Morgan Stanley's Single Family Office Advisory has released its biennial compensation report for 2025. This report, developed in collaboration with Botoff Consulting, aims to provide benchmarks and trend analysis to aid family office leaders in making informed staffing and compensation decisions.
The report highlights how investment-focused single family offices differ from broader trends, particularly in compensation. These offices are aligning compensation practices with organizational strategy and assets under management (AUM), focusing on executive compensation and structured long-term incentive (LTI) plans. LTIs are increasingly used to drive performance and protect family objectives as family members become more involved.
“Investment-focused single family offices are particularly complex, and their compensation structures are no less so. With candidates more sophisticated and selective than ever before, understanding the nuances of incentive structures is crucial to attract and retain top talent,” said Valerie Wong Fountain, Managing Director, Head of Family Office Resources Platform and Partner Management at Morgan Stanley. “LTIs and structured compensation offer a clear pathway for family offices to directly tie their key values, goals, and best practices with leadership and the needs for their professionals, ultimately driving performance and enhancing their competitive edge.”
Key findings from the report include:
- LTIs are becoming essential: Investment-focused single family offices rely more on LTI plans (62% vs. 54% of all single family offices), with 76% offering bonuses or rewards to encourage participation.
- Families taking leadership roles: Family members hold CEO positions twice as often in investment-focused offices (53% vs. 27%) compared to all single family offices.
- Direct investment management increase: More investment-focused offices manage investments internally (56%) compared to all single family offices (44%).
- Gender representation gap: Women occupy 24% of top positions in investment-focused offices versus 29% across all surveyed.
The complete study is based on insights from over 100 investment-focused single family offices.
Investment-focused single family offices manage the financial affairs of wealthy families with an emphasis on investment management. They handle various tasks such as investment strategy, manager selection, asset allocation, and portfolio construction tailored to specific needs.
Morgan Stanley’s Family Office Resources aims to support growth within the community by providing valuable resources.
Morgan Stanley's Single Family Office Advisory provides content and a referral network for these families. Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management focuses on ultra-high net worth clients by offering advice driven by global insight.