Nearly 60% of the average family-office portfolio isn't in stocks or bonds.
CNBC's Inside Wealth just pulled back the curtain (partnering with Addepar) on how family offices actually invest their collective $5T+.
The Q1 2026 aggregate data is instructive for both professional allocators and individual investors.
Direct private companies (15.8%) are ~2x fixed income (8.1%)
Equities are still the largest single sleeve at 33.9%
But 48% is in private markets and alternatives
Cash sits at 9.5% = meaningful dry powder
Add private equity, venture, real estate, private credit, hedge funds and other alts, and the avg. family office portfolio looks nothing like a traditional 60/40.
The wealthiest families in the world treat private, income-oriented and alternative strategies as their primary holdings.
Why don't they just own stocks and bonds?
Reduced volatility
After-tax benefits (deferral opportunities)
Non-correlated return streams
Alpha easier to extract from private markets
Over-concentration to mega-tech concerns
Monthly income so they don't have to sell holdings to cover expenses
Nobody wants to brag about their bond ladder at the Country Club
Ok, I'm guessing on that last one.
Bonds used to handle a lot of these benefits / concerns. But….unfortunately we’ve sort of broken bonds by racking up insane levels of national debt ($39T and counting).
Brad Johnson
