The wealthiest business owners often form a family office to help them integrate their business and their personal financial affairs. The family office usually consists of several full-time professional employees with complementary skills. This team understands the family’s overall situation and they are paid to help the family achieve their financial goals.

The downside of a family office is the cost. The Family Office Exchange, a trade association, estimated that a business owner needs a net worth of at least $50 million before the cost of setting up a full-time family office can be justified. After studying over 25 family offices, Centering has learned how to use a part-time team of professionals to give the client most of the benefits of a full-time family office.

If Your Broker's So Good, Why Is He Still Working?

When we organize a family office, we look for experienced professionals who have built their own successful consulting practice and have also done a good job with their own investing. If they've been able to make themselves financially independent, they may be able to help Centering’s clients do the same. We share projects with successful, creative people who are working because they want to, not because they need to.

At a minimum, our family offices consist of two professionals – Bill Franz (Centering) focuses on issues within the business and a fee-only financial planner focuses on issues outside of the business. Selecting the fee-only financial planner is critical. Each business owner has a unique situation, his own personal combination of wealth, personal goals, business risks and opportunities. We work only with financial planners who are willing and able to develop unique solutions to the unique needs of Centering’s clients.

Wealth Without Risk

The success of the family office depends on its ability to help the family meet its financial goals. In most cases, this involves increasing the family’s net worth while decreasing personal financial risk. Both of these measures – wealth and risk – need to be tracked by the family office.

Check Us Out

In 1998, we organized the Witt Family Office, serving the needs of John Witt and his family. John owns two businesses - a highly successful custom plastic sheet business in Ohio and a manufacturer of plastic extruded products in Florida. The Witt Family Office has three employees, Bill Franz (Centering) plus a fee-only financial planner and a CPA.

Responsibilities of the Witt Family Office include:

• Managing the corporate development function (business planning, acquisitions and divestitures) for John’s two businesses.
• Recommending appropriate investments outside of the two businesses.
• Overseeing all tax work.
• Tracking all changes in the family’s net worth.

John Witt splits his time between his two businesses and his vacation home in Napa Valley, California. To learn more about how Centering created the Witt Family Office, contact John at JohnW@wittplastics.com.