Introduction
Dear Readers,
We hope you are enjoying your Easter holidays – whether that means quality time with your family or simply a few days away from your inbox.
In March, we hosted our first joint event of the year together with our friends from Emergence Ventures, making the case for funds of funds over dinner with a small group of investors and clients in Berlin (see here for a few impressions). We'll be hosting more such events this year - the next one being a small event on hedge funds at the end of April. If you are interested in joining, reach out. We also hosted a more informal social gathering last week with a mix of clients and prospective clients, which was a nice change of pace from the usual meeting setting. Likewise, if you’re looking to join such a dinner to get to know us, and to hear first-hand from our clients on how we work with them, feel free to get in touch, too.
And perhaps most timely: some conversations this month were shaped by the situation in the Middle East and what it means for investors. Geopolitical uncertainty has a way of concentrating the mind, and we found ourselves returning to questions about portfolio resilience, diversification across jurisdictions, and the limits of what any allocation framework can protect against. If you missed our February piece Fall of the Empire, it's still worth a read for how we think about these questions.
All the best,
Jan & the Cape May team
We are in close exchange with a number of family offices – sharing ideas, best practices, and where possible, helping each other find the right people. On that note, we have three open roles in the family office space worth highlighting this month.
We are currently supporting an entrepreneur in Southwestern Germany in finding the first Family Officer for their investment vehicle. If you are interested or know someone who might be, reach out and we're happy to share the full job description.
Furthermore, three family offices from our network are also hiring. Take a look at their respective job ads below and apply directly, or reach out to us and we can see if we can facilitate a direct introduction.
A Mainz-based family office is looking for a Investment & Operations Associate.
A Berlin-based family office is looking for a (Senior) Manager Investments.
A Munich-based family office is looking for an Investment Associate (Public & Private Markets).
If you are looking to set up your own family office and are looking for (additional) staff, or are looking to make the switch into a family office position, don’t hesitate to reach out.
What’s new with Cape May?
On the content side, two members of the Cape May team launched new publications this month.
Our analyst Svea launched her newsletter Front Row Files on Substack – a weekly deep dive into the business of sports, entertainment, TV, music, and fashion. Her first issues covered the Boston Celtics deal, The Weeknd's music deal, the movie The Sinners, AC Milan's hedge fund takeover, and the Dallas Cowboys' path to becoming the world's most profitable sports team. If any of those topics sound interesting to you, give her a follow on Substack and on LinkedIn.
Tamara also (re)launched her quarterly tax newsletter, kicking off by covering the key regulatory and legislative changes in German tax law for 2026. If you'd like to be added to the distribution list, reach out to her.
How we served our clients this month
March brought a wide range of client work. A few highlights:
Conducted extensive research into funds of hedge funds on behalf of a client, meeting with several managers across the month to help identify the right fit in terms of fee structure, transparency, and alignment with the client's broader allocation
Onboarded a new client, completing their initial wealth concept and a critical review of their existing portfolio, including an ESG screen of their equity holdings and scenario-based calculations on the tax and profit implications of full and partial rebalancing
Reviewed a venture capital fund opportunity for a client and assessed fit with their overall allocation
Assisted a client with questions related to the “Vorabpauschale” in their annual tax report (see Tamara’s recent post on LinkedIn to learn more)
Updated financial and wealth plans for clients following their annual reviews, translating the discussions we had in January and February into concrete adjustments for the year ahead
Conducted a critical analysis of the AI investment landscape for a client, working through the implications for their existing portfolio, including where their current exposure is actually working in their favor and where the narrative risk is running ahead of the fundamentals
Reviewed the track record and strategic positioning of an actively managed portfolio for a client who works with an external advisor, providing an independent analysis on both the performance attribution and the bank's proposed realignment
Worked through the logic of a cross-collateral structure for a client across private and entity accounts in three different jurisdictions, specifically addressing potential interactions between the foreign entity’s credit line and their private account
Analyzed a complex real estate portfolio for a client to outline potential option for a tax-efficient and commercially viable transfer of properties from parents to their children
Supported a tech entrepreneur on potential structures of an intergenerational asset transfer, focusing specifically on commercial rather than legal considerations
Helped a client think through the structuring of a potential exit from their startup, including the specific mechanics of their exits as well as strategic considerations on the company for the future
As always, we pride ourselves on the breadth of topics of what we cover. If any of the above resonates with your own situation, don't hesitate to reach out.
Cape May in the News
We were featured this month in the private banking magazine with a piece on semi-liquid funds – a topic we've written about before and clearly still aren’t tired of! The article, titled "When investors misunderstand semi-liquid funds”, comes at a timely moment: several evergreen vehicles in the US have recently had to limit redemptions, reigniting familiar criticisms of the structure.
Our view is that the central criticism – a lack of liquidity in times of crisis – is also the least justified. Semi-liquid funds were never designed to function as substitutes for liquid investments, especially in times of market turbulence. They are long-term oriented investments, despite their relatively better liquidity profile - so criticizing them for illiquidity in a crisis is a bit like criticizing a term deposit for not being immediately accessible. Or as we like to say, tools only work as intended.
Jan also joined an AIJA panel in Berlin on the topic of "Venture Visionaries – Angels, Demons and Other Relatives." The discussion covered various aspects of venture capital transactions, including the interaction between VC and family office governance, wealth preservation models, estate planning, and growing family wealth through venture investments.
If you have a podcast, a blog, or another type of publication that you think would benefit from our views and network, don't hesitate to reach out.
Cape May Wealth Weekly
This month, we covered a number of topics:
In The Global Intelligence Crisis: A Review, we took a closer look at the Citrini Research report that rattled software stocks, outlining a hypothetical scenario in which rapid AI progress turns from economic tailwind to systemic shock. We shared our take on where we agree with the thesis, where we're more sceptical, and what it all means for how investors should think about their portfolios.
In The Aspirational Investor Framework and the follow-up Revisiting the Aspirational Investor Framework, we returned to what has become our most-read piece of work – Ashvin Chhabra’s “Safety / Market / Aspirational Bucket” framework, and how we apply it in practice.
In Hedge Funds: A Primer, we gave our overview of how investors could think about hedge funds – what they are, how different strategy types behave across market environments, and when they belong in a portfolio.
In Defining Your Investment Objectives, we tackled the step that most investors skip: getting clear on what you're actually trying to achieve before making a single allocation decision.
And as always, if something's on your mind that we haven't covered yet, we'd love to hear it.
Final Remarks (and Asks)
This concludes the third edition of Cape May Monthly Review. Before we let you go, two final remarks.
First, if you'd like to be included in our next social event in Berlin, let us know. These are regular events we are hosting for our clients and prospective clients. Expect great discussions, and equally great food and drinks. 🍷
Second, we are seeing growing interest in hedge funds and funds of hedge funds. If you'd like to hear more about what's available and how we're thinking about the space, reach out and we'd be happy to walk you through it. That includes our upcoming event on funds of hedge funds at the end of April – so if you are interested in joining, let us know.
Thanks as always for reading, and enjoy your long weekend! 🏖️
Cape May Wealth Advisors is a Berlin-based wealth management firm focused on helping affluent entrepreneurs find financial independence. If you are interested in learning more about how we can help you, reach out to us via email, and make sure to subscribe to our newsletter.
