Legacy, private markets, governance and political risk in a fragmented world
The Family Barometer 2025 by Julius Baer captures a clear evolution in the mindset of UHNW families. In a year marked by geopolitical tension, regulatory shifts, and technological acceleration, wealth management is no longer a technical exercise. It has become a structural response to a more fragmented and volatile world.
Based on insights from thousands of experts across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America, the report shows families leaning into long-term thinking with greater intentionality. The focus is expanding beyond capital preservation toward resilience, legacy, and cross-generational alignment.
The majority of ultra-wealthy families now operate across multiple jurisdictions, holding financial interests and physical assets in several countries. Cross-border complexity is no longer exceptional. It is the baseline.
This global exposure reshapes priorities. Succession planning remains central, but it is increasingly coupled with individual and family development, as well as legacy building. Wealth is framed as continuity, identity, and responsibility over time.
Political stability has also risen as a key concern. In several regions, geopolitical diversification is emerging as a strategic response. Families are reassessing asset location, mobility, and jurisdictional exposure with a sharper lens. The environment is no longer perceived as structurally stable. It is dynamic and uneven.
Private markets continue to gain prominence in sophisticated portfolios. Diversification and return potential remain primary drivers, yet control and influence are equally important motivations.
Private equity, private credit, direct investments, and real assets allow families to engage more directly with long-term themes such as innovation, healthcare, infrastructure, and sustainability. Illiquidity becomes a strategic tool rather than a limitation. For many NextGens, this shift reflects a desire for engagement, conviction, and narrative coherence between capital and values.
Despite rising complexity, a significant share of wealthy families still operate without a formal family office structure. Others rely on single family offices, multi-family offices, or hybrid models.
Cost, management complexity, and perceived scale remain barriers to building standalone structures. As a result, many families adopt hybrid approaches: outsourcing specific functions such as investment management, philanthropy, succession planning, or cybersecurity, while retaining governance and strategic oversight internally.
Professionalization is no longer optional at scale. The open question is architectural: what structure best fits the family’s geographic footprint, asset base, and long-term ambition?
Security concerns are expanding. Physical safety remains relevant, while cybersecurity, data protection, and reputational risk are rising in importance. As families become more visible and digitally integrated, vulnerability expands across new dimensions.
Governance and education emerge as structural stabilizers. Strong family charters, shared values, early preparation of heirs, and deliberate cross-generational dialogue reduce fragmentation risk. Education becomes stewardship training rather than academic achievement alone.
Structural reviews are also becoming more frequent. Tax regimes evolve, transparency rules tighten, and regulatory frameworks shift rapidly. Static structures in a moving environment create friction.
For NextGens, leadership now requires fluency across jurisdictions, asset classes, governance frameworks, and digital risk. It also requires clarity of purpose. Legacy building becomes operational, expressed through capital allocation, institutional design, and family culture.
For Family Offices, integration is the central challenge. Political risk, private market exposure, regulatory complexity, cybersecurity, and succession planning are interconnected. The advisory role expands from asset management toward orchestration across domains.
The broader message of the Family Barometer 2025 is clear: resilience is no longer defensive. It is architectural. Families that align capital, governance, and values across time horizons position themselves to navigate fragmentation with coherence and continuity.
> Link to the Julius Bär Family Barometer 2025
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