Family wealth management strategies adapt to Fed communications hinting at policy holding steady through year-end, reinforcing allocation to growth sectors alongside strategic cash reserves. “Life expectancy makes a huge difference,” said Jaime Eckels, wealth management partner at Plante Moran. “The longer you wait, the longer you have to live to collect. It makes sense to start by looking at breakeven age.” North America remains the largest market, accounting for 39% of all family offices in 2024, and Deloitte believes the region will continue to drive the sector’s expansion. It anticipates that the number of US family offices will nearly double from 2210 in 2019 to 4190 in 2030. However, wealth is also growing rapidly in other parts of the world, particularly the Asia-Pacific region. Indeed, Deloitte anticipates this area, which has already surpassed Europe in terms of the number of family offices, will outpace North America in terms of speed of growth between September 2024 and 2030. This growth reflects Asia’s rapid economic expansion and the increasing transfer of wealth between the generations. McKinsey, for example, estimates that, between 2023 and 2030, ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) and high-net-worth (HNW) families in the Asia-Pacific region are set to experience an intergenerational wealth transfer estimated at $5.8 trillion. McKinsey adds that UHNW families are expected to account for about 60% of the total wealth transfer, and many are setting up family offices to facilitate the process. 3 Hong Kong and Singapore are the leading centres for family offices in the Asia-Pacific region, with the number having quadrupled since 2020, to about 4000 across both jurisdictions. The two financial centres are battling for control of Chinese and local family wealth, as well as attracting families from countries such as India and elsewhere in Asia. The Middle East is also seeing rapid growth in demand for family offices, with the United Arab Emirates emerging as a key hub, as analysed in our 2025 State of the Hedge Fund Industry report. Dubai and Abu Dhabi, with their low taxes and levels of regulation, and their increasing sophistication as financial centres, are attracting the wealthy from around the world. This trend is forecast to continue: Henley & Partners anticipates that the number of people with over $100 million in assets in both emirates will more than double over the next 10 years .4 Family wealth management strategies now include a tilt toward REITs, as real estate valuations stabilize and rental income yields surpass Treasury returns by 120 basis points, supporting passive income streams.
