Top Family Offices in New Orleans 2026

Key Facts About New Orleans Family Offices

• The New Orleans family office market includes at least 13 firms offering SFO, MFO, RIA, and wirehouse-affiliated wealth services in the metro area.
• Stokes Family Office leads the local market with roughly $2 billion in assets under management (AUM), serving more than 100 families and businesses.
• The market blends homegrown independents like Stokes, Council Family Office, and FreeGulliver with national platforms such as Beacon Pointe and Mercer Advisors.
• Offices cluster in two corridors: the New Orleans CBD along Poydras Street and Metairie along North Causeway Boulevard.
• Louisiana wealth sources fueling demand include oil and gas, maritime (Bollinger Shipyards is the largest vessel-repair firm in the Gulf of Mexico), and legacy family businesses.
• FreeGulliver LLC charges $15,000 to $500,000 per year in fixed fees, while Stokes Family Office charges 0.25% to 1.50% of AUM. This range shows the wide cost variation in the market.
• Several national firms expanded into New Orleans after 2020, signaling rising demand for advanced wealth planning in the Gulf South.

Wealth Management Landscape in New Orleans

Local firms serve a concentrated base of ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) families whose fortunes trace back to energy, maritime, and multigenerational business empires. Bollinger Enterprises, the city's most prominent single family office, grew from Bollinger Shipyards. The company began operations in 1946 and is now the Gulf of Mexico's largest vessel-repair operation.

Oil and gas royalties, port-related logistics, and professional services round out the wealth profile shaping local demand.

The CBD and Metairie function as twin hubs with distinct identities. Wirehouse teams from Morgan Stanley and Raymond James occupy Poydras Street towers. Independent firms like Council Family Office and Beacon Pointe Advisors operate from Metairie's Causeway Boulevard corridor. Mercer Advisors holds a secondary Louisiana office in Covington on the North Shore.

This market is smaller than Houston or Dallas, yet national entrants keep arriving. National wealth platforms overseeing $385 billion and $65 billion in client assets, respectively, have opened local offices alongside Beacon Pointe since 2020. Louisiana's community property laws, unique trust code, and energy-sector wealth cycles create planning needs that generic out-of-state advice rarely covers.

That gap between local complexity and limited local supply drew these firms in.

Family Office Comparison at a Glance

The table below ranks offices with disclosed AUM first, followed by remaining firms in alphabetical order. A dash indicates data is not publicly available.

Family Office	Type	AUM Estimate	Investment Focus	Key Services	Location
Stokes Family Office	MFO/RIA	$2B	Evidence-based portfolios, private placements	Wealth mgmt, retirement plans, tax & estate	New Orleans
FreeGulliver LLC	MFO	$548M	Mutual funds, ETFs, private vehicles	Cash flow planning, family board, estate	New Orleans
JECohen	MFO	$100M+	Real estate, venture capital	Financial planning, trust & estate	New Orleans
Bollinger Enterprises	SFO	—	Real estate, private equity, hedge funds	Wealth preservation, investment mgmt	New Orleans
Council Family Office	MFO	—	Traditional to advanced strategies	Financial planning, asset mgmt	Metairie
Beacon Pointe Advisors	RIA	—	Financial planning, family office services	Estate, tax, retirement, asset protection	Metairie
Jacobs Wealth Mgmt Group	Wirehouse (MS)	—	UHNW, alternatives, succession	Wealth planning, exit planning, trusts	New Orleans
FFC Investment Advisors	Wirehouse (RJ)	—	Intergenerational wealth transfer	Family oversight, legacy, risk mgmt	New Orleans
Argent Family Wealth	MFO	—	Trust admin, fiduciary services	CFO services, heir prep, charitable giving	New Orleans
Mercer Advisors	National RIA	—	Institutional-grade investing	Tax, estate, insurance, retirement	Covington

Three offices disclose asset figures. Stokes Family Office holds roughly four times the capital managed by FreeGulliver. Most independents and wirehouse teams do not publish asset data, making direct size comparisons difficult beyond the top tier.

Top Picks by Strategy

• Largest AUM: Stokes Family Office, with $2 billion under management and national top-RIA recognition four years running.
• Best for Business Succession: Jacobs Wealth Management Group (Morgan Stanley), where advisor Michael Reilly holds a CEPA designation for exit planning and the team focuses on pre-transaction strategy.
• Top Real Estate and Private Equity Allocator: Bollinger Enterprises, the only dedicated SFO in the market, invests directly in real estate, private equity, and hedge funds.
• Strongest Fixed-Fee Model: FreeGulliver LLC, offering full family office services (including family board participation) for a flat annual fee starting at $15,000.
• Leading Venture Capital Access: JECohen, which combines personalized financial planning with venture capital strategies and manages $100 million or more.
• Best for Family Oversight: FFC Investment Advisors (Raymond James), the only local office listing formal family decision-making and wealth education as core services.
• Most Credentialed Advisory Team: Beacon Pointe Advisors (New Orleans), staffed with advisors holding JD, CFP, AIF, CEPA, and CLU designations covering legal, fiduciary, and insurance expertise.

Top Family Offices in New Orleans in Detail

Stokes Family Office

National advisory rankings consistently place this firm among the top 40 RIAs, and industry publications recognized it as one of America's leading advisory firms for 2026. Stokes manages roughly $2 billion for over 100 families through an evidence-based portfolio approach that pairs public markets with private placements for qualified investors. The firm uses Fidelity, Schwab, and Pershing as custodians, giving clients flexibility in how assets are held.

Retirement plan consulting sets Stokes apart. Team member Patrick McKay earned recognition as a top 100 retirement plan advisor under 40. Fees range from 0.25% to 1.50% of assets under management, with the lower end applying to larger portfolios.

FreeGulliver LLC

Most local wealth firms charge a percentage of assets, but FreeGulliver structures its fees as a fixed annual charge between $15,000 and $500,000. That model appeals to families who want cost certainty regardless of portfolio swings. The firm manages $548 million through a broad mix of mutual funds, ETFs, and private pooled vehicles.

FreeGulliver also offers family board participation. Its advisors sit in on family meetings and help guide group decisions on wealth strategy, cash flow, and estate planning.

Bollinger Enterprises

This is the only dedicated single family office in the New Orleans metro area, managing wealth generated by Bollinger Shipyards. The company began operations in 1946. The portfolio spans publicly traded debt and equity, hedge funds, and direct investments in real estate and private equity.

Bollinger Enterprises operates with a long-term, preservation-first mandate typical of industrial-dynasty SFOs. Families exploring the SFO model in Louisiana can look to Bollinger as a benchmark for how a single-family structure supports concentrated industry wealth.

Council Family Office

Council pairs local roots with national custodial support through Charles Schwab and a partnership with Independent Advisor Alliance. The team includes a CFA-credentialed chief strategist (Robert B. Green Jr.), two JD-holders, and multiple CFP professionals. Principal W. Tyson Vanlandingham brings over 24 years in financial services and a behavioral finance lens that shapes client communication.

Council positions itself as the next step for families who have outgrown standard advisory relationships. The firm integrates tax optimization, estate design, and asset management into a single planning structure.

Jacobs Wealth Management Group (Morgan Stanley)

Evan Jacobs earned the Family Wealth Director designation, a credential held by only 4% of Morgan Stanley advisors, after completing specialized training in wealth transfer and family oversight. Industry rankings named him one of Louisiana's top wealth advisors for three consecutive years (2023 through 2025).

The team focuses on UHNW families and business owners. Services span alternative capital deployment, trust structures, and exit planning. Morgan Stanley's platform gives clients access to private markets and research that smaller independents cannot replicate.

JECohen

JECohen manages over $100 million and stands out for combining traditional financial planning with venture capital strategies. The firm advises individuals, families, trusts, endowments, and foundations. This makes it one of the more broadly scoped independents in the market.

Real estate exposure complements the venture work. Clients gain access to both stable income and high-growth allocations through a single advisor relationship.

FFC Investment Advisors (Raymond James)

Family governance sits at the center of FFC's practice, a focus no other New Orleans office emphasizes as directly. The team helps families build formal decision-making structures, legacy plans, and wealth transfer frameworks. Raymond James provides the custodial and banking platform, including lending solutions and insurance.

Families managing complex trusts or intergenerational transfers should note FFC's combination of oversight consulting and fiduciary portfolio management.

Beacon Pointe Advisors (New Orleans)

Beacon Pointe's Metairie office fields one of the deepest credential rosters in the market. Partners Bobby Comeaux (JD, AIF) and Walt Bond (JD, CFP) lead a team with CEPA, CPFA, CLU, and LLM designations. Bond specializes in retirement planning for Chevron and Entergy employees, a niche tied directly to the region's energy employer base.

The office provides estate planning, asset protection, and healthcare planning alongside standard portfolio management.

Argent Family Wealth Services

Argent offers CFO-type services to families, handling bill payment, reporting, and cash management alongside trust administration and portfolio oversight. The firm also runs heir preparation programs designed to ready the next generation for wealth management responsibilities.

Families who want a single provider to consolidate both operational financial management and legacy planning will find Argent's scope uncommon in this market.

Investment Trends Shaping This Market

Private Placements and Co-Investment Access

Stokes Family Office offers private placements to qualified and accredited investors. Jacobs Wealth Management Group provides alternative allocation access through Morgan Stanley's platform. Local families with $5 million or more in liquid assets increasingly seek co-investment opportunities in private equity and private credit that were previously limited to institutional portfolios.

Exit and Succession Planning for Gulf South Business Owners

Louisiana has a high concentration of privately held businesses in maritime, energy services, and healthcare. Beacon Pointe and Jacobs Wealth Management both employ CEPA-certified advisors trained in exit and pre-transaction planning. Federal estate tax exemption uncertainty adds urgency for owners considering sales before 2026 sunsets.

Evidence-Based and Direct Indexing Approaches

Stokes Family Office anchors its portfolio strategy in evidence-based construction, a method that relies on academic research rather than market forecasts. A national platform managing $385 billion has also promoted direct indexing as a tax-efficient tool for high-net-worth clients. These approaches reduce costs and improve after-tax returns compared to active fund selection.

Charitable Giving and Community Ties

New Orleans wealth firms show stronger links to local charitable giving than offices in larger metros. Jacobs Wealth Management lists charitable planning as a core service. Argent offers structured giving programs. The city's tight-knit social fabric means families often want advisors who understand both their financial goals and their community commitments.

How to Evaluate a New Orleans Family Office

Louisiana is a community property state. Asset division rules differ sharply from the common law states where most national firms train their advisors. Any office serving local families should demonstrate fluency in Louisiana's Civil Code, forced heirship provisions, and unique trust structures. Stokes Family Office and Council Family Office, both headquartered locally, build these state-specific rules into every plan.

Fiduciary status varies widely in this market. SEC-registered RIAs like Stokes and Beacon Pointe owe a fiduciary duty to clients, meaning they must act in the client's best interest. Wirehouse-affiliated teams at Morgan Stanley and Raymond James operate under broker-dealer standards unless they offer advisory accounts.

In practice, ask whether your advisor acts as a fiduciary on every account, not just select ones.

Fee transparency is another dividing line. Stokes discloses a 0.25% to 1.50% range based on assets. FreeGulliver publishes its $15,000 to $500,000 fixed-fee structure. Several other offices do not publish fee schedules.

Requesting Form ADV Part 2 from any SEC-registered firm will reveal fee ranges, conflicts of interest, and disciplinary history. FINRA BrokerCheck serves the same function for wirehouse advisors.

Custodial platform quality matters because your assets rest with the custodian, not the advisor. Stokes uses Fidelity, Schwab, and Pershing. Council uses Schwab. Verify that any firm you consider separates client assets at a recognized custodian rather than holding them in-house.

Which Family Office Fits Your Needs?

UHNW families with $10 million or more in liquid assets and complex estate structures should focus on Stokes Family Office or Jacobs Wealth Management Group. Stokes offers the independence of an RIA with private placement access. Jacobs provides Morgan Stanley's research and alternative allocation platform.

The choice often comes down to whether a family values independent fiduciary status or global wirehouse resources.

Business owners approaching a sale or succession event will find the most targeted support at Beacon Pointe and Jacobs Wealth Management, both employing CEPA-certified advisors. FFC Investment Advisors adds value for owners who need formal family oversight structures to manage wealth after a liquidity event. For instance, families with $1 million to $5 million who want flat-fee certainty rather than asset-based charges should explore FreeGulliver's fixed-fee model.

Next-generation wealth holders inheriting through Louisiana's forced heirship rules face planning questions that require local legal expertise. Council Family Office, with two JD-credentialed principals and a behavioral finance orientation, serves those conversations well. Argent Family Wealth Services offers dedicated heir preparation programs for families who want structured education alongside portfolio oversight.

Methodology

This guide on the New Orleans family office market draws from SEC filings (Form ADV), firm websites, industry awards databases, and publicly available asset disclosures as of early 2026. The selection criteria included explicit marketing of family office services, public data availability, and relevance to the New Orleans metro area. Asset figures appear only where firms disclosed them through regulatory filings or official communications. The profiles cover both locally founded firms and national platforms with a physical New Orleans presence. This article does not constitute advice or an endorsement of any specific provider.