A new survey of the world’s family offices sector examines what these organisations are most concerned about and where they see opportunities.

An earlier version of this article, written by our US correspondent, ran on Family Wealth Report, a sister news service. An adjusted version follows for readers in the Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific markets.

Combustible global politics, anxiety about younger family members and an increasingly fraught battle to secure talent, head the list of concerns facing family offices in 2026. Apprehension about private equity investments is also surfacing.

Two-thirds of 333 family offices around the world, with an average net worth of $1.6 billion, cited geopolitics as the leading risk facing family offices, according to JP Morgan Private Bank’s 2026 Global Family Office Report. US-based family offices account for 59 per cent of the total; 14 per cent are in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, 11 per cent are in Asia-Pacific, and 16 per cent are in Latin America.

Legacy, succession and family wealth education were identified as the areas which have “the most needs or gaps” by the surveyed family offices.

The top concern of Greycourt & Co clients is whether “the family’s rising generation is ready for what’s being asked of them,” said David Wells, president of the Pittsburgh-based firm. A “key priority” for Eton Advisors this year is “enhancing our engagement with our rising-generation clients [by] strengthening their financial knowledge and confidence,” Brian Hughes, president of the North Carolina-based firm, said. 

Families owning businesses cited “internal conflict” as a principal risk to family stability, and an astonishing 86 per cent of family offices surveyed by JP Morgan said they lacked a clear succession plan for key decision-makers.

Private equity questioned
Regarding investments, global family offices that view inflation as a primary risk are allocating nearly 60 per cent of their portfolios to alternatives, focusing on hedge funds and real estate, the survey found. 

But families are expressing concern about private equity funds, long an alternatives stalwart, and they make up nearly 10 per cent of global family office portfolios. A slowdown in distributions and extending lock-up periods without liquidity are causing clients to question the asset category, according to Greycourt’s Wells. “The uncertainty around cash flow impacts the rest of the portfolio,” he noted.

Pathstone clients have been more concerned about the fact that PE funds have “massively underperformed” over the past three years, with returns in the 6 per cent to 6 per cent range, said Matthew Fleissig, CEO of the $100 billion-plus family office powerhouse.

Pathstone remains a booster of private equity, Fleissig said, noting that historic five-year and 10-year returns have exceeded the S&P 500. Nonetheless, the category’s recent underperformance has caused clients to raise questions about PE as a reliable asset class, he said.

The report said that 2.5 times as many families are increasing private market allocations as are cutting them. 

“Risk-on attitude”
As for other alternative investments, family offices are largely avoiding gold and cryptocurrencies, according to the report. Two-thirds of family offices say they intend to prioritise artificial intelligence investments, but over half have no exposure to growth equity, venture capital or infrastructure.

Those areas are “where much of the innovation happens,” said Natacha Minniti, global co-head of JP Morgan’s  family office practice. “What stands out globally is a clear risk-on attitude.”

Family office investors should focus on “private market exposure” and “the enablers driving the supply chain, from semiconductors and power infrastructure to networking and cooling systems,” said Christopher Aba, head of investment and advice at JP Morgan Private Bank.

The report also highlighted attitudes to gold and crypto – with gold being very much in focus after its price fell late last week and selling continued yesterday. Despite geopolitical fears, family offices “avoid gold and crypto,” the study found.

Despite the pervasive sense of geopolitical risks, appetite for traditional and emerging hedges remains limited. Seventy-two per cent of global family offices have no gold exposure, and 89 per cent have no exposure to cryptocurrencies.

The report found that 31 per cent of families keep 10 per cent or more of total holdings in cash.

Talent woes and rising operating costs
On the business side of family offices, the shortage of experienced talent is continuing to accelerate.

“Competition for talent and the need for specialised skills are driving up operating costs and prompting a shift towards hiring non-family professionals,” according to the JP Morgan report.

The average annual operating cost for a family office is $3 million, rising to $6.6 million for offices with more than $1 billion in assets. Approximately 11 per cent of offices surveyed spent more than $7 million, with over a quarter of those costs allocated to outsourcing services such as legal, trading and cybersecurity.

Developments such as renewed interest by state governments in wealth taxes and increased client mobility are also gaining family offices' attention. Overall, however, family offices appear to be optimistic about the future.