Family offices are giving more, investing for good causes and praying their heirs can handle the family money, says the new UBS 2017 Global Family Office Report.
For those giving to charity, 95 percent say they plan to give the same or more to charity over the next year, the report says. The average family office that manages a family’s philanthropic activities directly gave $5.7 million over the past 12 months.
Environmental protection and organizations that fight poverty received more attention during the past year, the report notes.
At the same time, more than 40 percent of 262 family offices surveyed are expecting to increase their allocations to impact and environmental, social and corporate governance investments, especially milennials born after 1980.
About 28 percent of family offices engaged in impact investing this year, with those in North America and emerging markets being the most active.
“We know that millennials are driving the adoption of sustainable and impact investing. As they strengthen their skill-sets and assume more control, we’ll see this theme continue to take hold,” says Sara Ferrari, head of the Global Family Office Group at UBS AG. “This is an opportunity for family offices to use their investment expertise to convert social objectives into financial returns and shape the purpose of a family.”
The world is facing the greatest wealth transfer of all time, a fact that affects wealthy families even more. Last year’s UBS Family Office report found that 69 percent of family offices expect to undergo a generational wealth transfer within the next 15 years. The 2017 report found that nearly half (45.7 percent) of family offices do not yet have a succession plan.
But some family offices are taking steps to prepare the next generation, such as providing work in the family office or seeing that they get experience in an investment bank. Others are encouraging young people to get involved in philanthropy of impact investing.
“Only 30 percent of generational transfers are successful, so this is an existential issue. What we are seeing is recognition of the challenges associated with wealth transfer, and a growing understanding of the actions that need to be taken,” Ferrari says.
Wealthy families may be feeling more generous right now because the overall return on portfolios has jumped to 7 percent this year after being a meager 0.3 percent last year globally, says UBS. The recovery was driven by equities and private equity, which in turn were counterbalanced by the more subdued performance of real estate and hedge funds.
Equities make up 20 percent of family office portfolios; private equity represents 20 percent. This share looks like it will grow further, as most family offices plan to maintain or increase their investments into developing market equities and intend to allocate more into private equity funds and co-investments, respectively.