Short answer: A dedicated single family office generally becomes cost-effective at roughly US$100 million or more in investable assets, though many family offices serve families with far greater wealth. Below that level, a multi-family office or virtual family office is usually more practical.
Why the threshold is so high
A single family office carries real fixed costs — investment, tax, legal, accounting, and administrative staff, plus technology and reporting. Running one is often estimated at US$1–2 million or more per year, or roughly 0.5–1%+ of assets. That overhead only makes sense when spread across a large asset base. For context, the average family office manages about US$1.1 billion (UBS).
Rough guidelines by wealth level
| Investable assets | Typical structure |
|---|---|
| Under ~US$30M | Private wealth manager or advisor |
| ~US$30M–US$100M | Multi-family office (MFO) or virtual family office (VFO) |
| ~US$100M+ | Single family office becomes viable |
| ~US$250M+ | Full-scale single family office common |
These are common industry rules of thumb, not hard rules; the right answer depends on a family’s complexity, goals, and appetite for in-house control.
Lower-cost alternatives
Families below the SFO threshold often use a multi-family office, virtual family office, or embedded family office to get similar services at shared cost. TFOA’s members typically manage assets in the nine or ten figures; learn more about our peer network on the membership page, or browse the latest family office statistics.
