What are the three types of single family office?

Single family offices can be organised around three distinct archetypes: the pure asset management vehicle (focused on investment returns, with minimal family governance), the family governance vehicle (focused on unity and transmission, with the investment function secondary), and the operating platform (which manages both assets and active family business interests). Each archetype implies a different staffing model, governance structure, and cost base. Families that try to be all three simultaneously tend to be none of them well.

Which type of family office is right for my family?

The right type of family office depends on three things: the nature and complexity of the family's assets, the family's primary purpose (wealth growth, transmission, or governance), and the family's capacity to engage with the office's operations. Families with a single significant liquid portfolio need a different structure from families with multiple operating businesses, real assets, and complex beneficiary structures. Westwick helps families make this choice before designing the structure.

Knowledge Base · Updated May 2025

Three family offices, one right fit

There is no single best family office model. Families choose between three archetypes — a pure asset-management vehicle, a family-governance vehicle built around unity and transmission, or an operating platform that runs both the assets and active businesses. The right one depends on the family's assets, purpose and capacity; trying to be all three at once works poorly.

When deciding what a family office is for, families can (and must) choose between three archetypes. Each serves a different purpose; each has a different risk profile; and each dictates what the rest of the structure should look like.

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Conclusions from this guide

There is no single best family office model. Families choose between three archetypes: a pure asset-management vehicle, a family-governance vehicle built around unity and transmission, or an operating platform that runs both the assets and active businesses.
Each archetype serves a different purpose and carries a different risk profile, and each dictates what the rest of the structure, staffing and cost base should look like.
The right archetype depends on the family's assets, its primary purpose and its capacity to engage. A single liquid portfolio calls for a different structure than multiple operating businesses and complex beneficiary arrangements.
Trying to be all three at once works poorly; the choice of purpose should be made before the structure is designed.

Originally published in WealthBriefing / WealthBriefingAsia and featured in the GPFO newsletter.

Read on WealthBriefing: https://www.wealthbriefingasia.com/article.php/Single-Family-Office%3A-Three-Different-Types-For-Efficient-Asset-Transmission

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Sources

WealthBriefing — WealthBriefing — Single Family Office: three archetypes
GPFO — GPFO Newsletter — Family office archetypes for efficient transmission

Three family offices, one right fit

Conclusions from this guide

Sources

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