perpetuating wealth in an integrated manner across generations. This enables families to achieve what matters most to them while sustaining the positive contributions they make to society.

The support provided by a Family Office can encompass family advisory, family governance and decision-making processes, education of family members, intergenerational wealth transfers, asset protection, philanthropy, financial administration, tax compliance and investment management. A Family Office is not necessarily a legal entity, physical location or organisational structure, though it will often take on many of these characteristics as a family's wealth grows.

“A modern Family Office will support the family in defining, building and executing on their Family Strategy, no matter how complex their circumstances may be.”

Jeff Steiner – Partner, Head of Family Office

Empowering rising generations

Among the reasons why intergenerational wealth transfers fail, 85% are attributable to two primary factors: a lack of communication and/or a breakdown of trust (60%) and inadequate preparation of inheritors (25%). The remaining 15% is attributed to families not defining their Purpose of Wealth (12%) or poor investment advice (3%)*.

Transparent communication between all generations of family members fosters trust and brings family members' aspirations into sharper focus, leading to better decision-making. For families to flourish, prioritising communication is absolutely essential. It is equally critical to ensure the rising generations are equipped with the tools and experience they need to lead and steward family wealth. A thoughtfully designed programme of learning, engagement and fulfilment strategies—tailored to address individual and collective family needs—sets every family member up for success and prepares inheritors to become responsible custodians of wealth.

Sage Stone's "Rising Gen" Program is designed to empower future family leaders with the connections, skills and knowledge needed to succeed in their careers and in their family roles. Through our Rising Gen community and customised learning programmes, we aim to ignite the imagination and enthusiasm of the next generation and provide them with practical skills to thrive and manage their resources.

*William & Preisser (2010), Preparing Heirs: Five Steps to a Successful transition of Family Wealth and Values, Robert D. Reed Publishers, San Fransisco, pp. 35–49.

“Increasingly, we are seeing the family purpose being strengthened by collaboration and relationship-building across generations. We support this by engaging, educating and empowering younger family members so they can realise their potential and prepare for future roles in their family and society.”

Lizzy Goldfinch – Partner, Family Office

Family governance

Just as successful multi-generational businesses operate under a framework of guidelines and governing principles, the same is true for successful multi-generational families.

By proactively addressing issues and establishing a tailored governance framework, families can build a robust foundation that promotes cohesion and communication – elements that are essential to successful intergenerational wealth management.

Our Family Office specialists foster a safe, open and respectful environment to help families articulate the principles and rules under which they wish to work, invest and make decisions. We then consolidate and document the outcomes, producing a Family Constitution.

As the overarching framework that supports families in sustainably managing and growing their wealth across generations, the Family Constitution is an invaluable tool. It governs how families make decisions, manage capital, access income and transfer assets, while also serving as a reference point to help family members engage constructively with one another and resolve disputes.

The Family Constitution is not a static document. It develops and adapts alongside a family, ensuring it remains relevant and effective in helping each generation navigate the complexities of intergenerational wealth.

“Family harmony matters. You can have all the financial and entrepreneurial success in the world, however if you can't sit around the dinner table together with your family, then what is the point? Our definition of wealth is much more than just financial.”

Brad Simmons – Partner, Head of South Australia

Membership

As an active member of Family Office Exchange, we belong to an international community of Family Office Executives who come together to identify shared challenges that many wealthy families encounter. This membership allows Sage Stone to draw upon collective learnings and global best practices while contributing on the international stage, ensuring our families benefit from the most advanced thinking and practices in Family Office management.

Sage Stone is also a founding member of the Wigmore Association, an innovative alliance of leading and non-competing Family Offices that collaborate globally to help our families thrive. The association is a vital resource for each member firm, providing trusted global intelligence and exclusive access to an international network.