What are the biggest challenges for UHNWIs and how can multi-family offices help?

investmentnews.com:

Ultra-high-net-worth individuals and their families are facing some big challenges and many are seeking the counsel of multi-family offices to help them navigate uncharted waters.

InvestmentNews has been speaking with Elizabeth Anderson, vice president of business development at Whittier Trust, to find out more about the issues facing UHNWIs and how the multi-family office approach can offer more than that of a single-family office.

Anderson has been with the oldest West Coast-headquartered multi-family office for a decade, and Whittier started as a single-family office for real estate and petroleum pioneer Max Whittier in 1935. Over it’s almost 90 years, the firm has been driven by its early realization that its role is not just about managing and preserving a family’s wealth, but the impact it has on the family.

“Our experience with one generational family inspired the transformation into the Whittier Trust multi-family office,” Anderson said, adding that its services include investment management and consulting, trust services, family office, philanthropy and family continuity, and real estate management and investing.

Anderson says that demand for multi-family offices is growing as families seek hands-on teams who can manage their wealth and business but also the intergenerational transfer of both.

Often this will be prompted by a change of family dynamic.

“A great example of this was when a single-family office moved to Whittier Trust after the family patriarch died, and it became clear that the SFO was unable to effectively serve the evolved needs of the family,” she said. “Clarifying trust terms, managing ownership changes, meeting cash flow needs, educating family members, and dealing with new family leadership