Wealth Office
Wealth Office spotlights original ideas, perspectives and philosophies from the world’s most ambitious private capital holders who are building the things that matter. Hosted by Michael Macfarlane., a private advisor to some of the world’s wealthiest families, Wealth Office features long-form conversations with UHNWIs and members of globally significant family businesses, who are focused on the ideas that will shape the future, as well as the thinkers who study them. As family capital grows, a new class of decision-makers is emerging in a world where privately-held capital increasingly rivals institutional influence. At the same time, the rise of Asia...
Lady Linda Wong Davies is shaping a new era of fusion between China and the world
In this episode of Wealth Office, Michael Macfarlane sits down with Lady Linda Wong Davies - a leading cultural patron working at the intersection of China, Africa and the West and Founder of the KT Wong Foundation - to explore one of the most important shifts shaping the modern world: the rise of cultural fusion.
For centuries, global power has been accompanied by cultural dominance. From Renaissance Europe to modern America, wealth has historically shaped culture - and culture, in turn, has shaped how societies think, create and interact.
But today, that model is changing...
Elaine Chow built a Family Office that thinks beyond wealth
What is a family office actually for? In this episode of Wealth Office, Michael Macfarlane sits down with Elaine Chow, Managing Partner of Trinity Capital, her family’s Hong Kong–based single family office, to explore how she built an institution designed not merely to preserve wealth - but to steward it.
Elaine’s journey began not with a textbook definition of a family office, but with a moment of transition. When her brother chose to exit the family business, she created a structure capable of managing capital with discipline, independence and long-term purpose.
What emerge...
Marshall Jen is preparing Asian family capital for a $100 trillion wealth transfer
Over the next twenty years, more than $100 trillion in private wealth will transfer across generations. Nearly half of that capital will be in Asia. In this episode of Wealth Office, Michael Macfarlane is joined by Marshall Jen, a scholar and advisor deeply embedded in Asia’s evolving family office ecosystem.
As Co-Director of one of the world’s few Master’s programmes dedicated to family wealth and governance, Marshall works directly with families navigating this historic shift in private capital.
This conversation moves far beyond technical succession planning. It examines how Asian family offices are evolvi...
Nicolas De Santis went from dot-com pioneer to visioneering the future
What does it mean to build for a future you may never personally benefit from? In this episode of Wealth Office, Michael Macfarlane is joined by Nicolas De Santis - a dot-com pioneer who helped shape the early internet, co-founding Opodo, one of Europe’s first large-scale online travel platforms, and later creating one of the world’s earliest digital currencies - long before crypto entered the mainstream.
After decades spent inside the machinery of technology, capital and growth, Nicolas’s focus has shifted from building companies to understanding something far bigger: how technology, entrepreneurship and private capita...
William Louey is rethinking power in family succession
Nearly 90% of family businesses fail by the third generation. Not because of capital — but because of power, ego, and succession.
In this episode of Wealth Office, Michael Macfarlane speaks with William Louey, fourth-generation member of the family behind Kowloon Motor Bus, the transport system that carries millions of people across Hong Kong every day.
William inherited responsibility at just 19 — and made a decision most heirs never consider: he chose not to become CEO.
Instead, he focused on stewardship, professional management, and long-term impact. For more than 30 years, he has quietly funded education for unde...
'Shield' Xiao Dun built a $5bn company before the age of 30
Will AI educate humanity — or control It? In this episode of Wealth Office, Michael Macfarlane sits down with Shield Xiao Dun for a conversation that goes far beyond startups, valuations, or even technology. This is a single, sweeping narrative about AI’s most dangerous futures, education as a safeguard against dystopia, and why China is emerging as one of the world’s primary innovation frontiers at precisely the moment these questions matter most.
Shield outlines two plausible dystopian AI scenarios. In one, artificial intelligence pacifies humanity through endless consumption, distraction, and dopamine — a world where people s...
Philip Marcovici wrote the book about the transformative power of family wealth
The largest wealth transfer in human history is already underway — and most families aren’t prepared. Political risk is rising, next-gen values are shifting fast, and the old playbook for wealth, mobility, and legacy no longer works. If you want to understand what’s coming — and how families can navigate it — this episode is essential listening.
In this episode of Wealth Office, Michael Macfarlane sits down with Philip Marcovici — globally respected wealth advisor, author, and expert on family governance — for a conversation that goes far beyond financial structures.
Together they explore the forces transforming global families today...
Pearl Lam is bridging art and wealth in China’s new age of cultural power
For the first time in 300 years, the centuries-old relationship between wealth and art has broken. While global markets surge, art sales are slowing — signalling a deeper shift in how society defines value, culture, and influence.
In this powerful episode of Wealth Office, host Michael Macfarlane sits down with international art icon Pearl Lam, one of Asia’s most influential cultural figures, to unpack how China’s new age of wealth and creativity is transforming the global art landscape.
From Shanghai to London, Pearl offers a candid, behind-the-scenes look at how art, money, and cultural identity now in...
Allen Law is spearheading an $8 trillion longevity revolution
In this episode of Wealth Office, host Michael Macfarlane sits down with Allen Law—entrepreneur, hotelier, and founder of Morrow and Seveno Capital—to explore how family offices are approaching the $8 trillion longevity economy and what it means for wealth, impact, and the next generation of leadership.
UBS has identified longevity, alongside artificial intelligence (AI) and energy transition, as one of the three economic themes that will transform markets over the next decade. Allen shares how family offices can position themselves at the intersection of wealth preservation, entrepreneurial growth, and impact investing.
💡 What you’ll learn in...
An Introduction To 'Wealth Office': Exploring The Role Of Wealth At Moments Of Global Change
Welcome to Wealth Office — a new series exploring the hidden world of modern wealth.
For centuries, wealth has shaped geopolitics, culture, and innovation. Today, we’re in a new era — the rise of the family office. Wealth is no longer just about palaces, art, or power; it’s about impact — in business, philanthropy, creativity, and technology.
Hosted by Michael Macfarlane, principal partner at Michael Macfarlane Associates, Wealth Office takes listeners behind the curtain of this secretive world. Each episode will uncover how wealth holders and wealth creators are shaping industries, supporting the arts, driving innovation, and influe...
