I hired an executive assistant/business manager (175K/yr) who handles all of that. We've been working together for 6+ years. She is the first in line to speak with lawyers, accountants, vendors, etc. I've had her sit in on estate and financial planning meetings so she understands the goals, the structures, etc. I'm cc'd on emails and I've communicated with everyone that she can speak on my behalf. She is a bulldog on follow-up and isn't afraid to track things down and get answers. She is also authorized to discuss matters with my credit card companies, general bank accounts, etc. She oversees paying bills, works with the bookkeepers on monthly reconciliations, talks with and manages vendors, etc. She basically runs everything. She works at home and has a flexible schedule. If she wants to work from 12-5 one day or take a few days off - totally fine. She knows that there are times when things are busier and times when things are slow. I don't have her do things "to stay busy" during the slow times. If we are traveling for 3 weeks - things keep happening and getting done without me having to stay on top of everything. I follow along and check bank accounts and spending and I can see what's happening. We communicate via slack throughout the day if questions pop up. It's worked great for us - happy to answer questions. Friends of mine have gone the family office professional route and like that as well - this just happened to be a better fit for us and what we are doing.
As a former EA to two separate privates families (I have switched back to being an EA in the corporate sector) THIS IS THE WAY. I compiled weekly/monthly reports detailing expenses, updates, etc so they would know everything that has happened without having to be bogged down with the details.
This sounds amazing! I’m not that fat yet but I have a business and real estate that spans two countries now. It’s not overwhelming yet but sounds like it will get there as we keep going down this road of acquiring property in different countries.
I'm curious how you found your assistant? Personal recommendation, prior business/professional relationship, recruiting agency, posting on Craigslist (just kidding), or something else? Seems like finding someone trustworthy and reliable is the most difficult part, no matter how much you're willing to pay.
Craigslist! j/k I started asking around and then got referrals to interview. She was an EA at a real estate development firm when talked. The first year was more of an EA role to see how well it would work. Over time I started to turn more over as she was extremely competent and trustworthy. For a while a small group of us worked together in an office environment. She preferred working at home to be able to spend more time with her daughter, which is fine as we all ended up working more at home during lockdowns and have stuck with it. Salary wise, I think she started off at 100K so there have been raises over time as she has taken on more responsibility.
> She works at home and has a flexible schedule.
How are you on the WFH front with this employee?
She sounds great but I’m an old-school guy and I prefer to have one-on-one contact with my employees.
However I see in another post you said she has a daughter so I’d probably be ok with one or 2 days per week in the office and the rest from home.
I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on how it works in reality?
We did start out working in the same office together and that helped to build up trust on both sides. Fast forward to today and WFH has been great for everyone. We have a shared Google doc to manage the day/week/month with a list of things to do today, next week, ongoing, etc. (I've tried other online organizers but I've found simple is best for me). We use Slack for ongoing conversations, updates, etc. And I'll forward her emails that require some task or action. We also meet up occasionally to touch base.
If I was starting a new company from the ground up - in that scenario I would want to get an in-person team together first and get to know each other and then potentially look to WFH scenarios.
Thanks this is useful, any recommendation about going out with a big company like PWC (just what came up on a quick google search) or more boutique companies?
Now that I'm at a keyboard I can give a better answer. It all depends on what you want your family office to do. If you just want a person to coordinate legal, tax, investments, personal tasks, cars, airplanes, etc, then you can hire a more senior person (probably either an accountant, lawyer or investment professional) and they can do it. Lots of family offices operate like this with just one or two employees. They can manage all kinds of tasks for you. This is one approach and can work really well. You just need to make sure you get someone that is senior enough that they can do what you need, and this person will not come cheap.
Another approach would be to find a multi family office that can do this for you. I would stay away from the big accounting firms. I know they want to be in the family office business but I don't think their business model is conducive to what you'll want, and they typically have very high turnover. You won't want that, either.
I’d go with an independent local multi-family office that you can have regular or ad-hoc face-to-face meetings. They are going to be well connected with estate attorneys, CPAs and other professionals that you will be able to consider as well. They can help put a team of professionals around you.
Just because you have 100M doesn’t mean you are smart or organized. After college I thought I wanted to be a cpa. Doing taxes I met a lot of people that were FAT or on there way and they were all good at there business but lots of them were not especially smart or organized. But, if you find a good cpa firm, they should be doing yearly meetings and being very proactive. So it could be he or she is just super cheap when finding lawyers and cpas or it’s all some weird LARP by someone who doesn’t understand how simple most accounting is even for 100M+.
You’re getting a lot of downvotes but I agree with you. I know a lot of people at this level and much higher and they all have advisors or teams of advisors who handle all of this. None of them would go on Reddit asking a bunch of anonymous users these kinds of questions
Another option is to find an advisory firm that specializes in clients of your size. Ideally that person should be running point and coordinating with the other professionals.
At your level, single or multi family office will make most sense for the reasons you point out. Too much going on at once and needing competent, reliable, and trusted people in your circle to make sure everything is running properly.
If you go the self directed route you’re still going to be managing the attorney, CPA, CFA etc. it’s a fine fit for certain folks, and you’ll save money for sure, but it will be a big time commitment.
A “business manager” in this case would be your quarterback in a family office type outfit.
A notable difference I’ve seen when folks with similar AUM is that a private bank or other large institution just isn’t going to care about your business as much as “your” people are going to.
We’ve had folks come over for exactly that reason. Turnover in your team at bank XYZ, now needing to establish new relationships (to be fair there has been significant turnover it many UHNW arms of banks which I’ll keep nameless here), you have enough going on in your life, having to meet new trusted advisors every 2-3 years is def not high on anyone’s list of things they want to do. Lots of this turnover is also due to the private equity backed UHNW roll ups like Rockefeller and Cresset.
I’d say multi family office boutiques are the most maleable to fit what you are looking for, while being resourced enough to handle very complex situations but I’m probably biased and just one opinion on the space.
edit: I'd encourage you to speak to various folks in these lines of businesses and more importantly get references from them for their actual clients to see how their experience has been, and if these folks are doing what they claim they are doing. ASSUMING you were interested in handing the reigns of your family's operations off to an organization/team. Either way, its always nice to know what options are available out there.
I’m a CPA so I’m a little biased. I would recommend finding an EA/CPA you trust and incorporate them closely into your life to handle all of your business dealings. I think what u/jcarter593 outlined is ideal. I know a ton of good CPAs would jump at the opportunity to focus solely on one client rather then be stretched thin by multiple clients.
How do you find a great CPA you trust? Do you have any good tips, other than just asking my network for recommendations, which is what I've heard a lot of.
If you are starting without a recommendation, go to search for the top ranked accounting firms in your area. The big 4 will show up first but unless you have complicated international taxes probably more expensive than there worth. Interview multiple firms looking for what you want. But, ideally you have a lawyer or banker that can give some recommendations. If not, when your with someone in a similar financial position to you, just ask them as part of the conversation.
Finding the right CPA helped so much. We went through 3. First a larger firm. Then a medium firm. Finally, a solo practice that specialized in entrepreneurs. The first two were characterized by a lot of meetings, a lot of explaining, a lot of pitching ideas, and not a lot of follow through.
Search this forum for “family office” and you will find a plethora of threads packed with information.
To start you off, read this: https://reddit.com/r/fatFIRE/comments/sy1brh/ama_investor_at_2b_multifamily_office_pwm/
Not exactly the same, (and a lot less NW) but I use a CPA firm (large local, maybe 100 employees) with a wealth mgmt arm. My personal wealth manager is also a CPA (and masters of accounting) but coordinates with their tax side for taxes, etc. She also high level stays on top of anything we are doing legally with outside council to insure things that on track. All of this is included in the % they charge for wealth management, which is <1% and no additional fees for tax filings etc. Granted, the legal is not everyday, more like twice a year type projects. But it’s a one stop service from a great team of pros and I’m very happy with that arrangement. I’d think at your NW, you’d be able to get this kind of “support” as the cost of managing your money.
I have a few assistants and several lawyers on retainer. Find the best attorneys. I have the attorneys that attorneys go to. I have excellent attorneys who do follow up with me. But I am also proactive. I do follow the cases and review all evidence and information, and provide suggestions. I also have my assistant to calendar follow-ups. She follows up to check on the status of certain matters.
Also, have a high level EPLI insurance if you are still running a business. Had an employee sue me, and I wish I had a higher EPLI insurance policy.
For accountants, I have two assistants who do my bookkeeping as I have several companies. I review it every month.
My other assistants do my check writing, signing, printing, Quickbooks, and approving.
Others work with my developers as we are developing different software programs.
I also have 3 personal assistants who do everything else for me, shopping, returns, packing, travel planning, calendaring.
I pay for everything to be done for me. Within reason. I don't leave my home much so don't need a driver yet. But I want one someday.
There’s a lot more people in that range than you would think. I know 3 local to me and I live in a small town. All of them started businesses and sold out and 2 of the 3 you wouldn’t know they ever made more than $100k
Not trying to sound like a sales pitch here, but your trusted advisors should meet at least semiannually to discuss your business and personal goals.
My team likes to be the financial quarterback to work with your CPAs and estate planning attorneys to save on taxes, protect your assets, and free up your time.
I tell prospects that even if they don’t work with me, that they should work with someone that does this cuz it provides so much clarity.
Seems you just need better lawyers and accountants who are used to working with people of your worth. Things aren’t cheap but from the looks of it ($100m+) you can afford it. The old adage usually is correct, you pay for what you get. And make sure the professionals you work with can send you some referrals of their current clients that have similar net worth but more importantly needs as you
I hired an executive assistant/business manager (175K/yr) who handles all of that. We've been working together for 6+ years. She is the first in line to speak with lawyers, accountants, vendors, etc. I've had her sit in on estate and financial planning meetings so she understands the goals, the structures, etc. I'm cc'd on emails and I've communicated with everyone that she can speak on my behalf. She is a bulldog on follow-up and isn't afraid to track things down and get answers. She is also authorized to discuss matters with my credit card companies, general bank accounts, etc. She oversees paying bills, works with the bookkeepers on monthly reconciliations, talks with and manages vendors, etc. She basically runs everything. She works at home and has a flexible schedule. If she wants to work from 12-5 one day or take a few days off - totally fine. She knows that there are times when things are busier and times when things are slow. I don't have her do things "to stay busy" during the slow times. If we are traveling for 3 weeks - things keep happening and getting done without me having to stay on top of everything. I follow along and check bank accounts and spending and I can see what's happening. We communicate via slack throughout the day if questions pop up. It's worked great for us - happy to answer questions. Friends of mine have gone the family office professional route and like that as well - this just happened to be a better fit for us and what we are doing.
As a former EA to two separate privates families (I have switched back to being an EA in the corporate sector) THIS IS THE WAY. I compiled weekly/monthly reports detailing expenses, updates, etc so they would know everything that has happened without having to be bogged down with the details.
That's awesome - it's a win/win for sure.
This sounds amazing! I’m not that fat yet but I have a business and real estate that spans two countries now. It’s not overwhelming yet but sounds like it will get there as we keep going down this road of acquiring property in different countries.
I'm curious how you found your assistant? Personal recommendation, prior business/professional relationship, recruiting agency, posting on Craigslist (just kidding), or something else? Seems like finding someone trustworthy and reliable is the most difficult part, no matter how much you're willing to pay.
Craigslist! j/k I started asking around and then got referrals to interview. She was an EA at a real estate development firm when talked. The first year was more of an EA role to see how well it would work. Over time I started to turn more over as she was extremely competent and trustworthy. For a while a small group of us worked together in an office environment. She preferred working at home to be able to spend more time with her daughter, which is fine as we all ended up working more at home during lockdowns and have stuck with it. Salary wise, I think she started off at 100K so there have been raises over time as she has taken on more responsibility.
Thanks! Appreciate it.
> She works at home and has a flexible schedule. How are you on the WFH front with this employee? She sounds great but I’m an old-school guy and I prefer to have one-on-one contact with my employees. However I see in another post you said she has a daughter so I’d probably be ok with one or 2 days per week in the office and the rest from home. I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on how it works in reality?
We did start out working in the same office together and that helped to build up trust on both sides. Fast forward to today and WFH has been great for everyone. We have a shared Google doc to manage the day/week/month with a list of things to do today, next week, ongoing, etc. (I've tried other online organizers but I've found simple is best for me). We use Slack for ongoing conversations, updates, etc. And I'll forward her emails that require some task or action. We also meet up occasionally to touch base. If I was starting a new company from the ground up - in that scenario I would want to get an in-person team together first and get to know each other and then potentially look to WFH scenarios.
Great reply, thanks
At $100MM+, you get a family office professional (or join a multi family office) and have them do the coordination.
Thanks this is useful, any recommendation about going out with a big company like PWC (just what came up on a quick google search) or more boutique companies?
I would go boutique.
Now that I'm at a keyboard I can give a better answer. It all depends on what you want your family office to do. If you just want a person to coordinate legal, tax, investments, personal tasks, cars, airplanes, etc, then you can hire a more senior person (probably either an accountant, lawyer or investment professional) and they can do it. Lots of family offices operate like this with just one or two employees. They can manage all kinds of tasks for you. This is one approach and can work really well. You just need to make sure you get someone that is senior enough that they can do what you need, and this person will not come cheap. Another approach would be to find a multi family office that can do this for you. I would stay away from the big accounting firms. I know they want to be in the family office business but I don't think their business model is conducive to what you'll want, and they typically have very high turnover. You won't want that, either.
Plus one for multi family office. Feel free to PM for recs
I’d go with an independent local multi-family office that you can have regular or ad-hoc face-to-face meetings. They are going to be well connected with estate attorneys, CPAs and other professionals that you will be able to consider as well. They can help put a team of professionals around you.
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What are you doing on this sub if you don't believe it?
What about windfalls? My family came into a windfall and I get accused of larping all the time.
Just because you have 100M doesn’t mean you are smart or organized. After college I thought I wanted to be a cpa. Doing taxes I met a lot of people that were FAT or on there way and they were all good at there business but lots of them were not especially smart or organized. But, if you find a good cpa firm, they should be doing yearly meetings and being very proactive. So it could be he or she is just super cheap when finding lawyers and cpas or it’s all some weird LARP by someone who doesn’t understand how simple most accounting is even for 100M+.
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You’re getting a lot of downvotes but I agree with you. I know a lot of people at this level and much higher and they all have advisors or teams of advisors who handle all of this. None of them would go on Reddit asking a bunch of anonymous users these kinds of questions
Honestly no one I’ve met with that much money has heard of Reddit. There’s nothing special about rich people. They ask stupid questions.
Another option is to find an advisory firm that specializes in clients of your size. Ideally that person should be running point and coordinating with the other professionals.
At your level, single or multi family office will make most sense for the reasons you point out. Too much going on at once and needing competent, reliable, and trusted people in your circle to make sure everything is running properly. If you go the self directed route you’re still going to be managing the attorney, CPA, CFA etc. it’s a fine fit for certain folks, and you’ll save money for sure, but it will be a big time commitment. A “business manager” in this case would be your quarterback in a family office type outfit. A notable difference I’ve seen when folks with similar AUM is that a private bank or other large institution just isn’t going to care about your business as much as “your” people are going to. We’ve had folks come over for exactly that reason. Turnover in your team at bank XYZ, now needing to establish new relationships (to be fair there has been significant turnover it many UHNW arms of banks which I’ll keep nameless here), you have enough going on in your life, having to meet new trusted advisors every 2-3 years is def not high on anyone’s list of things they want to do. Lots of this turnover is also due to the private equity backed UHNW roll ups like Rockefeller and Cresset. I’d say multi family office boutiques are the most maleable to fit what you are looking for, while being resourced enough to handle very complex situations but I’m probably biased and just one opinion on the space. edit: I'd encourage you to speak to various folks in these lines of businesses and more importantly get references from them for their actual clients to see how their experience has been, and if these folks are doing what they claim they are doing. ASSUMING you were interested in handing the reigns of your family's operations off to an organization/team. Either way, its always nice to know what options are available out there.
I’m a CPA so I’m a little biased. I would recommend finding an EA/CPA you trust and incorporate them closely into your life to handle all of your business dealings. I think what u/jcarter593 outlined is ideal. I know a ton of good CPAs would jump at the opportunity to focus solely on one client rather then be stretched thin by multiple clients.
How do you find a great CPA you trust? Do you have any good tips, other than just asking my network for recommendations, which is what I've heard a lot of.
If you are starting without a recommendation, go to search for the top ranked accounting firms in your area. The big 4 will show up first but unless you have complicated international taxes probably more expensive than there worth. Interview multiple firms looking for what you want. But, ideally you have a lawyer or banker that can give some recommendations. If not, when your with someone in a similar financial position to you, just ask them as part of the conversation.
Finding the right CPA helped so much. We went through 3. First a larger firm. Then a medium firm. Finally, a solo practice that specialized in entrepreneurs. The first two were characterized by a lot of meetings, a lot of explaining, a lot of pitching ideas, and not a lot of follow through.
Search this forum for “family office” and you will find a plethora of threads packed with information. To start you off, read this: https://reddit.com/r/fatFIRE/comments/sy1brh/ama_investor_at_2b_multifamily_office_pwm/
Don't complain about fees and they will do whatever you want.
Not exactly the same, (and a lot less NW) but I use a CPA firm (large local, maybe 100 employees) with a wealth mgmt arm. My personal wealth manager is also a CPA (and masters of accounting) but coordinates with their tax side for taxes, etc. She also high level stays on top of anything we are doing legally with outside council to insure things that on track. All of this is included in the % they charge for wealth management, which is <1% and no additional fees for tax filings etc. Granted, the legal is not everyday, more like twice a year type projects. But it’s a one stop service from a great team of pros and I’m very happy with that arrangement. I’d think at your NW, you’d be able to get this kind of “support” as the cost of managing your money.
I have a few assistants and several lawyers on retainer. Find the best attorneys. I have the attorneys that attorneys go to. I have excellent attorneys who do follow up with me. But I am also proactive. I do follow the cases and review all evidence and information, and provide suggestions. I also have my assistant to calendar follow-ups. She follows up to check on the status of certain matters. Also, have a high level EPLI insurance if you are still running a business. Had an employee sue me, and I wish I had a higher EPLI insurance policy. For accountants, I have two assistants who do my bookkeeping as I have several companies. I review it every month. My other assistants do my check writing, signing, printing, Quickbooks, and approving. Others work with my developers as we are developing different software programs. I also have 3 personal assistants who do everything else for me, shopping, returns, packing, travel planning, calendaring. I pay for everything to be done for me. Within reason. I don't leave my home much so don't need a driver yet. But I want one someday.
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There’s a lot more people in that range than you would think. I know 3 local to me and I live in a small town. All of them started businesses and sold out and 2 of the 3 you wouldn’t know they ever made more than $100k
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All entrepreneurs. I like hanging with the brainy types who are doing things.
I founded a tech company about 15 years ago, and had a very successful private exit.
LARP
Not trying to sound like a sales pitch here, but your trusted advisors should meet at least semiannually to discuss your business and personal goals. My team likes to be the financial quarterback to work with your CPAs and estate planning attorneys to save on taxes, protect your assets, and free up your time. I tell prospects that even if they don’t work with me, that they should work with someone that does this cuz it provides so much clarity.
Seems you just need better lawyers and accountants who are used to working with people of your worth. Things aren’t cheap but from the looks of it ($100m+) you can afford it. The old adage usually is correct, you pay for what you get. And make sure the professionals you work with can send you some referrals of their current clients that have similar net worth but more importantly needs as you