Single Family Office

An SFO is the most direct expression of the family office concept: one family builds, staffs, and pays for an entity that works exclusively for them. Because there are no other clients, the office can be structured entirely around that family's goals, values, investment preferences, and governance style. This exclusivity is the SFO's defining characteristic and its primary advantage over shared models.

The tradeoff is cost. Running a dedicated office — with employed professionals, legal entities, technology, and compliance overhead — requires the family to absorb all expenses themselves. For illustrative purposes, annual operating costs for a modest SFO might range from the low hundreds of thousands to several million dollars, depending on headcount and scope. Family office costs vary enormously based on how much is handled internally versus outsourced.

Consider a three-generation family with two operating businesses and a diversified investment portfolio. They might form an SFO to consolidate reporting, coordinate tax filings across entities, oversee private equity investments, and manage distributions to family members — all under one roof. The staff answers only to the family, which creates both loyalty and a clearer chain of accountability.

A common confusion is assuming an SFO must be large. Some single-family offices operate with two or three staff members and rely heavily on outside specialists. The lean family office structure is a legitimate and increasingly common approach, particularly for families who prioritize control over comprehensiveness. What makes it an SFO is ownership and exclusivity, not headcount.