Cash and fixed income: how family offices use them in 2026

Family offices hold between 8% and 13% of their portfolios in cash and between 11% and 17% in fixed income, and both are being used deliberately rather than as residuals. UBS's Global Family Office Report 2026 shows cash at 9% and fixed income at 17% at the end of 2025, with cash planned to edge down to 8% in 2026 and fixed income unchanged. Goldman Sachs's 2025 survey found cash excluding Treasuries at 12% and fixed income at 11%. Citi's 2025 report found cash at 13% and fixed income at 15%, and J.P. Morgan's 2026 report found cash at 8% and fixed income a little under 15%. The backdrop is a US policy rate of 3.75% to 4.00% and a 10 year Treasury yield above 5%, which means the liquid part of the portfolio is paid for holding it.

The allocation data

Sources: as linked. Regional spreads are wide: Citi's tables show Asia Pacific offices at 18% cash and North American offices at 8%, and UBS's 2025 report had US fixed income at 9% against 31% in Latin America and 27% in South East Asia.

The rate context in 2026

The Federal Reserve's record of open market operations shows the federal funds target range cut three times in late 2025 to 3.50% to 3.75%, then raised by 25 basis points on 17 September 2026 to 3.75% to 4.00%. The Bank of England's Bank Rate stood at 3.75% after holds in June, July and September 2026. Further out the curve, Robert Shiller's dataset records the US 10 year Treasury yield at 5.24% at the start of October 2026, up from 4.32% in April. A short duration government bond portfolio therefore yields close to many surveys' expected portfolio returns: Campden Wealth's Asia-Pacific respondents expected 6% for 2025 and J.P. Morgan reports that 55% of its respondents target 7% to 10%. The implications for borrowing costs are covered in higher for longer rates and family office debt.

How offices are using cash

Cash is serving three purposes. The first is optionality: Goldman found that 34% of offices expecting to change allocations planned to reduce cash and redeploy into risk assets, which only works if the cash is there. The second is funding for private market calls, which is why offices with heavy private equity programmes tend to run larger balances; Citi's data show real estate heavy North American offices at 8% cash while Asia Pacific offices, with more public equities, hold 18%. The third is defensive. UBS's 2025 report found 26% of offices using high quality short duration fixed income as a risk offset and 38% struggling to find any reliable one. Campden Wealth's North American respondents in 2025 said in the majority that cash would offer the best return over the following 12 months, an unusual finding that reflects the expected return of 5% they gave for their portfolios. The plumbing needed to run cash well across entities and currencies is described in family office cash flow infrastructure.

Fixed income: public bonds versus private credit

UBS's 2026 data show fixed income at 17% and private debt at 3%, both planned to stay there in 2026, with private debt down from 4% in 2024, so there is no sign in that sample of money moving from public to private credit. Other surveys show private credit still growing from a low base. Goldman found the share of offices with no private credit exposure fell from 36% in 2023 to 26% in 2025, with 26% planning to add. BlackRock's 2025 survey found 32% planning to increase private credit, the highest for any alternative. Cambridge Associates' endowment review notes its private credit index produced a 10 year IRR above 8% while US investment grade bonds returned under 2% a year over the same decade, which is the historical case for the shift. The forward case is weaker than it was, because a 10 year Treasury above 5% narrows the gap, and private credit carries illiquidity, manager and default risk that a Treasury does not. Campden's Asia-Pacific data give a snapshot of the trade off in one year: private credit returned 11% in 2024 against 4% for developed market government bonds. How offices approach the asset class directly is covered in family offices in private credit.

Cash and bonds are being treated as positions with a job, whether that is funding calls, offsetting equity risk or simply earning 4% to 5% while waiting. The 2026 plan leaves fixed income unchanged and trims only cash, and no survey shows offices running the near zero bond weights that were common when rates were at the floor.