There are indications that family offices across the world valued at over $600 billion, according to a report by finanial powerhouse- UBS, are accelerating a strategic shift toward direct investments as deepening geopolitical volatility and shifting power dynamics force long-term rethinking among the world’s wealthiest families.
Quantifying the value of global family wealth remains a herculean task, but the UBS Global Family Office Report 2024, shows that 320 single family offices surveyed manage an average net worth of $2.6 billion, while J.P. Morgan Private Bank, in its 2024 Global Family Office Report based on 190 family office clients put the average net worth of families surveyed at $1.4 billion.
But another report, site data from Bloomberg and Forbes, the wealthiest families in the world collectively account for a princely $2.4 trillion.
Brazil’s alignment with China this week, for example, has underscored Beijing’s expanding global influence, just as China is forging new economic partnerships and increasing its reach towards Latin America to the Gulf, while the US, under President Donald Trump, revives unpredictable tariff threats and disengages from multilateral leadership.
Tensions around Taiwan, ongoing instability in the Middle East, and recalibration efforts across Europe have added to the sense that old global certainties are no longer reliable.
In response, many ultra-wealthy families are restructuring how and where their capital is held, following which the deVere Group, one of the world’s largest independent financial advisory and asset management organizations, said it unveiled a dedicated Family Office last October to meet the demands of families rethinking governance, control, and long-term purpose.
A family office, the group explained, handles investment and wealth management and legal matters for a wealthy family, which it defined as one with over $75 million in investable assets, with the objective being to effectively grow and transfer wealth across generations.
“There’s a growing understanding that yesterday’s infrastructure — politically and financially — doesn’t serve the realities of today,” says Nigel Green, CEO of deVere Group.
For him, “what we’re seeing isn’t a portfolio rebalancing. It’s a re-engineering of how wealth is stewarded in a world that no longer operates on inherited assumptions.”
Historically, many family offices relied heavily on third-party asset managers and public markets, prioritising capital preservation through passive strategies.
“Today, that model is being dismantled. Families are pulling capital out of institutions and reallocating it directly — into companies, infrastructure, and private projects they believe in and can influence,” he added.
deVere’s Family Office provides legal structuring, governance planning, investment coordination, and intergenerational education — with a focus on discretion, oversight, and the ability to move across borders. The platform reflects how elite families now want to operate: privately, directly, and with maximum flexibility.
Public markets are playing a smaller role in many family portfolios, the group added, stressing instead, that capital is being deployed into private equity, infrastructure, early-stage technology, and climate-linked assets — especially in regions viewed as more economically dynamic and politically ascendant.
Green explained further that “families want to invest in what they understand and believe in. That means long-horizon commitments to sectors that matter — food security, clean energy, resilient supply chains — and to regions they believe will define the next era.”
The group believes that the shift is being led in part by the next generation, and that as leadership transitions within family networks, new voices are pushing for more intentional use of capital — not just financially, but socially and environmentally.
“Legacy is no longer defined purely by preservation; it’s also about impact, identity, and adaptability.”
Meanwhile, Europe, while facing structural challenges, is actively working to modernise its internal cohesion and strategic posture.
From defence collaboration to green investment and industrial competitiveness, policymakers are trying to position the EU as a more self-directed economic bloc — even if coordination remains a work in progress.
Still, the sense among global families is that no single political system or geography can be depended on. Structures that rely too heavily on any one jurisdiction are increasingly seen as fragile.
This has placed a renewed emphasis on flexibility, transparency, and cross-border optionality — and on family office models that can adapt to both generational and geopolitical shifts.
For him, wWhat’s changed is that families are no longer building around the system.
“They’re building around themselves — around their values, their priorities, and the world they believe is coming next.”
“The old model of inherited structures quietly ticking over doesn’t hold in a world defined by geopolitical fracture and generational change,” he concludes.
“Family offices are being rebuilt — not for preservation, but for control in a new global reality,” he stressed further.
