The Wharton Family Office Program: Financial Prosperity and Family Harmony (2024)

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Program Overview

In an era where financial landscapes are in constant flux, ultra-high-net-worth families face the unique challenge of creating an enduring legacy. For many navigating these complexities, establishing a family office or joining a multi-family office enables preservation and growth of financial capital while maintaining harmony across generations and family branches. The Wharton Family Office Program: Financial Prosperity and Family Harmony empowers families and their trusted advisors with mission-critical, practical knowledge on the formation, functions, operations, management, and governance of family offices.

Anchored in decades of award-winning Wharton research on family wealth management, including insights from the Wharton Bi-Annual Family Office Global Benchmarking Study — widely regarded as the definitive source of independent data on family offices — this program exposes participants to modern insights about the formation, functions, operations, management, and governance of family offices in ways that preserve kinship and happiness while enabling financial prosperity.

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Date, Location, & Fees

If you are unable to access the application form, please email Client Relations at execed@wharton.upenn.edu.

January 13 – 17, 2025Philadelphia, PA$12,500

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Program Experience
Who Should Attend
Faculty

Program Experience

Highlights and Key Outcomes

In The Wharton Family Office Program: Financial Prosperity and Family Harmony, you will:

Learn about family wealth management in the context of a family office
Learn how to sustain family harmony across generations and branches of the family
Learn how to own and manage the family’s financial assets while considering family members’ unique needs and circ*mstances
Discover ways to substantially enhance the governance, management, operations, and performance of your family office
Find out how a family office can optimally balance multiple generations’ differing investment horizons, risk thresholds, and liquidity needs
Explore how family members can proactively address potential conflicts and effectively communicate with one another
Interact with world-class experts in family wealth management at the school renowned for its reputation in finance
Benefit from sharing knowledge and experiences with other ultra-high-net-worth families attending the program

Experience & Impact

Family office management is a much broader and more complex area than conventional investing. It is critical to make sure your advisor is taking a holistic approach to managing your wealth. The Wharton Family Office Program helps you see the big picture while drilling down into the practical issues that will determine the success and security of your family over generations.

This program will boost your knowledge and understanding of key issues in family office wealth management, governance, management, and operations. Participants will explore everything from investment management and estate planning to family interpersonal communications, succession planning, governance, engaging the next generation, and family technology and operations.

You will learn to recognize the ways in which a family office must balance the differential needs and concerns of multi-generational, multi-branch families. Investigate how family members at diverse stages of life may vary in their risk tolerance, investment horizon, and liquidity needs, and how those differences are addressed by family offices in ways that preserve and enhance the family’s wealth while maintaining family unity.

The classroom experience of this program includes breakout sessions, interactive exercises, real-life case studies, talks by prominent guest speakers, receptions, and opportunities to engage with program participants and guest speakers.

Session topics include:

The Family Wealth Management Process: Balancing Family Harmony with Financial Prosperity
Global Geopolitical and Economic Outlook: Implications for Capital Markets
Enabling Family Harmony through Effective Communication
Managing Difficult Conversations
Modern Portfolio Theory and Performance Measurement
Private Equity, Private Credit, and Venture Capital
Asset Allocation and Portfolio Construction in the Family Office Context
Hedge Funds and Other Alternative Assets
Real Estate Investments
Foundations of Family Enterprise Governance
Family Philanthropy and Legacy
Asset Ownership Structures: Trusts in Common Law Countries
Intergenerational Wealth Transfer
Preparing the Next Generation for Leadership Roles
Best Practices in Family Office Management: Nuts and Bolts of Family Office Operations
Sustaining Family Harmony and Unity: Shared Values, Vision, and Mission

Due to our application review period, applications submitted after 12:00 p.m. ET on Friday for programs beginning the following Monday may not be processed in time to grant admission. Applicants will be contacted by a member of our Client Relations Team to discuss options for future programs and dates.

Who Should Attend

The Wharton Family Office Program: Financial Prosperity and Family Harmony is designed for global ultra-high-net-worth (net worth of at least $30 million) family members and individuals who:

Are considering the formation of a professionally run family office
Currently have an office and wish to learn more as well as optimize their operations
Are considering joining a multi-family office
Have recently experienced, or are anticipating, a substantial liquidity event such as the sale of a business

Financial advisors and family office executives may attend if their presence is sponsored by the family they represent.

Fluency in English, written and spoken, is required for participation in Wharton Executive Education programs unless otherwise indicated.

Plan Your Stay

This program is held at the Steinberg Conference Center located on the University of Pennsylvania campus in Philadelphia. Meals and accommodations are included in the program fees. Learn more about planning your stay at Wharton’s Philadelphia campus.

Group Enrollment

To further leverage the value and impact of this program, we encourage companies to send cross-functional teams of executives to Wharton. We offer group-enrollment benefits to companies sending four or more participants.