Family Offices Plan Biggest Portfolio Overhaul in Years, Pulling Back From U.S. Assets

Sixty percent of family offices worldwide plan to make strategic changes to their investment allocations over the next 12 months — roughly twice the rate seen over the past five years — with many reducing exposure to the United States, according to the UBS Global Family Office Report released Thursday.

North America is the only region globally where family offices plan to cut their allocation in the next 12 months. By contrast, they expect to add holdings in Latin America and Africa.

The pullback reflects a confluence of concerns: a highly concentrated U.S. stock market, fears of an artificial intelligence bubble, shifting tariff policies, a weakening dollar, volatile economic conditions, and rising debt and bond yields, the survey found.

"Last year, all of the family offices were super concerned about global trade tariffs tensions," said John Mathews, UBS head of private wealth management for the Americas. "Today it's really shifted to geopolitical tensions around the world, global debt, and now interest rates. And not just the short-term implications, but the longer-term implications of these as well."

Advisors cited in the report caution against characterizing the movement as a wholesale "sell America" trade. International family offices instead describe a push for broader geographic diversification as global instability grows. Wars in Ukraine and Iran, shifting immigration and debt battles, and unpredictable tariff regimes have all complicated the investing landscape, the survey noted.

The emerging catchphrase in family office circles is "jurisdictional diversification." Two-thirds of family offices now hold their bankable assets across at least three jurisdictions. Nearly a third have assets spread across at least four, spanning Latin America, the U.S., China, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

A central aim for many is reducing U.S. dollar exposure — a trend some are describing as "de-dollarization." More than a quarter of family offices plan to lower their holdings of dollar-denominated assets. Two-thirds said they expect confidence in the dollar's reserve currency role to decline, and nearly half said they consider themselves overexposed to the dollar. The Swiss franc and the euro are the preferred currencies for diversification.

Geopolitical uncertainty ranked as the top risk for the next 12 months and the next five years. A global trade war came in second. Hyperinflation, cyberattacks, and debt crises were also flagged as elevated risks.

"These forces point to preparation not just for near-term volatility, but for an extended period of elevated and interconnected risk," the survey stated. "Family offices look to be focused on building resilience across a broader and more complex risk landscape, combining adjustments to their asset allocation with multishoring strategies."

The trend is not uniform, however. U.S. family offices are moving in the opposite direction, increasing their share of domestic assets from 86% to 88% on average over the past year. North America still accounts for 53% of all global family office assets.

Non-U.S. family offices present a starkly different picture. Chinese family offices now hold half their assets in Western Europe. Western European family offices have 41% of their assets in their home region.

"The U.S. family offices have actually kind of doubled down," Mathews said. "But all the other family offices around the world are now diversifying out of the dollar-denominated securities, out of the U.S. a little bit."

Family offices plan to add to emerging market equities, infrastructure, and gold, while slightly reducing cash and real estate holdings, according to the survey. The divergence between U.S. and non-U.S. wealth managers signals a split in how the world's wealthiest families are reading the global risk environment — a split that could have lasting consequences for capital flows and dollar-denominated markets in the years ahead.

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