FLAGSHIP REFERENCE GUIDE · THE POWER OF THE PACK

The Family Office Reference Guide

By Philip A. Baratelli, CPA, MBA · Former Family Office CFO · Baratelli Institute · Edition 1

"Each advisor is strong. All advisors properly led are unstoppable. That is the power of the pack."

A family office isn't a department — it's an advisor pack. The estate attorney, the CPA, the wealth advisor, the trustee, the insurance broker, the art appraiser, the investment manager. Each one is excellent inside their own specialty. None of them, alone, delivers what the family actually needs. The Family Office CFO is the quarterback who runs the play — calling the meeting, setting the agenda, forcing the cross-discipline conversation the specialists wouldn't have on their own. This guide is the playbook for that seat. How a single-family or multi-family office actually operates — charter and governance, investment policy, bill-pay and cash management, insurance and risk, AI policy, family-meeting facilitation, the death of a principal. Includes 23 matter-workflow playbooks for the recurring operations a family office runs, plus Vendor / Cyber / AI Readiness scorecards built in.

37chapters

23matter-workflow playbooks

3operating scorecards

$349Buy on Gumroad → ★ Read a free chapter → ↓ Preview the inside pages

Who this guide is for

Written for the people inside the family office and the people serving it. The persona-routing table tells you where to start.

You are…	Start with these chapters
SFO principal / family head considering structure	Ch 4 SFO/MFO/VFO Structure · Ch 5 Charter & Governance · Ch 7 Investment Policy Statement · Apx F Matter Workflows (start with the 4 most-used)
MFO principal building the firm	Ch 4 Structure · Ch 13 Insurance & Risk · Ch 15 Tech Stack · Ch 22 Household Staff & Property · Ch 30 Pricing & Client Selection
FO COO / operations lead	Ch 11 Bill-Pay & Cash Management · Ch 15 Tech Stack & Operations · Ch 16 AI in the Family Office · Apx F Matter Workflows (all 23)
FO CIO / investment lead	Ch 7 Investment Policy Statement · Ch 8 Asset Allocation & Manager Selection · Ch 10 Alternatives & Direct Investing · Ch 33 Co-Investment Programs
Family-office trust ops lead	Ch 17 Death of a Principal · Trust Administration Guide cross-references · Apx F.7 Trust Distribution Workflow
RIA serving family-office clients	Ch 7 IPS · Ch 11 Bill-Pay · Ch 28 Family-Meeting Facilitation · Ch 30 Pricing & Client Selection
CPA serving family-office clients	Ch 11 Bill-Pay & Cash · Ch 17 Death of a Principal · §645 election material · Ch 32 Multi-Entity Tax Coordination

37 chapters across 4 parts plus appendices including the 23-workflow Matter Workflow Playbook, Vendor / Cyber / AI Readiness scorecards, comprehensive glossary, and index. Page counts approximate.

PART I · Structure & Governance

1What a Family Office Actually Doesp1

2Persona Routing & How to Read This Bookp7

3Is a Family Office Right for You?p13

4SFO / MFO / VFO Structure Decisionp23

5Family Office Charter & Governancep35

6Family Constitution & Long-Range Visionp43

PART II · Investment & Capital

7Investment Policy Statement (IPS)p51

8Asset Allocation & Manager Selectionp63

9Public Markets, ETFs, Direct Indexingp73

10Alternatives, Direct Investing, Co-Investmentsp83

PART III · Operations

11Bill-Pay & Cash Managementp95

12Reporting Cadence & Family Dashboardsp105

13Insurance & Risk Managementp115

14Property & Aircraft Operationsp127

15Tech Stack & Operationsp137

16AI in the Family Officep149

17Death of a Principalp161

18Estate-Planning Coordination (cross-ref EPD)p173

19Trust Coordination (cross-ref Trust Admin)p183

20Tax Coordination & Multi-Entity Filingsp191

21Treasure Assets & Collectibles (cross-ref TA)p201

22Household Staff & Property Managementp209

PART IV · People & Family Dynamics

23Hiring the Family-Office Teamp219

24Compensation & LTIP for Family-Office Staffp229

25Vendor Management & the Vetted Networkp237

26Cybersecurity & Privacyp245

27Next-Gen Education & Stewardshipp255

28Family Meeting Facilitationp265

29Wealth Psychology Coordination (cross-ref WP)p275

30Philanthropy & Foundation Operationsp283

31Concierge Services & Special Projectsp291

32Common Mistakes & the Recovery Playbookp299

33The Rockefeller Trust Deep-Dive Case Studyp307

34FO Pricing & Client Selection (for MFO operators)p317

35Building the FO Tech Stack at $5M-$50M AUMp325

36FO Reporting Standards & the Audit Cadencep333

37Where Family-Office Practice Is Goingp341

Appendices

ASample Family Office Charterp349

BSample Investment Policy Statementp355

CSample Family Meeting Agenda Templatesp361

DVendor / Cyber / AI Readiness Scorecardsp367

FMatter Workflow Playbook (23 workflows)p373

NAI Tool Prompts for Family-Office Operationsp389

GComprehensive Glossaryp397

IIndex of terms with page referencesp407

Preview the inside pages

13 sample pages from the actual guide. Real pages, not marketing renders.

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What's actually in the bundle

1. The reference guide (PDF)

37 chapters + appendices. Searchable, hyperlinked TOC and index. Single-user license for one practitioner or family office.

2. The companion Excel workbook (XLSX)

Sample IPS template, Asset-Allocation worksheet, Family-Office Cost Calculator (SFO vs MFO vs VFO), Bill-Pay tracker template, Reporting Pack template, Vendor Scorecard, Cyber Scorecard, AI Readiness Scorecard. Branded, formatted in thousands, formula-driven.

3. The 23-Workflow Matter Playbook

Step-by-step playbooks for the recurring operations a family office runs: bill-pay onboarding, new-vendor approval, annual IPS review, family meeting prep, death-of-principal protocol, trust distribution mechanics, K-1 chase, year-end gifting, foundation grant approval, and 14 more. Each workflow is 1-3 pages with roles, timing, deliverables, and the AI prompt that accelerates it.

4. The Rockefeller Trust Deep-Dive Case Study

A practitioner-grade walkthrough of how the Rockefeller family office structured trusts and governance across multiple generations — what's still relevant, what's not, and the specific provisions modern family offices have adopted from the model.

Plus: Free live tools derived from this guide

Free interactive tools at tools.baratelliinstitute.com run the math from the guide on your scenario.

Family Office Cost Calculator Trust Type Selector Estate Tax Sunset Headroom Treasure Asset Workbench

About the author

Philip A. Baratelli, CPA, MBA — Founder, Baratelli Institute. Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

20+ years in operating finance and M&A. The guides in this library are the references he wished existed when he was doing the work.