The coming year isn’t looking particularly rosy for family offices.
With geopolitical tensions at an all-time high, family offices will have to navigate market headwinds, trade disruption and global policy changes. They’ll also face ever-sophisticated cybersecurity risks and the challenges created by AI.
“In 2026, family offices will face a landscape that is marked by volatility, complexity and transformation,” says Richa Bahl, partner and national family enterprise advisory leader for PwC LLP in Toronto.
Already, economic uncertainty coupled with regulatory changes is forcing family offices to rethink asset allocation, risk management and crisis preparedness strategies, says Bahl.
In addition, many family offices—particularly those with cross-border exposures—have not planned effectively for the future, she says. They need more investments in operations and cybersecurity, as well as a higher level of in-house expertise.
Here are a few other concerns that advisors identified as the most pressing for family offices in 2026.
Watching U.S.-Canada relations: With the past year characterized by dramatic twists and turns, the Canada-U.S. relationship is certainly not in the clear, says Thane Stenner, Vancouver- and Toronto-based senior portfolio manager and senior wealth advisor of Stenner Wealth Partners+ at CG Wealth Management Canada.
Upcoming CUSMA trade negotiations could pose a significant risk, “from the point of view of Canada being on the wrong side of the negotiations,” he says. “Canada’s got to try to figure out how to get through that and diversify its trading partners globally,” he says.
Shoring up cybersecurity: Stenner says he sees bad actors attempting to attack clients’ data every single month. While some family offices have been proactively investing in cybersecurity systems, others still have it on their to-do list, he says. And that leaves them open to an attack.
“It’s hitting higher-profile family offices and people in the wealth and financial services industry,” he says. “It’s an area that is going to require more and more perseverance and diligence and investments of family offices to protect their information and protect their data.”
Hiring and human capital: Managing talent remains a top challenge as the industry expands and many baby boomers retire, says Brad Jesson, vice-president, family office advisory, at Northwood Family Office in Toronto. “Talent scarcity will likely continue to intensify as family offices seek professionals with technical expertise, high EQ, and adaptability—skills that are increasingly hard to find,” he says.
“On the family side, many still lack formal succession and governance planning, which heightens continuity risk during generational transitions.”
Bahl notes that a lack of effective governance and succession planning can destabilize even the best family offices. Single-family offices are the most vulnerable to leadership transitions, she says, and institutional knowledge can be lost in the process.
Preparing for market volatility: Market flux will be a major theme in 2026, Stenner predicts. He says recent financial research suggests that a market decline in 2026 could trigger a recession, instead of a recession causing a market decline. He believes family offices will be utilizing more hedging and other strategies to protect against, and profit from, volatility.
Managing growth vs. overexposure: Recent trends show increasingly selective and strategic transactions—such as higher-value deals—and a growing emphasis on diversification, says Bahl, as family offices grapple with how to balance ambitious growth with patient capital.
“Single-family offices, especially, may benefit from assessing the current state of the portfolio, their decision-making mechanisms and current stakeholder alignment, understanding liquidity needs, and targeting strategic changes,” she says.
Watching real estate risks: Stenner says the credit cycle in Canada with regards to household debt in real estate has yet to bottom out. “Hopefully, it bottoms out sometime in the next 12 months,” he says. “The underlying risks to the real estate market are still prominent, and we have not stopped declining.”
Integrating technology and leveraging AI tools: AI presents both opportunities and challenges for family offices, Bahl says. On one hand, deployment offers competitive advantages, and family offices that fail to implement new technologies risk falling behind in efficiency and analytical capabilities.
But Jesson fears that family offices that roll out AI technology too quickly and fail to manage it properly will create new risks. AI rollouts need to be measured and well-integrated, with plenty of oversight to prevent headaches, he warns.
Pursuing environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives: The push for ESG is increasingly critical as stakeholders prioritize impact investing, supported by trends linking these practices to long-term profitability and market trust, says Bahl. Family offices will need to act confidently and decisively to avoid missing out on key benefits while navigating the evolving ESG standards.
No doubt 2026 will bring a host of economic, HR-related and security hurdles that will continue to challenge family offices. “Those that succeed,” Bahl says, “will do so by demonstrating agility, building robust governance structures, forging strategic partnerships and embedding technology throughout their operations.”
Anna Sharratt is a business and health reporter and editor with more than 20 years of experience. Based in Toronto, she has written for Canadian Family Offices since 2021. A regular contributor to the Globe and Mail, she has written for Inc.com, Forbes, Business Insider, Canadian Business, MoneySense, the National Post, The Toronto Star and other publications. She is the former managing editor of smallbiz.ca, health editor of Chatelaine and senior health writer for the CBC.
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