Michael Larson is one of the most powerful men in US wealth management you have never heard of. He is the chief investment officer for Bill and Melinda Gates Investments (BMGI), and as such is in charge of managing Bill’s personal wealth through Cascade Investment, as well as handling the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust endowment. Despite his high-profile job, he works hard and successfully to stay out of the public eye — Cascade declined to speak for the purposes of this article.

迈克尔·拉森(Michael Larson)或许是你从未听说过的美国财富管理界最具影响力的人物之一。他是比尔及梅琳达·盖茨投资(Bill and Melinda Gates Investments, BMGI)的首席投资官，以此身份负责通过Cascade Investment管理盖茨的个人财富，以及打理比尔及梅琳达·盖茨信托基金(Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust)的受捐资产。虽然岗位备受瞩目，但拉森努力成功地避开了公众的视线——Cascade拒绝接受为完成此稿而进行的采访。

Bill Gates hired Larson 22 years ago to take over the investment of his personal wealth, which was about $5bn at the time. Since then Gates’s fortune has grown to around $80bn (of which he has given away around half) after Larson diversified the funds out of Microsoft, Gates’s software company, and into a broad range of investments.

22年前，比尔·盖茨(Bill Gates)聘请了拉森接管其个人财富的投资，当时前者的资产约为50亿美元。自那时起，拉森将盖茨的财富在他的软件公司——微软(Microsoft)以外进行广泛的多样化投资，盖茨的财富已增至约800亿美元（其中约一半已被捐出）。

Cascade is not a family office in the traditional sense and does not like to call itself one. It does not handle logistics, payroll or expenses for the foundation and is purely an asset management firm that invests Gates’s personal wealth. BMGI is an organisation that manages the portfolios of Cascade, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust and other entities, but again it does not label itself as a family office.

Cascade不是传统意义上的家族理财室(family office)，它也不喜欢被这样称呼。它不负责为盖茨的信托基金管理后勤、工资或者费用支出，而完全是一家为盖茨个人财富做投资的资产管理公司。BMGI负责管理Cascade、比尔及梅琳达·盖茨信托基金及其他实体的投资组合，但它也不会给自己贴上家族理财室的标签。

The way BMGI is structured allows the foundation to separate its programme work from its investments, say people close to the organisation. This has meant that more money has been created to go into the foundation’s mission to fight disease and improve education in the developing world.

接近该机构的人士称，BMGI的结构可以让盖茨的基金会将慈善工作与投资分开。这意味着赚到的更多的钱都用在了该基金会的使命上：对抗疾病、提升发展中国家教育水平。

Based in Kirkland, Washington, Cascade shies away from media attention. It declined to comment on its investment strategies but it is known to invest globally and across many asset classes. Its five largest publicly disclosed equity holdings are: Canadian National Railway; Republic Services, the waste removal company; Ecolab, the disinfectant maker; Femsa, the drinks group; and Deere, the maker of agricultural machinery.

总部位于华盛顿州科克兰德(Kirkland)的Cascade避开了媒体的关注。该公司拒绝对其投资策略进行置评，但众所周知的是，它在全球范围内的许多资产类别都有投资。该公司公开披露的5宗最大规模持股涉及的公司包括：加拿大国家铁路公司(Canadian National Railway)、垃圾处理公司Republic Services、消毒剂制造商Ecolab、饮料集团Femsa以及农业机械制造商Deere。

Cascade has holdings in property and non-technology companies. It holds around a 4 per cent stake in Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway investment group, owns 47 per cent of the Four Seasons hotel company and about 6 per cent of Bunzl, the distribution and outsourcing group. In August, it increased its stake in Strategic Hotels and Resorts to 9.8 per cent.

Cascade在地产以及非科技公司也持有股份。它持有沃伦巴菲特(Warren Buffett)旗下伯克希尔哈撒韦(Berkshire Hathaway)投资集团约4%的股份，拥有四季酒店(Four Seasons) 47%的股份，以及分销与外包服务集团Bunzl约6%的股份。今年8月，Cascade将其在Strategic Hotels and Resorts持有的股份提升至9.8%。

Under Larson, Cascade has focused some of its attention on UK-listed stocks. In 2008, it bought a 3 per cent share of Carpetright, the flooring retailer, but has since reduced its stake. It has also invested in Diageo, the distiller, and JJB Sports, the retailer.

在拉森的领导下，Cascade将一部分注意力集中在英国上市的股票上。2008年，Cascade收购了地板零售商Carpetright 3%的股份，但后来又进行了减持。它还对英国酒商帝亚吉欧(Diageo)以及零售商JJB Sports进行了投资。

Cascade does not publicly disclose its performance results but it has been reported that because of Larson’s relatively conservative strategy, Cascade’s losses in the 2008 financial crisis were smaller than the industry average for the full year. Since 1995, Larson has delivered a compound annual return of around 11 per cent.

Cascade未公开其业绩成果，但据报道，由于拉森相对保守的策略，在2008年金融危机期间Cascade的损失低于该行业的全年平均水平。自1995年以来，拉森实现了约11%的年复合回报率。

Like Cascade, many single family investment firms are moving away from the term “family office”. Catherine Tillotson, managing partner of Scorpio Partnership, the consultancy, says: “A tour around London’s elite wealth management boutiques reveals the growing popularity of the term ‘private investment office’. Once loosely described as family offices or multi-family offices, this linguistic shift aims to put a finer point on their capabilities as independent advisers on family wealth.”

像Cascade一样，许多单家族投资公司也在摆脱“家族理财室”的称谓。咨询公司Scorpio Partnership执行合伙人凯瑟琳舠洛森(Catherine Tillotson)说：“到伦敦的精英财富管理圈转一转，就可以看到‘私人投资理财室(private investment office)’一词越来越受欢迎。它们曾经被宽泛地形容为家族理财室或多家族理财室，这种用词变化旨在更明确地指出他们作为家族财富独立顾问的能力。”

This change is not only happening among high-end investment firms; lawyers and accountants too are coining new phrases. “Family business consulting”, “private company services” and even “strategic philanthropy advice” have joined the lexicon of wealth management for the extremely rich, she says.

这种变化不仅发生在高端的投资公司，律师、会计师们也在创造新用语。“家族企业咨询(family business consulting)”、“私人公司服务(private company services)”甚至“战略慈善建议(strategic philanthropy advice)”都加入了为顶级富豪管理财富的专用词中，她说。

What they signal is that family wealth investment management is big business. Across the world, Tillotson believes there are about 79,000 very rich individuals (those with personal wealth greater than $50m) who control roughly $19tn in assets. Many of them are business-owning families or those so-called “financial families”, who have sold operating businesses. When it comes to managing that money, they want to apply the best possible investment advice.

这些变化显示出，家族财富投资管理是笔大生意。蒂洛森认为，全世界约有7.9万名大富豪（个人财富超过5000万美元），他们控制着约19万亿美元的资产。他们中很多都是拥有企业的家族或者是出售运营企业的所谓的“金融家族”。当需要管理这些财富时，他们希望得到最好的投资建议。

“To this end they are increasingly sharing their experiences with other families via specialist peer networks, events and publications, and with their advisers,” says Tillotson. “So where once the term ‘family office’ was synonymous with the isolated management of an individual family’s wealth, today it perhaps best describes a growing body of professional knowledge and an industry in its own right that includes both specialist and general practitioners.”

“为此，他们越来越多地通过专家同行网络、活动和出版物、以及他们的顾问与其他家族分享自己的经历，”蒂洛森说，“因此，曾经等同于孤立管理单一家族财富的‘家族理财室’一词，如今也许可以最恰当地描述一套越来越庞杂的专业知识以及一个本身囊括专才和通才从业者的行业。”

The family office market can take many forms, from a single former executive assistant helping a patriarch/matriarch, to a 40-person professional investment organisation that also deals with personal affairs.

家族理财室可以采取多种形式，可以是一位前行政助理来协助家族负责人，也可以是一个40人的专业投资机构在为家族理财的同时还打理私人事务。

Bill Woodson, north America head of the family office group at Citi Private Bank, says: “While family offices take different forms, the challenges they face are very similar and, as a result, the ultimate solutions they adopt as they evolve tend to be similar, although addressed with varying levels of focus, staffing and professionalism.”

花旗私人银行(Citi Private Bank)家族理财部北美负责人比尔伍德森(Bill Woodson)说：“虽然家族理财室的形式不同，但他们面临的挑战非常相似，因此，他们发展到后来采取的最终解决方案会趋于相似，尽管这些解决方案在焦点、人员及专业性上的水平不同。”

He adds that family offices are changing and evolving in a number of fundamental ways. First, an industry has developed around supporting family offices. This allows them to outsource functions previously done in-house.

他补充说，家族理财室正在经历一些根本的转变、发展。首先，围绕家族理财室已经发展出一项支持性产业。这使他们可以将此前的内部职能外包出去。

Second, there are more family offices as a result of the increase in wealth globally and greater information is available about best practice and resources.

第二，由于全球财富增长，以及关于最佳实践和资源的更完善信息易于获得，诞生了更多的家族理财室。

This helps family offices “professionalise” earlier than they would have before.

这有助于家族理财室较之以前更早地实现“专业化”。

Third, Woodson adds, the generational shift in control of family wealth has changed what family offices focus on and how they are structured.

第三，伍德森补充说，家族财富的代际控制转移改变了家族理财室的关注点及结构。

“Younger family members tend to, at a higher rate than before, focus on pursuing philanthropy earlier and on integrating philanthropy into a family’s investment activities,” he says.

“比以前更高比例的年轻家族成员倾向于更早专注从事慈善事业，并将慈善整合到家族的投资活动中，”他说。