For wealthy individuals and families, setting up a family office usually offers the benefits of professional advice, confidentiality and the ability to preserve wealth across generations.

This supplement explores these themes and others, from new EU laws that may curtail privacy and affect the choice of jurisdiction to investing in alternatives and the London property market.

Bloomberg ranked family offices based on assets under advisement (AUA) as of Dec. 31, 2012. The list was assembled via a survey of more than 1,000 firms worldwide, using a database of contacts obtained from Portland, Oregon-based FamilyOffices.com. Bloomberg received responses from 118 firms.

Single-family offices were excluded. Family offices that were part of private banks were included if the bank has a unit that offers direct and comprehensive investment and noninvestment services to high-net-worth families. Figures for AUA included only assets managed by the family-office unit of the bank. For nonbank family offices, AUA included wealth directly managed by the offices and funds outsourced to money management firms. Money managed for private foundations was included. Money managed for pension funds was excluded. Insurance policies and trusts on which advice is provided were included.

The ranked firms provide both investment and noninvestment services. The latter may include family meetings, financial education, art consulting, estate planning, family governance, foundation management, business consulting, property management, travel arrangements
and shopping assistance.