Pitcairn

Pitcairn is a leading multi-family office, providing families and single family offices with investment advice, flexible trust services, comprehensive planning, and wealth administration. Our origin as a single family office gives us the rare perspective that comes from almost a century of helping families transition wealth across generations.
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This information provided by Pitcairn

Who We Are

PITCAIRN IS… A FAMILY COMPANY Established in 1923 to preserve the wealth and values of the descendants of John Pitcairn, co-founder of what is now PPG Industries, the firm evolved into a multi-family office in 1987. Today, Pitcairn is owned by family members and company management, and while the Pitcairn family assets no longer constitute a majority of the firm’s assets under advisement, investing alongside clients means we are aligned with every client’s interests. DEDICATED TO SERVING MULTI-GENERATIONAL FAMILIES Our focus remains on a single mission: sustaining generational wealth. We are dedicated to providing families with unparalleled advice and service to ensure the preservation and growth of multi-generational wealth. INDEPENDENT As an independent firm, we are committed to providing families with objective advice around their wealth. We have a 100% open architecture platform, which enables our client service professionals to provide the best advice to our clients without the conflicts associated with product sales. A RECOGNIZED INNOVATOR Pitcairn has been recognized by clients and peers as an innovator and leader in the multi-family office space. We are known for being one of the first to implement tax overlay for investment portfolios, and our Tax Optimization Program (TOP) has significantly enhanced client performance. A TRUST COMPANY In this new world of regulatory scrutiny with a focus on fiduciary duties and trustee responsibilities, we offer our clients an alternative to serving as sole trustee. We present multiple options for families looking for additional resources to help them navigate the responsibilities of trusteeship.

What We Do

We help families preserve and grow their wealth, manage complexity, and navigate important transitions such as family leadership, business sale, trust distributions, and increasing complexity across the generations. AN INTEGRATED APPROACH • We help families through effective planning, thoughtful governance, a commitment to education, and strong investment results • Our families benefit from our collaborative approach among our highly credentialed in-house experts on investments, financial planning, tax planning and compliance, estate and trust planning, trust administration, philanthropic planning, and risk management • We combine the best attributes of a sophisticated, service-oriented boutique with the extensive expertise of our broad network of specialist advisors • Cutting-edge investment advice is an important aspect of the value we bring to our client families, but they continually remind us that it’s the full integration of advice around all elements of their wealth, both financial and non-financial, that delivers the most powerful results

Typical Client

Our clients: • Are wealth creators and inheritors who want to engage the next generation • Are multi-generational families with or without a single family office who want help managing their complex wealth • Include next generation family members who are beginning to assume leadership • Have a minimum of $25 million of net worth • Have complex needs and are seeking sophisticated advice to ensure that family wealth continues to be a source of strength for future generations • Frequently have trusts as an important part of their wealth structure • See value in collaborating with a trusted partner who can help execute on the daily details, while ensuring that their important family goals, both financial and non-financial, are being met We also partner with single family offices seeking: • outsourced Chief Investment Officer (CIO) solutions • more cost-effective approaches to advice • assistance with administration and operations • help with strategic planning In these situations we often work directly with family office staff in addition to family member clients.

See the Glossary for definitions of these metrics.

This information provided by Pitcairn

How does your firm deliver integrated services and what does that mean for your clients?: 

Pitcairn integrates comprehensive planning (estate, trust, tax, and philanthropic), investments, education, fiduciary, and wealth administration capabilities to help families achieve their goals. Our goals-based approach to delivering integrated solutions takes clients from planning through execution by • Helping families define their objectives around wealth preservation and growth, wealth transfer, philanthropy, and education • Creating a comprehensive plan with specific strategies for achieving these objectives • Collaborating with the family and their advisors to ensure that all parts of the plan are implemented and maintained Our teams are supported by both technology and a strong process orientation, which puts data and analytical tools in the hands of our relationship teams for the benefit of our clients. We bring the right expertise and advice to clients from both internal and external sources to anticipate and respond to the full range of goals and challenges families face.

What core services do you provide for your average client profile?: 

As a family office, we deliver objective advice and customized services including: • Comprehensive planning - We develop personalized solutions across the disciplines of estate and tax, investments, risk management, business succession, philanthropy, education and governance, cash flow, and budgeting to meet your short and long-term goals. We work with families to implement their plan and proactively monitor and adjust it over time. • Investment advisory - We deliver sophisticated investment advice and implementation using a cutting-edge, open architecture investment offering, designed to meet the needs of taxable families. • Fiduciary - We provide a distinctive combination of first-rate fiduciary planning and services that draws from our deep knowledge of the role that trust play in multi-generational families. We can serve as sole trustee or as co-trustee with family members and provides trust administration and investment advisory services for individual trustees. • Administration - We take care of the day-to-day demands that significant wealth can impose through personal accounting and budgeting; administration and accounting; tax compliance services; and consolidated investment and financial reporting. Tax compliance can be handled internally or in collaboration with your existing advisors. • Education - We provide tailored education to our clients using an interactive approach that results in truly educational experiences. • Governance - We help families integrate effective decision-making into every aspect of their wealth structure and facilitate the transfer of family assets, along with family values, from one generation to the next.

What is your firm's investment philosophy?: 

Our investment approach is uniquely suited to the needs of multi-generational families of wealth and their complex wealth structures. GOALS-BASED We think that it makes the most sense to begin with the end – a family’s goals – in mind. The first and most important step in determining an investment strategy is to work with a client to understand their objectives, their liquidity needs, their attitudes toward investment safety and risk-taking, and the nature of their entire wealth picture. We help clients to articulate their plans for the near term and the future for their immediate family and the generations to come and use these goals as the foundation of their investment strategy. LONG-TERM HORIZON Pitcairn believes that family success is measured over generations. This long-term horizon requires a strategic approach to global asset allocation, one that is designed to maintain the purchasing power of the assets while carefully managing multiple sources of risk. RIGOROUS DUE DILIGENCE PROCESS Pitcairn’s due diligence process is a rigorous combination of quantitative and qualitative screening. Internal staff members, supported by our network of external partners, are accountable for identifying and monitoring managers and examining their holdings, performance, and operating procedures. Our careful internal review and approval process ensures that we provide clients with access to best-in-class managers across a full array of asset classes. We favor a blend of concentrated active managers and passive managers. This hybrid approach allows us to capitalize on the returns of exceptional active managers, while tempering risk and expense with the addition of solid passive managers. UNIQUE TAX OPTIMIZATION PROGRAM A unique feature of our investment approach is our Tax Optimization Program. We maximize opportunities for tax loss harvesting, wash-sale management, short-term gain deferral, and other tactics, to reduce the portion of returns lost to taxes, and have experienced enhanced performance in the US equity portion of client portfolios of about 3.7% per year.

What are your firm's mission,vision and values?: 

Since Pitcairn’s founding in 1923, we have never deviated from our single mission: Sustaining generational wealth. For over six generations, we have lived, learned and refined the concept of family wealth management. Our experience enables us to help families see around corners, anticipating and preparing for well thought out transitions that are the hallmark of successful families. INTEGRITY Our reputation is our most valuable asset. We hold ourselves accountable to the highest level of integrity and seek like-minded clients. OBJECTIVITY As an owner-operated firm with a 100% open architecture investment approach, we are uniquely aligned with our clients’ needs for objective advice. Good advice addresses short-term needs while maintaining a focus on long-term goals. EMPOWERMENT We believe that success for families of wealth requires working at the intersection of wealth and family. We focus not only on achieving targeted financial results, but also on helping your family understand how to use wealth as a source of both individual strength and family connectedness. Our goal: To empower the members of your family to be responsible stewards of their wealth and heritage. COMMITMENT Forming deep and long-lasting relationships with your family as a whole, and with individual family members, allows us to truly understand your family’s needs and help to recommend the most effective strategies for meeting them.

How are your client teams structured to deliver services to their clients?: 

Pitcairn’s client service organization has seven relationship management teams of three or four members each ─ a senior relationship manager (who is an experienced attorney or investment professional), an analyst, and an administrator. Team members occupy different areas of expertise, as well as multiple generations, so there are professionals who connect to all the generations of our client families. Each team serves 15-20 families and single family offices. They serve as the primary point of contact and meet the day-to-day needs for their client families regarding investments, fiduciary, planning and administrative services. Teams respond to questions and proactively provide advice that reflects an integrated understanding of all aspects of the client’s life and wealth. The teams can craw on the expertise and support of centralized resources as needed, including experts in investments, fiduciary, tax and accounting, comprehensive planning, governance and education as well as operations and technology. These professionals extend capacity and extend the capabilities of the teams. Because these centralized resources serve all of our clients, there are valuable opportunities for cross-fertilization of ideas. Our collaborative culture ensures that all of our clients have access to Pitcairn’s best thinking, customized to their specific situation. Cross-fertilization is supported by integrated technology and business processes that enable the maintenance and sharing of information and the efficient coordination of activities across the firm. As appropriate, we engage experts from our broad network of experienced advisors to join our team in providing advice and services to suit the specific needs of clients.

How would you describe your ideal client?: 

Our clients: • Are wealth creators and inheritors who want to engage the next generation • Are multi-generational families with or without a single family office who want help managing their complex wealth • Include next generation family members who are beginning to assume leadership • Have a minimum of $25 million of net worth • Have complex needs and are seeking sophisticated advice to ensure that family wealth continues to be a source of strength for future generations • Frequently have trusts as an important part of their wealth structure • See value in collaborating with a trusted partner who can help execute on the daily details, while ensuring that their important family goals, both financial and non-financial, are being met We also partner with single family offices seeking: • outsourced Chief Investment Officer (CIO) solutions • more cost-effective approaches to advice • assistance with administration and operations • help with strategic planning In these situations we often work directly with family office staff in addition to family member clients.

What are the top three characteristics that distinguish your firm the most from your competitors?: 

1. We’re an authentic boutique: Pitcairn is one of the few owner-operated firms to have evolved from a single family office to a multi-family office. For over six generations, we have lived, learned, and refined the concept of family office. 2. We have a singular focus on taxable families: Pitcairn recognizes that it’s not what you make, but what you keep, that matters. Our investment deliverables are designed to maximize after-tax returns across generations. 3. We partner with families and their family offices: Pitcairn addresses the needs of each household as well as those of the family as a whole to achieve the right balance. We manage family assets with family in mind; for us, these assets include not only monetary wealth, but also family heritage, aspirations, and family ties.

What communication methods have you used with your clients?: 

Many aspects of the client service experience are customized to the family and household to address their specific needs and requirements. Our communication approach encompasses: • A steady flow of on-going conversation and email between relationship managers and their client families, based on the personal style of each family member • A formalized meeting structure including a quarterly call or in-person meeting to review their wealth structure and other services we provide them • An annual comprehensive review • Standard reports and communications that are available through our secure client website: ‒ daily access to account transactions ‒ monthly or quarterly statements of transactions ‒ quarterly investment performance ‒ quarterly client newsletters ‒ quarterly economic and market commentary ‒ communications on topical issues ‒ investment conference calls ‒ tax planning articles ‒ trust-related legal notices

What formal and informal client education programs does your company provide?: 

Pitcairn works with families to create customized educational programs that address the family’s specific wealth and family structure. In some cases, Pitcairn collaborates with industry resources to customize programs that target a family’s particular need. We host regular events aimed at creating a client community through shared educational experiences. We collaborate with members of our network of specialist advisors to design programming that addresses current issues relating to investments, governance and education, innovation and technology. We produce newsletters, economic commentary, white papers and other resources to bring a steady stream of new ideas to our families. Independently, Pitcairn has partnered with industry groups to sponsor research that creates greater understanding of the family office industry and the challenges it faces. This research is shared at industry events and small group meetings, as well as with clients directly.

How do you approach risk analysis for your clients?: 

We help clients think about managing risks in every aspect of their life. We help clients with compliance and trustee succession planning; arrange property and casualty risk assessments as well as examine professional liability exposures; recommend that financial and property risks are mitigated by appropriate insurance, including excess liability coverage; and provide family governance support to make sure that decision-making processes and leadership transitions are thought out and have appropriate back-up plans. For investment portfolios, we employ a goals-based approach that specifically addresses the client’s objectives, liquidity needs, attitudes towards investment safety and risk-taking, and the nature of the entire wealth picture. We work with clients to articulate plans for the near term and for the future, focusing on goals related to current and future lifestyle; generational transfer; philanthropy; and opportunistic growth. Based on the articulated goals, we employ sophisticated analytical tools to model asset allocation mixes and to project return streams over time. These wealth projections allow clients to see the impact of spending of different marketing scenarios on their future wealth. In evaluating asset classes and risk for a client’s investment strategy, we are not just looking at a single measure of volatility, but we also look at risks and are particularly sensitive to the tradeoffs between liquidity and return. Our application of behavioral finance to our asset allocation work helps protect families from downside risk on their shorter term goals.

What are the credentials and qualifications of your firm management and staff?: 

We take pride in the accomplishments and educational backgrounds of our 65 member staff, which is comprised of professionals with the following degrees and professional designations: ‒ 13 MBAs ‒ 6 JDs (law degrees) ‒ 4 Chartered Financial Analysts (CFA) ‒ 4 Certified Public Accountants (CPA) ‒ 8 Certified Financial Planners (CFP) ‒ 1 Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA) ‒ 3 Certified Trust and Financial Advisors (CFTA) Our employees are encouraged to pursue continuing education in their field of specialty. In addition, our senior management has an average of 32 years of experience the wealth management industry. Members of our leadership are frequent speakers in the areas of family governance, family philanthropy, succession planning, tax planning, and the financial services industry.

What is your firm's expertise with alternative investments?: 

We offer a full slate of managers in alternative asset classes including hedge funds, private equity, absolute return, real estate, commodities and others. We advise clients on how to integrate these investments into their overall investment strategy, taking into account asset correlation, the impact of each investment on the portfolio’s overall risk profile and the family’s tolerance for the uncertainty that can come with these sophisticated products and strategies. Such guidance is critical due to the unique characteristics of alternative strategies—such as their varying levels of liquidity—and the specialized role these products play in a well-designed portfolio. We have invested in private equity and real estate partnerships since the inception of our firm and in direct hedge fund limited partnerships for over 15 years. Our deep network of relationships within these asset classes provides access to uniquely uncorrelated strategies for our clients. We conduct ongoing due diligence on more liquid hedge fund strategies in mutual fund form as well as less liquid hedge fund of funds and single strategy funds.

See the Glossary for definitions of these metrics.

This information provided by Pitcairn

Background

Year Firm Established: 
1923
Year Wealth Advisory Services Established: 
1987
Founding Family Name: 
Pitcairn
Type of Firm: 
Trust Company

Ownership

Family: 
90
Management: 
10

Stats

As of date: 
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Currency: 
US Dollar
Assets Under Management (Mil): 
N/A
Assets Under Advisement (Mil): 
4.1 billion
3-Year Compound Annual Growth Rate in Assets: 
9%
Average Client Investable Assets (Mil): 
35
Primary Generations Served: 
G1
G2
G3
G4
G5+
Total Employees: 
65
Number of Relationship Managers: 
7
Number of Investment Professionals: 
10
Average Clients Per Client Team : 
15
3-Year Employee Attrition Rate: 
<10%
Frequency of Financial Reporting: 
Monthly
Quarterly
Annually
Do you provide consolidated financial reporting?: 
Yes
Footnotes: 
AUM: we do not report AUM.
Representative Client Portfolio 000000 14

See the Glossary for definitions of these metrics.

Contact

Andrew L. Busser
President, Family Office
215 881 6168

Headquarters

Headquarters: 
One Pitcairn Place, Suite 3000
165 Township Line Road
Jenkintown  Pennsylvania  19046
United States

Other Office Locations

Other Office Locations: 
New York, NY; Vienna, VA

Category

Advisor Type(s)

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