经济学人下载:家族办公室:超级富豪的生财之道(2)

The costs of bringing such expertise in-mansion means that they generally make sense only for those worth over $100m, the top 0.001% of the global pile. Asian tycoons such as Jack Ma of Alibaba have created their own fiefs. The largest Western family offices, such as the one set up by George Soros, an investor and philanthropist, oversee tens of billions and are as muscular as Wall Street firms, competing with banks and private-equity groups to buy whole companies.
只有全球前0.01%资产过亿（美元）的富豪能够承担办公室运作这样工作的成本。亚洲巨富们（如创建阿里巴巴的马云）已经有自己的家族办公室了。西方最大的家族办公室，如身为投资家和慈善家的乔治·索罗斯创建的家族办公室，监管着数百亿资金，和华尔街的公司一样强大，与银行和私募股权公司竞争收购公司。

Every investment boom reflects the society that spawned it. The humble mutual fund came of age in the 1970s after two decades of middle-class prosperity in America. The rise of family offices reflects soaring inequality. Since 1980 the share of the world’s wealth owned by the top 0.01% has risen from 3% to 8%. As the founders of family firms receive dividends or the proceeds of initial public offerings, they usually redeploy the cash. But since the financial crisis there has been a loss of faith in external money managers. Rich clients have taken a closer look at private banks'high fees and murky incentives, and balked.
每次投资热潮都是社会催生。20世纪70年代，美国中产活跃了二十年后，不起眼的共同基金成熟起来。而家族办公室的兴起反映了日益加剧的不平等。自1980年以来，世界上最富有的0.01%人群所拥有的财富份额已经从3%上升到8%。家族办公室创始人获得股息或首次公开募股收益，随之会重新配置资金。但自金融危机以来，人们对家族以外的资金经理已不再信任。富豪客户了解清楚私人银行的高昂收费和阴暗小算盘后，犹豫不决。

These trends are unlikely to fade, as our Briefing explains. The number of billionaires is still growing—199 newbies made the grade last year. In the emerging world older entrepreneurs who created firms in the boom years after 1990 are preparing to cash out, while in America and China younger tech entrepreneurs may soon float their companies, releasing a new wave of cash to reinvest. Family offices’ weight in the financial system, therefore, looks likely to rise further. As it does, the objections to them will rise exponentially. The most obvious of these is the least convincing—that family offices have created inequality. They are a consequence, not its cause. Nonetheless, there are concerns—and one in particular that is worth worrying about.
正如本刊《简报》板块所阐释的，这些趋势不大可能渐消。亿万富翁有增无减——仅去年一年新增199名。在新兴世界，1990年后经济繁荣期创立公司的老企业家们正准备套现，而在美国和中国，年轻科技企业家可能很快会让其公司上市，释放新一轮资金用于再投资。因此，家族办公室在金融体系中的权重可能会进一步上升。而随之反对意见也会呈指数增长。最显而易见的却最缺乏说服力的是：家族理财室造就了不平等。但不平等是结果，而非原因。尽管如此，忧虑犹存——其中一点特为尤甚。