Family offices are navigating a wider range of responsibilities, from shifting investment conditions and intergenerational wealth transfers to philanthropy, AI adoption and security. Meeting those demands requires more than investment expertise. It also requires a clear picture of the family's assets, structures and obligations.

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UBS's Family Office Quarterly, Third Quarter 2026 brings together perspectives from the bank's Chief Investment Office and external specialists on six topics shaping family offices today: the US midterm elections, philanthropy, art sales, AI, hiring and security.

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Here are the key takeaways and what they mean for family offices.

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1. Markets call for discipline, not just optimism

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The US political outlook is uncertain, with UBS assigning a 50% probability to a divided Congress following the 2026 midterm elections. Fiscal policy is also shifting toward restraint, while federal debt continues to climb.

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For family offices, the broader message is to look beyond political headlines and stay focused on the fundamentals that drive investment outcomes. Earnings, monetary policy, economic growth and changing trade conditions all matter, but so does understanding how those factors affect the portfolio as a whole.

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That requires a consolidated view of investments across asset classes, along with an understanding of how much capital is available, where it is committed and what liquidity the family may need.

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2. Philanthropy is becoming part of the broader wealth strategy

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Philanthropy is increasingly connected to how families invest, operate businesses and think about their long-term impact.

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The UBS report highlights a shift away from treating charitable giving as a separate activity. While philanthropy remains the primary channel for impact for 41% of families, others are incorporating impact considerations into operating businesses and investment portfolios.'

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This creates a coordination challenge for family offices. They need to understand how charitable commitments, private investments and business activities fit together, while keeping track of different objectives, structures and reporting requirements.

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As these activities become more connected, having information spread across separate systems makes it harder to assess the family's overall position and measure progress against its goals.

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3. Art sales involve more than finding the right buyer

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Selling a work of art can have implications for estate planning, taxes, liquidity and philanthropy, particularly when collections pass between generations.

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UBS Art Advisory highlights the role of auction timing, competitive bidding and seller negotiations. For families managing significant collections, decisions about when and how to sell also need to account for personal preferences and broader financial considerations.

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Art is one example of a wider family office challenge: wealth extends beyond conventional investment portfolios. Real estate, private companies, collections and other assets can all affect the family's financial position, even when they sit outside traditional investment reporting.

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Understanding those assets in context is important when planning a sale, settling an estate or deciding how wealth will be transferred.

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4. AI depends on the quality of the underlying data

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One of the report's most relevant discussions for family office operations is the role of AI.

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Michael Rude of Automated Data describes the manual work that continues to occupy family office teams, from extracting information from PDFs and updating spreadsheets to locating documents and processing capital calls. AI can help reduce this work, but fragmented information, disconnected workflows and uncertainty around governance can limit its effectiveness.

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The proposed starting point is an information model that establishes reliable records for the office's core information, including family members and beneficiaries, investments, legal entities and service providers.

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With that foundation in place, offices can begin making information searchable, automate repetitive data entry and build more sophisticated tools for retrieving and analyzing historical records. Human oversight and auditability remain important throughout.

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The lesson is that adopting AI is not simply a matter of introducing a new tool. The information behind it matters just as much. If asset records are inconsistent, ownership structures are unclear or documents are disconnected from the assets they relate to, automation becomes harder to trust and scale.

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5. Hiring for judgment may matter more than industry experience

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Family offices need people who can work across investments, tax, legal matters and family relationships. Yet requiring previous family office experience can exclude candidates with relevant skills from other industries.

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Tim Spidel of Spidel Burnfin argues that strong candidates may come from Big Four accounting firms, private equity portfolio companies and asset managers. For operational leadership roles, the ability to connect different parts of the organization can be more valuable than familiarity with the family office sector alone.

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Discretion, sound judgment and comfort with ambiguity remain essential. Technology and reporting skills are also increasingly useful as offices look for ways to reduce manual work and make better use of their information.

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The implication is that people and systems need to work together. Better access to reliable information can help teams spend less time assembling reports and more time on analysis, decision-making and the relationships that make family offices distinctive.

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6. Security requires a broader view of risk

Security is another area where the boundaries between different parts of a family's life become important.

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In the report's discussion with Global Guardian CEO Dale Buckner, cyber risk, digital privacy, reputational exposure and physical security are treated as connected concerns. A family office may have strong IT support but still lack adequate cybersecurity measures or a clear plan for responding to an emergency.

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Protecting a family means understanding the connections between its members, entities, properties and assets, as well as the information that could expose those relationships.

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Preparation matters, too. A practical emergency playbook can help ensure that people know their roles and next steps when a situation requires an immediate response.

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What this means for family offices

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Across these six topics, a common challenge emerges: family offices are responsible for increasingly interconnected decisions, but the information needed to make those decisions is often spread across different systems, documents and teams.

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Investment decisions depend on liquidity and commitments. Philanthropy intersects with business ownership and portfolio strategy. Art sales can affect estate planning. AI depends on reliable records. Security requires an understanding of how family members, entities and assets connect.

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These are not isolated operational problems. They all depend on having an accurate, accessible picture of the family's wealth.

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MYFO brings investments, operating businesses, ownership structures, entities and documents together in one platform. By giving family offices a consistent view of what they own and how everything connects, MYFO helps teams spend less time gathering information and more time putting it to use.

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See how MYFO helps family offices bring their financial information together. Book a demo.

Source: UBS, Family Office Quarterly, Third Quarter 2026.

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