Family office:
How much wealth do you need?

A family office of your own only pays off with very large fortunes. For smaller fortunes, there are ways to handle many of these tasks without the high fixed costs of your own team.

By Dr. Jürgen Lange, Managing Director of JSLM Products & Services GmbH

In the industry, a single family office of your own with employed specialists is usually only considered economical for fortunes in the hundreds of millions. The European Family Office Report 2024 by Campden Wealth and HSBC describes families with more than US$150 million in private wealth as well-suited candidates. The reason is high fixed costs for staff, premises and systems that arise every year: among the European family offices surveyed with less than US$500 million in assets, operating costs excluding investment fees averaged US$2.6 million a year, or just over 1% of their assets. Below this scale, other routes make sense: a multi-family office, your own advisers or family office software that you run yourself.

More important than the sheer size of your wealth is its structure. Anyone who owns several companies, properties, securities accounts and investments needs an organised overview and clear processes even with much smaller fortunes.

What does a family office do?

A family office organises a family’s wealth, from accounts, securities accounts and property through receipts and reports to working with advisers, banks and lawyers. What exactly this includes and how it differs from portfolio management is explained in the guide What is a family office? Meaning and tasks.

What are the options?

Single family office

A dedicated team works exclusively for one family. This offers the most control and confidentiality, but causes the highest running costs. According to the UBS Global Family Office Report 2025, which surveyed 317 family offices with average assets of US$1.1 billion, the pure cost of operations alone, such as staff, premises and IT, averaged around 0.4% of assets in 2024. Staff costs accounted for two-thirds of this. This is not directly comparable with the Campden Wealth and HSBC figure, because the sample, size and cost definitions differ.

Single family offices are comparatively rare: Deloitte estimates there are around 8,000 worldwide, about 2,000 of them in Europe (as of 2024).

Multi-family office

A service provider looks after several families. The costs are shared; in return, an external team takes over the processes and works with your data.

Family office software you run yourself

You or your assistant do the work, supported by software that brings together accounts, receipts and the entire structure. Your advisers remain responsible for tax and legal matters.

Multi-family office: how much wealth do you need?

There is no statutory minimum. Each multi-family office decides for itself from what level of wealth it takes on families. According to the classification by Campden Wealth and HSBC, the typical range is below US$150 million, which is where a single family office of your own usually does not yet pay off.

According to Finanzfluss, some firms accept as little as €10 million, and in rare cases even less. Catharina Weber, who heads the office of the Association of Independent Family Offices (Verband unabhängiger Family Offices), considers a multi-family office worthwhile only from €30 million in freely investable assets. According to Finanzfluss, family offices are often paid a percentage of the assets; according to Weber, this averages 0.3 to 0.6% a year.

Before you decide, it is worth clarifying these points:

From what level of wealth does the firm take on new families, and which parts of your wealth count towards it?
How is the fee made up, and which services cost extra?
Who has access to your accounts, receipts and data?
How do you get your complete records if you switch?

Family office for smaller fortunes

According to this assessment, a multi-family office does not pay off below €30 million. Even so, wealth of just a few million euros can consist of properties with tenants and loans, a holding company, investments and accounts at several banks. The tasks of a family office then arise just the same: overview, receipts, deadlines, payments and coordination with your adviser and bank.

Is family office software worth it for smaller fortunes too?

That depends less on the size of your wealth than on its structure. The signs are listed in the section “How to tell a spreadsheet is no longer enough”. If, on the other hand, your wealth is mainly in securities at one or two banks, a portfolio tracker may be enough.

How do the costs compare?

A worked example for wealth of €10 million: with the fee of 0.3 to 0.6% mentioned above, that would be €30,000 to €60,000 a year, provided a multi-family office takes on wealth of this size. What Finaure costs is shown on the pricing page. The services are not the same: a multi-family office advises you, while Finaure is software with which you stay in control yourself. You bring in advice from your advisers where you need it.

Family offices and taxes in Germany

A family office is not a legal form and has no tax rules of its own. Under German tax law, how income and costs are taxed depends on whether the assets are held privately or in a company, such as an asset-holding GmbH (vermögensverwaltende GmbH). For example, the costs of a family office generally do not reduce the tax on private investment income. Where property is let, they can be income-related expenses (Werbungskosten); in a GmbH, they are generally business expenses (Betriebsausgaben) insofar as they relate to the company’s assets. An overview of the flat-rate withholding tax (Abgeltungsteuer), corporate income tax and trade tax, and inheritance and gift tax is given in the guide Family offices and taxes in Germany.

How to tell a spreadsheet is no longer enough

Your wealth is spread across several companies, such as a holding company with subsidiaries.
You own properties with tenants, contracts and loans.
Several people are involved: family, assistant, administrator and adviser.
Gathering receipts for your adviser regularly takes time.
In an emergency, your family would not know where to find which documents.

With very high private income, good order also becomes a legal obligation in Germany: special record retention obligations then apply under § 147a of the German Fiscal Code (Abgabenordnung). Who they apply to is explained in the guide Family offices and taxes in Germany. Your adviser will clarify what applies in your case.

If several of these points apply, a fixed structure is worthwhile, even without a family office of your own. You will find a comparison in the guide Excel or family office software?

Where Finaure fits

Finaure provides the tools of a family office as software that you operate yourself: a consolidated overview, payment approvals, management reporting, reports and emergency provisions. You do not need your own staff or an implementation project for this. Finaure does not provide advice; your advisers remain responsible for that.

The tiers depend only on your gross assets and include all features; details are on the pricing page. For very large fortunes, there is a dedicated offer, Individual, with a personal contact.

Sources

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Last updated: 6 November 2026

Family office: How much wealth do you need?