Wharton Family Office Program: Balancing Family Harmony and Financial Prosperity

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. Wharton Family Office Program: Balancing Family Harmony and Financial Prosperity empowers families 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.

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. 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.

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

While the program is intended for Family Office principals, their closest advisors will be considered for admission as well.

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

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 .

To further leverage the value and impact of this program, we encourage family members to attend Wharton together. We offer group-enrollment benefits to families sending four or more family members.