Think family offices are only for billionaires?
That’s what most people assume—and they’re dead wrong. Sure, the Rockefellers and Bezos of the world have teams managing their fortunes, but what if I told you that the same principles could work for everyday business owners like you? Today, I’m showing you how to build your own version of a family office to grow wealth, cut taxes, and create a legacy that lasts.
What Is a Family Office?
A family office is basically the CEO-level approach to managing wealth. It’s about organizing your finances and putting strategies in place to build and protect wealth for generations to come. Traditional family offices are built for the ultra-rich—think $75 million or more—but here’s the kicker: you can adopt the same strategies, scaled to your business, without needing billionaire status.
Some of the things they often handle are:
- Investment Management
- Tax Efficiency
- Legal Affairs
- Legacy Planning
- Managing Cash Flow
- Charitable Strategy
- Travel Arrangements
- Managing Household Staff (Cleaners, chauffeurs, butlers, etc.)
That’s a lot of things, and you might be thinking I could never afford that, and you are probably right. However, if, at its core, the family office is there to manage finances efficiently and create generational wealth, there is a solution there for business owners of all sizes. Now, as an everyday business owner, you won’t be able to hire someone full-time to manage this for you, but you can start to build a team around you that you play a role in the management of, and who knows, someday that might evolve into a full-fledged family office.
Let’s talk about how you, as an everyday business owner, can do this for you and your family.
Why Small Business Owners Need a Family Office
I like to compare this to the quote you hear when you go on an airplane, “in the event of an emergency, put your mask on first before anyone else.” As a business owner, you are entirely engulfed in the day-to-day of your business; you treat it like a child of yours. Do not get me wrong, this is important, but you also need to take care of yourself, look at the big picture, and have a long-term plan. That is exactly what a successful family office can accomplish.
I’ve seen too many business owners pour everything into their businesses—only to look up 10 or 15 years later and realize they’ve got no investments, no retirement plan, and no safety net. Don’t let that be you. Think of it like putting on your oxygen mask first. You need to secure your own financial future while running your business, not after.
This is why you need YOUR version of a family office, whether that’s what you want to call it or not. Everyone’s version of a family office will look different, and you are in control of what yours looks like. My goal here is for you to, at the very least, think about what steps you can take to start creating your version of your family office.
Now that we’ve covered why a family office is critical, let’s look at the key roles and tools you need to make it happen. Think of these as the building blocks for your wealth strategy.
Key Components of a DIY Family Office
As mentioned, everyone’s version of a family office will look different but let me cover some things that I think are essential for every business owner to have in their tool stack.
- Tax Strategist: Your go-to expert for slashing taxes and keeping more money in your pocket.
- Tax Preparer: Handles filings so you’re compliant and audit-proof.
- Attorney: Covers legal setups, contracts, and estate planning—so you’re protected from every angle.
- Financial Advisor: Helps you grow and diversify investments, from stocks to real estate.
- Bookkeeper / Accountant: Keeps your numbers straight and ready for growth.
- Insurance Agent: Shields you and your assets with policies that cover the unexpected.
- Family Board: Your inner circle of trusted people—spouse, kids, or advisors—who help steer big decisions.
Now it is important to understand that some of these roles you may do yourself. Others may have vendors that manage it for you. At some point, you may hire one person to manage all of these relationships. You may even get to the point where you have an entire internal team that does all of the above.
Wherever you are on your wealth-building journey, you can have a family office.
How to Get Started
Now that you understand what a typical family office entails and have hopefully started to envision what your version of a family office looks like, it’s time to get started on it.
- Step 1: Organize Your Finances
- Ensure you have completely separated business from personal items.
- Have a solid bookkeeping system in place for your business (We recommend Xero).
- Put together a financial summary document and update it annually. We have a template of this in TaxElm and did a Podcast episode on this on 1/8/25.
- Set up and manage a budget for both your business and personal life.
- Step 2: Fill Your Family Office Roles
- Find trustworthy advisors to fill the roles of your family office. Sometimes you will be responsible for a role. This process can take time. You do not want to go with a vendor just to mark this off your list. You want to ensure you have done a thorough due diligence of your vendors to ensure they are aligned with your family and wealth goals.
- Tax Strategist: TaxElm is a great solution for this. This is how we were born. We saw far too many small business owners paying to much in taxes year after year and built a solution so they could have a tax strategist on their team.
- Tax Preparer: Find someone who is knowledgeable in your industry and the laws of your state to handle accurate and timely tax preparation and filing.
- Attorney: Depending on your stage in your journey you may have an attorney on retainer at all times. Others may work on a project-by-project basis. Find an attorney that is knowledge of the laws in your state.
- Financial Advisor: Oftentimes, this may be something you do yourself along with an advisor. You may invest in real estate and crypto on your own because you enjoy that type of work. Investing in the market or working on retirement accounts may seem foreign to you, so you can bring on an advisor to help with that. Wherever you are at here, have a plan and vision that you can work to achieve.
- Bookkeeper / Accountant: This is a person or firm that will handle your bookkeeping and accounting for your business. Depending on your needs, you may also have a virtual CFO or controller that you add to this advisor role.
- Insurance Agent: Build a relationship with someone who can help you protect your business and yourself through various insurance types. At a minimum, you should have coverage for home, auto, life (term), and business (E&O, Liability, etc.) You may hit an income level where you explore an umbrella policy or even cash-value life insurance.
- Family Board: Determine who you want to be on your family board that will play a role in making the financial decisions for your family.
- At TaxElm, we have a partner directory of trusted advisors for all of these types of roles. If you are a member there, feel free to ask for an introduction if you are looking to fill a seat for your family office.
- Find trustworthy advisors to fill the roles of your family office. Sometimes you will be responsible for a role. This process can take time. You do not want to go with a vendor just to mark this off your list. You want to ensure you have done a thorough due diligence of your vendors to ensure they are aligned with your family and wealth goals.
- Step 3: Review and Adjust Regularly
- A family office is not a set-it-up-and-forget-it type of plan. You should constantly be meeting with your various roles and getting status updates. Sometimes you will find you have outgrown an advisor and need to bring on a new one for your new direction or wealth level.
- Life is constantly throwing you curveballs which means adjustments need to be made. You may have added a child to your family, which changes your plan. You may have started a new business, brought on a partner, been going through an asset sale, experienced a windfall of money, etc. Whatever gets thrown at you it is important to constantly review and discuss with your advisors to ensure your setup is still and strategy still makes sense.
- Step 4: Document and Organize
- By this point you might be thinking that you already have some of these pieces in place. Now it’s time to document it and formalize it. Have a clean outline of the various roles in your family office and who is responsible for them. This can help bring clarity to you but also to your family in the event of an unfortunate circumstance.
Start where you are. If you’re just getting started, focus on organizing your finances and finding a tax strategist. As your business grows, you can add specialists like an attorney or financial advisor. Eventually, you might build a full-fledged family office, but the key is taking the first step.
Real-World Examples
I worked with a friend who bootstrapped their business out of college—no savings, just debt and hustle. At first, they handled taxes and bookkeeping themselves, but as the business grew, so did the complexity. They hit a breaking point and started building their team—tax pros, attorneys, and advisors. Fast-forward five years, and they now meet quarterly with their ‘family board,’ have retirement plans in place and even own income-producing real estate. The lesson? Start small, build as you grow, and never stop improving your setup.
Remember, every family office will look different; YOU get to choose what yours looks like. Take action and start that process now if you haven’t already. If you already have some pieces in place, take the time to round out your family office this year. Go through the steps mentioned above and make sure you have everything organized somewhere to bring clarity and practicality to your family office.
