Are family offices still patient capital when exits stall?
Family offices have long been described as patient capital, and a new survey tests how far that goes. The RBC and Campden Wealth North America Family Office Report 2026, dated 29 September 2026, found that 47 per cent of private-market investors who tried to exit a fund position in 2025 could not complete the exit as expected.
The RBC Wealth Management release is based on 155 survey responses from single-family and private multi-family offices across the Americas: 123 in the United States, 21 in Canada and 11 elsewhere. Of these, 86 per cent invest in private markets. Direct investments average 45 per cent of their private markets book and funds average 36 per cent. The release does not report a venture allocation and covers no UK or European offices.
That is a different data set from the argument made by Alexander Fink of Empirical Ventures on LinkedIn on 7 October 2026, covered in earlier reporting on venture funds taking 15 to 16 years to realise. Neither is a UK survey of family office behaviour, which is why this piece is framed as an open question rather than a conclusion.
What the RBC and Campden Wealth survey says about patient capital
The survey authors keep the patient label. Manju Jessa, vice president and head of Family Office and Strategic Clients at RBC Enterprise Strategic Client Group, said: "Enterprising families maintain a long-term perspective and patient capital position." The report also says families cite a need for ample cash reserves and sufficient patient capital to invest opportunistically.
The same release complicates the picture. It describes liquidity as a defining characteristic of private market investment quality, and Adam Ratner, director of research at Campden Wealth, said: "Even patient capital can be caught up in the fear of missing out." The release page does not address distributions or holding periods, and the full report was not reviewed for this piece.
What the 47 per cent exit figure does and does not show
The figure shows that among investors who tried to sell a fund holding in 2025, nearly half could not do so as planned. Nearly one in five private-market investors in the survey tried to exit, so the group behind the 47 per cent is a minority of respondents.
It does not show why the exits failed, what price buyers offered, whether any of the positions were venture holdings or whether UK offices see the same pattern. There is also a fair counter-argument: a long holding period is what venture investing asks for, and a stalled exit can mean a family declined a low bid. The data cannot separate those cases.
What family office patience means for UK founders raising capital
The practical reading is that a long horizon is a preference, not a guarantee. A founder pitching a family office can reasonably ask how long the office expects to hold, whether it needs partial liquidity at any point and what rights it expects over transfers. Those answers shape the cap table for years.
Controlled liquidity is one response. As set out in reporting on tokenised startup equity and family offices, the model is defined holding periods, selected investors and periodic trading windows, not continuous trading. The first year of PISCES auctions shows how such windows work in practice, and UK venture funds are already turning to evergreen structures and secondaries. Liquidity of this kind is enabled, not guaranteed, because a window still needs a buyer at an acceptable price.
Open questions for family offices, advisers and founders
Three questions remain open. How many family office venture positions have been sold before a company event? What would a UK family office need to see to hold longer? And which findings from a mostly American sample carry over to UK and European offices?
Informed responses from family offices, advisers and founders are welcome, and views will be attributed only with consent. The UBS Global Family Office Report 2026 page reviewed for this piece stated no allocation or exit figures, so the next detailed UK or European data release is the one to watch. This is general information, not legal, tax or investment advice.
Key takeaways
The RBC and Campden Wealth North America Family Office Report 2026 is based on 155 responses, 123 of them from the United States.
Of the private-market investors who tried to exit a fund position in 2025, 47 per cent could not complete the exit as expected.
The release gives no venture allocation, no UK data and no holding period figures, so it cannot settle how patient family offices are.
UK founders can ask a family office how long it expects to hold and whether it needs partial liquidity before agreeing share rights.
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