What are family offices’ priorities this year? According to BNY Wealth’s recently released “2025 Investment Insights for Single Family Offices,” about one-third say expanding their investment offerings is top of mind. The next most commonly cited top priorities were involving the next generation, technology platforms and acquiring and retaining talent.

Moving assets offshore is not simply saying, ‘I want to invest in Japanese yen’ or ‘I want to buy an EFT that’s offered out of London’ that the family office does in its own name.

At our June ALIGN 2025 conference for family offices and the families they serve, family office executives discussed nuts-and-bolts topics such as the growth of outsourcing, as well as technological advances that could both lead to investment opportunities and transform family offices’ internal operations. They also took bigger-picture looks at strategies to help family members stay connected through change.

What services do family offices most commonly outsource versus insource? And what are the reasons for these choices?

Family offices face growing cybersecurity threats due to dispersed data and lack of basic protections like cyber insurance and multifactor authentication.

Should a family office prepare tax returns for family members? Arrange vacation travel? Help with estate plans? Are these services also available to all family members, including those who are married in? Are there fees associated with the services? There are as many answers to these kinds of questions as there are family offices in operation. We asked several professionals how their family office approached decisions about which services to provide and to whom.

Family offices are interested in artificial intelligence for two main reasons: as an investment (or something that may affect their current investments), and as a tool for their own operations. The recently released “Global Family Office Report 2025” from UBS found that a majority of global respondents expect to use AI in the next five years for several functions, from financial reporting to content creation.

A recent study by EY and Coinbase, the “2025 Institutional Investor Digital Assets Survey: Increasing Allocation in a Maturing Market”, found investors enthusiastic about digital assets. The top three reasons respondents cited for investing in them: higher returns than other asset classes, investment in innovative technology and a hedge against inflation.

Cayley Tull, president of the Tullman Family Office, leads a dynamic approach to philanthropy, political advocacy, and social impact investing centered around unlocking human potential and creating immediate, measurable change rather than preserving generational wealth. Drawing on her public service background, she has built an integrated family office structure that supports initiatives in healthcare, workforce, education, national security, and civic engagement, with a strong emphasis on data-driven strategies, innovation, and collaboration.

How are family offices reacting to challenges such as a global trade war, emerging technology and generational transitions? The recently released Global Family Office Report 2025 from UBS, based on a survey of 317 family offices, explores these and other questions.