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How the super-rich invest
超级富豪如何投资
The family offices through which the world’s richest invest are a new force in global finance—and a target for populists
世界富豪投资方式“家族办公室”，既是全球金融领域的新生力量，也是民粹主义者目标所在
Think of the upper echelons of the money-management business, and the image that springs to mind is of fusty private banks in Geneva or London’s Mayfair, with marble lobbies and fake country-house meeting-rooms designed to make their super-rich clients feel at home. But that picture is out of date. A more accurate one would feature hundreds of glassy private offices in California and Singapore that invest in Canadian bonds, European property and Chinese startups—and whose gilded patrons are sleepwalking into a political storm.
试想资金管理行业的顶层，浮现脑海的是日内瓦或伦敦梅菲尔区的私人银行，大理石大厅、仿照乡间别墅的会客室，力求让其超级富豪客户感到宾至如归。但这样的印象已过时。实际情况是，美国加州和新加坡，成千上百玻璃装修的私人办公室专注投资加拿大债券、欧洲房地产和中国初创企业（中国初创企业的黄金赞助人正梦游般卷进一场政治风暴）。
Global finance is being transformed as billionaires get richer and cut out the middlemen by creating their own “family offices”, personal investment firms that roam global markets looking for opportunities. Largely unnoticed, family offices have become a force in investing, with up to $4trn of assets—more than hedge funds and equivalent to 6% of the value of the world’s stockmarkets. As they grow even bigger in an era of populism, family offices are destined to face uncomfortable questions about how they concentrate power and feed inequality.
亿万富翁财富与日俱增，并创建“家族办公室”（在全球市场寻求商机的私人投资公司）从而略过中间商，与此同时，全球金融正在转型。之前被忽视的家族办公室现已成为一股投资力量，拥有高达4万亿美元的资产——超过对冲基金，相当于全球股市价值的6%。在民粹主义时代，家族办公室发展更上一层楼，而恼人的问题也注定会随之而来：如何集权、加剧不平等。
The concept is hardly new; John D. Rockefeller set up his family office in 1882. But the number has exploded this century. Somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 are based in America and Europe and in Asian hubs such as Singapore and Hong Kong. Though their main task is to manage financial assets, the biggest offices, some with hundreds of staff, undertake all sorts of other chores, from tax and legal work to acting as high-powered butlers who book jets and pamper pets.
这个概念并不新鲜；约翰·D.洛克菲勒在1882年就成立了家族办公室。但家族办公室数量在本世纪呈爆炸式增长。美国和欧洲，以及新加坡和香港等亚洲中心，大约有5000到10000个家族办公室。虽然其主要任务是管理金融资产，但规模大一些的也（有些办公室有数百名员工）承担多种工作，从税务到法律，再到订飞机和照顾宠物的高级管家。
译文由可可原创，仅供学习交流使用，未经许可请勿转载。
