Owned by you
The office, the records, the advisers and the relationships stay yours. We do not sit between you and your wealth.
For families past the complexity line
You are the family office. That's the problem.
We build you a Lean Family Office, your own systems and records, owned by you. Then we help you run it, so it no longer depends on one person.
The problem
Who runs the whole of it?
The more your wealth grew, the more it came to run through you. You hold the whole picture. You remember why each structure exists. You connect the lawyer to the accountant to the banker. You sign off the routine things. Each adviser does their part well, but no one owns the whole, except you. It works, and it works because you keep working. Step away for a month and it stalls.
That is the Founder’s Paradox: the habits that built the wealth become the dependency that limits it. It is not a wealth problem. It is an operating problem, and another adviser will not fix it.
The families with the most at stake often have the least structure behind them, and the whole of it rests on one person. It does not have to.
What this is
A family office, without the institution.
The families who solved this built a family office: their own team, their own systems, the whole picture in one place. It works, but it means headcount, overhead and a second business to run. Most principals do not want that.
A Lean Family Office is the same control, built with only what the work requires, and owned by the family rather than a firm. That is what we build, and what we help you run.
What we do
What we do
Lean by design
Only what the work requires. No institution to staff, no second business to run.
Independent by structure
We manage no assets, take no custody and sell no products, and we earn nothing from any decision made inside the office.
How it works
How we work
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01
Diagnose
The Wealth Clarity Session. We map your whole financial life and show you the gaps. If you do not need a family office, we will tell you.
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02
Architect
We design the office you actually need. What kind, how lean, what must exist and what does not.
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03
Build
We build it with you: the systems, the operating manuals and procedures, and the right people where you need to hire.
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04
Run
We run it with you. We coordinate your advisers and keep the whole moving, while you keep ownership of everything.
Who it's for
Built for the principal who became the system
You built the wealth and you run the coordination, from memory, between everything else. It works, and that is the problem: nobody else could take it over. We build the office that holds it instead, and hand you back the part only you should be doing.
Work with us as an adviser or operator →Independence
No conflict of interest. By design.
Independence declared is a claim. Independence built into how we are paid is a fact. We earn nothing from any decision made inside the office we build.
No assets managed
We never hold or manage your money.
No custody
Your accounts stay where they are, in your name.
No products sold
Nothing we recommend earns us a margin.
No tax or legal advice
Your advisers stay yours. We coordinate them.
No fees from providers
No rebate or commission from anyone we organise. Ever.
Fixed, never on assets
Our fee is fixed, never a percentage of your wealth.
Not an outsourced single-family office. Not a multi-family office. A Lean Family Office that is yours, and does not depend on us.
About us
Who is behind Circle 26?
Senior practitioners who have spent a decade building and running family office infrastructure for principals and entrepreneurial families, as directors, operators and engineers inside the structures themselves. Every engagement is led by them.
Read the full story →Questions
Common questions
Do I even need a family office?
Maybe not. We diagnose before we prescribe, and if a full office is not right for you, we will say so.
Is this a multi-family office?
No. We don't manage assets, take custody, sell products or charge on assets. We build the office and help you run it. Your advisers stay yours.
Do you run the office for us?
We run it with you. You own the office; we keep it moving at the strategic level, and your own people can take more of it over as they are ready.
What does it cost?
Our fees are fixed, and never based on your assets. We scope everything after the Wealth Clarity Session, once we can see what your office actually needs.
What if we already have a team?
Many families who work with us do. We add the standard, the method and the experience of having built this before. Then your people run it, better equipped than they were.
Five minutes. An honest verdict.
Take the Family Office Test and see where your wealth actually stands: how complex it has become, where the gaps are, and whether a family office is right for you at all.
The Family Office Test