Valerie Wong Fountain, CFA

Morgan Stanley’s inaugural Estate and Household Staff Compensation Report provides actionable insights that ultra high net worth families can use to evaluate salaries, benefits and bonus structures for the workers who help keep their homes and estates running smoothly. The report, created in collaboration with Botoff Consulting, provides benchmark compensation data for 30 roles across estate, household and property management; family care; food preparation; and security.

Among the key… Show more

Morgan Stanley’s inaugural Estate and Household Staff Compensation Report provides actionable insights that ultra high net worth families can use to evaluate salaries, benefits and bonus structures for the workers who help keep their homes and estates running smoothly. The report, created in collaboration with Botoff Consulting, provides benchmark compensation data for 30 roles across estate, household and property management; family care; food preparation; and security.

Among the key findings:

Salary increases outpaced the broader U.S. market for 45% of management and 36% of staff.

Pay for staff with fewer than two years of experience exceeds that of staff with three to 10 years of experience. That creates a retention risk among more tenured staff, if they can realize a pay increase by moving to a new employer.

More than 70% of incumbents received bonus compensation, including performance bonuses, holiday bonuses and spot/other bonuses.
Readers will also find insights on best practices and considerations for staffing and retention, including trends in competitive benefits. In addition, the report provides in-depth information about current hiring trends, challenges and HR risks. Show less

Recruiting and retaining that team requires competitive compensation, especially as the family office industry matures. Morgan Stanley’s Single Family Office Compensation report provides valuable insights for families and family office professionals as they consider pay levels, benefit and bonus structures for optimal talent acquisition and retention. The report features benchmark compensation data for roles ranging from C-suite leaders to investment analysts to executive… Show more

Recruiting and retaining that team requires competitive compensation, especially as the family office industry matures. Morgan Stanley’s Single Family Office Compensation report provides valuable insights for families and family office professionals as they consider pay levels, benefit and bonus structures for optimal talent acquisition and retention. The report features benchmark compensation data for roles ranging from C-suite leaders to investment analysts to executive assistants.

Among the key findings:

Executive salary increases outpaced the broader U.S. market in 43% of family offices, and in 58% of firms with $1 billion or more in assets under management.
Use of incentive compensation remained strong, even during the pandemic, with 87% of participants reporting bonuses comparable to or higher than prior-year bonuses.
When it comes to gender diversity, family offices outpace the general market, with more women in CEO and leadership roles.
In addition, readers will learn the most common single-family office investment approaches, governance structures and professional services in use today. They’ll also find actionable intelligence on the use of long-term incentive plans and growing interest in sustainable investing among next-generation family members. Show less

Gain insight into the governing bodies, strategies and pay structures that affluent families are using to oversee and advise their family offices.

Do your family office governance structures allow you to make the most strategic decisions possible?

The processes that affluent families use to make key decisions and convey them to their family offices are of crucial importance—not only to the proper functioning of the office, but to the preservation of unity within the family. Find… Show more

Gain insight into the governing bodies, strategies and pay structures that affluent families are using to oversee and advise their family offices.

Do your family office governance structures allow you to make the most strategic decisions possible?

The processes that affluent families use to make key decisions and convey them to their family offices are of crucial importance—not only to the proper functioning of the office, but to the preservation of unity within the family. Find out which governing bodies, strategies and compensation practices are most common today in Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management’s 2021 Single Family Office Governance and Compensation Report.

Among the key findings:

81% of family office respondents use some form of formalized governance structure, with standalone investment committees and boards of directors being the two most prevalent.

Of the 19% of respondents not utilizing a formal structure, almost all noted that governance was important and acknowledged the need to adopt a more formalized approach.

Following public company trends, families are compensating governance members primarily through annual retainers vs. meeting fees.

The findings are based on responses from 75 family offices of various sizes across the United States. Show less

Morgan Stanley’s Single Family Office Best Practices report is an essential resource for family office professionals and the ultra-high net worth clients they serve to help bring the family’s vision to life and maintain an organization that is built to last for generations.

In six chapters, you’ll find key considerations and best practices for:

•Developing a Family Mission Statement
A family’s conversations about their mission can reveal whether members are best served by… Show more

Morgan Stanley’s Single Family Office Best Practices report is an essential resource for family office professionals and the ultra-high net worth clients they serve to help bring the family’s vision to life and maintain an organization that is built to last for generations.

In six chapters, you’ll find key considerations and best practices for:

•Developing a Family Mission Statement
A family’s conversations about their mission can reveal whether members are best served by conducting their financial affairs through a shared entity such as a family office.

•Establishing and Operating the Family Office
How should you choose a legal entity, organize your leadership team and select vendors? How can you help protect the family’s private information from cyber theft? Approaching these questions thoughtfully may help reduce the risk of making costly mistakes down the road.

•Asset Management
Creating an appropriate investment policy statement, selecting the right third-party investments, and providing timely, accurate reporting can all be key ingredients for long-term success. The family office stands at the center of these critical functions.

•Financial Administration
It’s essential to maintain a healthy accounting, reporting and cash management system that protects the family from the risk of mismanagement and even fraud. While the range of bookkeeping and bill pay services can be overwhelming, a thoughtful consideration of these options can give family members the tools they need to truly access and use their wealth with minimum hassle or confusion.

•Wealth Planning
Managing significant wealth goes well beyond selecting investments. For example, decisions about how to share wealth across generations can have significant tax consequences. And properly educating the next generation of family members about their wealth can have a significant long-term impact on the family’s legacy.

•The Enjoyment of Wealth

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Morgan Stanley’s Single Family Office Advisory, part of the Signature Access platform within Family Office Resources, was established to provide unique, customized resources to single family offices as well as families who are considering establishing one. As staffing decisions are among the most important ones that the owners of a single family office will make—and staff compensation the greatest ongoing expense—we decided to offer an in-depth study
on family office salaries and incentive… Show more

Morgan Stanley’s Single Family Office Advisory, part of the Signature Access platform within Family Office Resources, was established to provide unique, customized resources to single family offices as well as families who are considering establishing one. As staffing decisions are among the most important ones that the owners of a single family office will make—and staff compensation the greatest ongoing expense—we decided to offer an in-depth study
on family office salaries and incentive compensation. To that end, we are pleased to present this report on family office compensation, developed in partnership with Botoff Consulting. Our hope is that the benchmarks it provides will help inform your decisions about compensation levels for your staff. Show less