Investment focused single family offices – as with others in the wealth management space – are competing for the best talent, but what’s the going rate for professionals working in these increasingly complex operations?
Morgan Stanley’s 2025 Single‑Family‑Office Compensation Report, developed alongside Botoff Consulting, delivers timely insights for family offices that want to attract, retain, and motivate top-tier investment talent.
The report reveals a growing dependence on long‑term incentive offerings with 62% of the firms included having implemented formal LTI plans, outpacing the 54% adoption rate across all family offices, while 76% of those with LTIs attach bonus or reward structures to drive participation.
These targeted incentives, ranging from deferred compensation to carried-interest and phantom equity schemes, are crafted to align compensation with strategic outcomes, AUM growth, and long‑term performance.
Contrary to the trend of professional outsiders rising through the ranks, family‑owned SFOs are increasingly governed by relatives and more than half (53%) of investment‑focused single family office CEOs are family members (versus 27% across the broader SFO universe), while 13% of CIOs share that familial affiliation.
This shift underscores a desire for tighter alignment between the family’s wealth‑vision and investment strategy, reinforcing both governance and continuity.
More than half (56%) of investment‑focused family offices now manage their portfolios in‑house, reversing the prevalence of outsourcing to external asset managers (still at 44% across all SFOs) and this trend reflects increasing confidence in internal capabilities and allows offices to tailor strategies across public and private markets, enhancing customization and responsiveness.
Despite progress, women remain underrepresented in executive roles with only 24% of leadership within investment‑focused offices, trailing the 29% benchmark for the broader family-office ecosystem. While the inclusion of female talent is growing, accelerating this trajectory remains a key challenge for SFO recruitment.
“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.”
Based on insights from the 113 investment‑focused offices surveyed (out of 433 respondents overall), the report maps a three‑part compensation framework:
This tiered approach helps SFOs strategically bind talent to the mission—rewarding both current contributions and alignment with future leadership and wealth preservation goals.
But how much are investment professionals working in single family offices compensated?
Here are the median total compensation levels:
In addition, the median for a CEO is $825,000, for a COO is $789,807, and for a CFO is $620,000.
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