Investment considerations for single family offices 2026 

In its place stands a more complex and fragmented environment, one that demands discernment, flexibility, and a new appreciation for the cost of capital.

Our 2025 Themes and Opportunities: Post-Consensus which looks at long term structural shifts in the economy highlights an investment environment defined by competing forces of change. It envisions a decade where investors should generate growth not from uniform market beta, but from differentiated, skill-driven opportunities across asset classes.

For family offices, this evolution is especially powerful. With the ability to tolerate illiquidity and allocate flexibly, they could potentially position hedge funds at the intersection of return generation and risk management. Security selection strategies may stand to benefit from elevated dispersion and lower correlations. Event-driven and distressed strategies are seeing a resurgence as higher borrowing costs expose fragile capital structures. Macro and volatility approaches, once subdued, are again becoming important tools for navigating policy divergence, geopolitical realignment, and cross-asset asymmetry.

Over the next year, the emphasis will be on managing uncertainty in an age of divergence between regions, policies, and opportunities, where active judgment, not passive exposure, will determine long-term success. We believe hedge funds embody that philosophy. When implemented through disciplined manager selection and thoughtful portfolio construction, they may help pursue growth, seek to capture dislocation, and manage more flexible liquidity.

The Top considerations for family offices, in this environment look at four key areas:

1. Hedge Funds: Strategic tools in a higher-for-longer world
2. Equity Hedging: Practical applications for challenging markets
3. Seeking to capture growth through impact
4. Four potential benefits of adding secondaries