In its purest sense, a “ family office” is a private company that manages the overall affairs of a single family including wealth management. Typically, a fully functional Family Office will engage in all, or part of the businesses, investments, fiduciary, legal, taxation, trusts and estate management of a family including managing personal services such as managing house hold staff, purchases for the family and making travel arrangements. INDEPENDENT FAMILY OFFICE ADVISOR ( FOA) It’s common for wealthy families to appoint an independent “Family Office Advisor” for the first few years before setting up a dedicated family office so that they can derive the benefits of a family office without having to structure one. This also works out to be the most cost efficient model for the initial years. This is where we come in. Important qualities that wealthy families look for in a Family Office Advisor” are Professionalism, Integrity, Credibility, Fairness, Non-Discriminatory, Leadership, Trustworthy, Knowledgeable, Hard Working, Meticulous Communication, Patience, Persistence, Wisdom and Understanding. A good “Family Office Advisor” can be an effective bridge between the family, family’s businesses, senior management employees across geographies, auditors, lawyers, tax consultants, doctors, business associates and so on. Depending on the requirements, Family Office Advisors ( FOA’s) take part in business affairs like participating in board meetings and giving their inputs or taking part in strategy meetings etc. As concerns about family conflicts, unhappy separations, wealth preservation and succession planning within family businesses continue to rise, wealthy families are increasingly evaluating the benefits of appointing family office advisors for the family.