As we approach the end of the year, it’s a great time to take a look back. Which articles did you, the readers of Canadian Family Offices, enjoy most on our site?
Here are the most-read articles for the first half of 2025 by month, from January through June. (Part 2 will be published tomorrow, Dec. 31.)
Happy holidays, and thank you for reading.
January: What if alternatives aren’t so alternative?
Exploring the nuances of private market investments
Private investments, particularly private equity and private credit, are so popular they’ve become democratized. They are increasingly accessible to retail investors and marketed as innovative solutions.
But private equity and private credit are not revolutionary opportunities—they’re simply investments that happen to operate outside public markets, writes Josh Sheluk of Verecan Capital Management in this article for Canadian Family Offices.
Beneath the surface of glossy presentations and growth charts lies a central question: Are these investments truly as alternative as marketed, or are they just traditional asset classes wearing a leather vest and studded belt?
Sheluk takes a hard look. This article was our top performer during January of 2025.
February: At Richter, Anik Lanthier enjoys the opportunity to build things again
Firm’s CIO left institutional experience behind ‘to be part of this fast-growing environment and to be closer to clients’
With a career until now spent on the institutional side of the industry, Anik Lanthier brings a unique perspective to Richter Family Office.
She started her financial services career as an analyst at the Bank of Canada, then was a portfolio manager at Hydro Quebec. Then she spent 14 years at PSP Investments. From there, she became president and CIO of public markets at Fiera Capital before joining Richter as a partner and CIO in January of 2024.
In conversation with Canadian Family Offices, Lanthier talks about what brought her to Richter, how the company’s investment group is evolving and what her institutional experience offers clients.
March: Family office behemoths: Our list of the world’s largest MFOs
These firms serve hundreds of ultra-wealthy families, offer every kind of specialist and keep offices around the globe
Does size matter at multi-family offices? These firms promote themselves using the buzzwords “boutique” and “bespoke,” so it might seem counterintuitive that they also trumpet such metrics as assets under management (AUM) and staff levels on their websites.
These behemoths of the global multi-family world often serve hundreds of ultra-wealthy families each, maintain offices in multiple jurisdictions and employ hundreds of specialists.
Here are the top 18 by our reckoning, from Aspiriant to Oxford Financial Group to Whittier Trust.
April: Three structures to reduce, defer and freeze taxes
While trusts offer tax efficiency and estate protection, they can be complicated and expensive to administer
Trusts are popular among ultra-high-net-worth families, especially for tax reasons. But they can be quite complicated to administer, requiring annual tax filings. They’re also expensive, especially if the family has members in different countries.
“It adds another layer of complication to people’s lives,” one expert warns. “There is now a lot more reporting required,” about who settled the trust, the settlor, the trustees and the beneficiaries.
We explore three structures that can do the job.
May: Canada’s top 20 private foundations and the families behind them
From the Saputos to the Westons, these charitable organizations represent a who’s who of Canada’s most successful families
Canada’s more than 6,400 private foundations aren’t really all that private. In fact, they present the philanthropic faces of Canada’s wealthiest families.
The amount of money they control is considerable. Lawyer Mark Blumberg says private foundations held $92 billion in assets in 2022.
Here are the top 20 foundations, from the Audains to the Westons.
June: Now that family offices are ‘sexy and cool,’ demand for CEOs mounts
Candidates who think of the position as cushy and well-compensated don’t understand the job, recruiters say
Recruiting leaders for family offices is no easy task, and as the profile of these firms grows in Canada, demand for CEOs is high. And many potential candidates don’t necessarily understand the nature of the job.
In this article, we present seven issues that can complicate the hiring of a family office leader.
Part 2 of this report will be published tomorrow, Dec. 31.
Dave Michaels has been an editor at Canadian Family Offices since its launch in 2021. Before that he edited content for the Report on Business section at The Globe and Mail in Toronto and The Arizona Republic in Phoenix, Ariz.
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