Family Office Services, Without the Family Office Overhead.
Families with $5 million to $25 million need what a family office provides: one place where investments, tax, estate, and philanthropy are managed as a single picture. Most do not need the structure itself. I deliver that coordination through one relationship, backed by Farther's institutional platform.
Too Complex for a Generic Advisor. Too Small for a Family Office.
A liquidity event, a business sale, an inheritance, or two decades of equity compensation can leave a family with a balance sheet that no longer fits a standard advisory relationship. Concentrated stock. Rental properties in two states. A trust nobody has reviewed since it was drafted. Deferred compensation still paying out. Each piece has its own advisor, and nobody is looking at the whole.
A single-family office solves that, at a cost that only makes sense above roughly $50 million. I wrote a full comparison of the family office model against working with a wealth advisor if you want the detailed math. The short version: for families between $5 million and $25 million, the answer is almost never the structure. It is the coordination.
What the work includes:
- A consolidated balance sheet - every account, entity, property, and position in one reporting view, updated continuously through Farther's platform
- Investment management with tax-lot level trading, asset location across taxable and retirement accounts, and systematic rebalancing
- Concentrated stock and liquidity event planning - 10b5-1 plans, exchange funds, charitable remainder trusts, and staged diversification
- Private markets and alternatives access - private equity, private credit, and hedged strategies at minimums built for families, not institutions
- Estate and trust coordination - I quarterback your estate attorney and CPA so the trust design, titling, and beneficiary work actually gets finished
- Philanthropy that fits the tax picture - donor-advised funds, appreciated stock gifting, and family giving strategy
- Next-generation preparation - family meetings and education so heirs are ready for what they will inherit
If you are not sure how much coordination your situation actually requires, you can score your estate across nine risk factors in about five minutes. It is a fast way to see which pieces of your picture are already handled and which are exposed.
What Each Model Costs, and Who It Fits.
The SEC defines a family office as a private company serving a single family. The economics of each model follow from who pays for the staff.
| Model | Typical minimum | Typical annual cost | What that means |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single-family office | $50M-$100M+ | $500K-$2M+ in staff and infrastructure | Dedicated team, full control. At $10M of assets the overhead alone would consume 5-20% of the portfolio every year. |
| Multi-family office | $10M-$25M | Layered fees, often 1%+ all-in | Shared staff across families. More efficient than an SFO, but you still fund an institution's overhead. |
| Full-service advisor (my model) | $5M for this service tier | One transparent asset-based fee that declines as assets grow | One advisor who knows the family, with Farther's platform as the back office. The coordination without the payroll. |
Ranges reflect commonly published industry figures and vary by firm and family. The point is the structure of the cost, not the precise number.
Why More Wealth Is Moving to Arizona.
Scottsdale and Paradise Valley have become two of the fastest-growing private wealth corridors in the country, and the tax code is a large part of why. I work with families across Arizona and nationwide, and the state-level planning is often worth six figures across a family's lifetime.
For families relocating from California, the sequencing of the move matters as much as the destination. Equity vesting dates, trust situs, and domicile documentation all belong in the plan before the moving truck.
What Arizona Offers
- A flat 2.5% state income tax, against 13.3% at California's top marginal rate
- Community property rules that give a surviving spouse a full double step-up in basis on appreciated assets
- No state estate tax or inheritance tax
- Nevada next door for dynasty trust situs - indefinite duration, no state income tax on trust income, and strong asset protection
Family Office Questions.
Do I need a family office if I have $10 million?
Usually not. A single-family office typically requires $50 million or more in investable assets before the cost of dedicated staff makes sense. At $10 million, the annual cost of running one would consume a meaningful share of the portfolio every year. What most families in this range actually need is the coordination a family office provides, investments, tax, estate, and philanthropy managed as one picture, delivered through a full-service advisor at a fraction of the cost.
What does a family office actually do?
A family office centralizes a family's financial life: investment management, tax planning and preparation, estate and trust coordination, philanthropy, bill pay, and household administration. The financial core, investments, tax strategy, estate coordination, and charitable planning, is what I deliver directly. The administrative services, bill pay, household staff, concierge, can be outsourced separately for far less than a family office structure costs.
What is the difference between a multi-family office and a wealth advisor?
A multi-family office shares staff and infrastructure across several families, usually with minimums of $10 million to $25 million and layered fees. A full-service wealth advisor delivers the same financial coordination through one relationship with a transparent asset-based fee that declines as the portfolio grows. For most families between $5 million and $25 million, the advisor model delivers the substance of the family office without funding its overhead.
How does Jay Chang deliver family office services through Farther?
I am the single point of coordination: I know the family, run the planning, and quarterback the CPA, estate attorney, and insurance specialists. Behind that relationship, we bring Farther's institutional platform: consolidated reporting across every account, tax-lot level trading, access to private markets and alternatives, and a specialist network for advanced trust and estate design. The family gets one advisor and an institutional back office.
The Pieces of the Coordinated Picture.
One Conversation About the Whole Picture.
If something's been on your mind - a pension decision, an RSU vesting, a transition, retirement - that's worth a conversation.
Cost figures for family office models reflect commonly published industry ranges and vary by firm, structure, and family circumstances. Tax outcomes depend on individual circumstances and are subject to changes in tax law. Farther does not provide legal or tax advice; clients should consult qualified estate attorneys and tax professionals before implementing any trust, gifting, or relocation strategy. Alternative investments involve additional risks and are available only to clients who meet applicable eligibility requirements. Investment advisory services offered through Farther Finance Advisors LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser.