Understand family offices — and how to build one.
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Family Offices Overview Single Family Office Multi-Family Office Micro Family Office Costs Comparisons
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🛠 FAMILY OFFICE BUILDER

Twelve questions — an example structure, org chart, and cost band.

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Free read-only JSON access to the site's guides, glossary, and tools.

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For your AI assistant

AI Agents

Copy-paste prompts that point Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or any tool-using agent at this site's open JSON API — the full library of 98 guides, 151 glossary terms, the directory, and the Builder itself.

Explain-it-to-me tutor

You are my family-office tutor. Use the free JSON API at https://buildafamilyoffice.ai/api/v1 — list guides with /articles, fetch one with /article/{slug}, and definitions with /glossary/{slug}. Teach me one concept at a time in plain English, quiz me briefly after each, and always cite the page path you used. Start with /article/what-is-a-family-office. Everything is educational, not advice.

Structure-sketch assistant

Interview me about my situation (assets band, entities, trusts, real estate, operating businesses, family members, generations, cross-border, private investments, philanthropy, staffing preference, top priorities). Then POST my answers as JSON to https://buildafamilyoffice.ai/api/v1/tools/builder and walk me through the example structure it returns — the stage, org chart, function matrix, and illustrative cost band. Emphasize that this is an educational example, not advice, and suggest which guides to read next from the response.

Cost explorer

Help me explore illustrative family-office costs. POST {"roles": {"fomanager":1, "controller":1, "ea":1}, "opex": ["office","reporting","cpa","legal","insurance"]} to https://buildafamilyoffice.ai/api/v1/tools/cost, then vary the team with me (role keys are listed at /api/v1). Show each scenario's staff-vs-overhead split. Every figure is a labeled illustrative range, not survey data or advice.

Glossary flash-cards

Fetch https://buildafamilyoffice.ai/api/v1/glossary and run flash-card drills with me: give me a term (mix abbreviations like SFO, MFO, IPS, GP, LP, IRR with full terms), let me answer, then show the site's short definition and link me to /glossary/{slug} for depth. Track my misses and re-quiz them.

Industry researcher

Using https://buildafamilyoffice.ai/api/v1/directory (filter with ?category=) and /api/v1/resources, brief me on the family-office service landscape: who the multi-family offices, custodians, software platforms, associations, and recruiters are, and what each category does (fetch /article/{slug} for the matching guides). Listings are informational, not endorsements — remind me of that, and link official sites from the data.

News watcher

Fetch https://buildafamilyoffice.ai/api/v1/news and summarize today's wealth-management and family-office headlines in one paragraph, grouped by theme, citing each item's publisher and linking the original article URLs from the data. Do not add stories that are not in the feed.
The API is free, read-only, cached, and CORS-open — see the API docs. Responses embed the site's disclaimer: educational information, never advice.

Family Offices

What Is a Family Office?Do You Need a Family Office?Single Family Office (SFO)Multi-Family Office (MFO)Micro Family OfficeWhat a Family Office CostsWhy Family Offices Exist

Build a Family Office

How to Build a Family Office From the Ground UpStep 3: The Organizational StructureStep 4: Internal vs. Outsourced (Build vs. Buy)The First 90 Days: Turning the Lights OnStep 1: Define the Family Office's PurposeStep 2: Inventory the Family's AssetsStep 5: Hire the Core Team

Investing

How Family Offices InvestDirect InvestingAsset Allocation for Family CapitalThe Investment Policy Statement (IPS)Liquidity, Concentration, and RiskPublic Markets: Equities and Fixed IncomeReal Estate in the Family Portfolio

Operations

Family Office AccountingFamily Office TechnologyFamily Office CybersecurityConsolidated Reporting: One True Net WorthBill Pay, AP, and Financial ControlsFamily Office Software, Category by CategoryBanking, Custody, and Treasury

Governance & Estate

Family GovernanceEstate Planning and Wealth TransferHow Family Offices Manage TaxPhilanthropy and the Family OfficeThe Family ConstitutionSuccession: The Office After the FounderPreparing the Next Generation

Industry

Careers in Family OfficesHow the Family Office Industry Is ChangingFamily Offices and Regulation

Roles & Staffing

Family Office Roles & Staffing, MappedFamily Office CEO / President / Managing DirectorChief Investment Officer (CIO)Portfolio Manager / Investment DirectorAsset Manager (Real Assets)Chief Financial Officer (CFO)Controller

Comparisons

Single vs. Multi-Family OfficeFamily Office vs. Wealth ManagerFamily Office vs. RIAFamily Office vs. Private BankFamily Office vs. Financial AdvisorFamily Office vs. Hedge FundFamily Office vs. Private Equity Firm