UPDATE, AUGUST 21, 2015: Captain’s Family Office has rebranded as Crew Family Office. (The original Captain’s Family Office website is still operational as of this writing, but will be point to the new website eventually.) Crew Family Office continues to offer the same financial services, including tax filings, banking assistance, and property investment. The staff are former crew who have gone on to work in the business sector on land. Their goal is to help current crewmembers not just make wise financial choices while in the industry, but also go on to other stages in life in good stead. BlackStar Group is no longer involved.
Read on for the original article.
Many megayacht owners tap the expertise of certified financial planners and/or family offices to manage their wealth, handle tax issues, and more. Unfortunately, oftentimes their crew not only don’t know how to manage their finances properly, but in some cases are being preyed upon by unscrupulous “advisors” more interested in lining their own pockets. That’s a primary reason why the Captain’s Family Office was created by the BlackStar Group, a UK-based wealth- and tax-management firm that has been working with megayacht owners on tailored solutions for VAT, MCA compliance, and more for the past five years of its seven-year history.
In fact, according to Jason Dobson, BlackStar’s director, at least one such owner approached his team and requested they look into some financial advice his crewmembers had received. Dobson says the owner was concerned, and rightfully so: The advice was incorrect, and unethical. It’s not hard to imagine this happening to other crewmembers, too, and combined with the well-known fact that most twentysomethings rarely think about managing their money now or for retirement, it’s a problem. Captain’s Family Office marks the first time BlackStar is providing its services to captains and crew—and, to our knowledge, is the first of any similar firm offering financial assistance to these young professionals.
Through its existing megayacht clients as well as yacht-management companies, Captain’s Family Office provides various financial and legal solutions. These include setting up bank accounts and even transferring them to new countries, if necessary, when a crewmember’s home base changes; researching investment options, especially for retirement; obtaining mortgages; exchanging currency; establishing wills; and setting aside cash for medical emergencies. “We want to help them plan their future out correctly and protect them, now and for that future,” Dobson explains. Since BlackStar is staffed by certified tax professionals and financial planners, as well as legal advisors, those same specialists advise megayacht captains and crew who use Captain’s Family Office. In addition, all captains and crew have a single point of contact, Alice Moore (pictured), for ease.
Interesting enough, the megayacht industry isn’t the only one taking notice of this new service. Dobson adds that the UKSA, which provides professional training to UK-based youth interested in entering the marine industry at large, recently approached his team to establish a partnership. The goal is to ensure the cadets enrolled get a solid financial footing, too.
Crew interested in exploring their options can review the Captain’s Family Office website and then call or email with questions; of course, owners concerned about their crew are welcome to do the same. One important note, for American crew: Because BlackStar does not presently have U.S.-based clients, Dobson says it brings in outside specialists, due to IRS tax regulations.
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