Independent media for the global private client world
Wealth Office is a long-form interview series with the founders, families and private capital holders reshaping the world. Filmed in London's great rooms. Published across Western and Chinese platforms.
The guest's chairEvery Wealth Office conversation is filmed on location in London. The chair is the only seat a guest is offered.
The Wealth Office audience this week
Subscribers and followers across all platforms
Checked 12 Oct 2026. Updated every Monday.
What we are building
Wealth Office is building the independent media brand for the families and principals who hold private capital, and for the advisers, institutions and creators who serve them. Long-form conversations filmed in London's great rooms, published in six languages across Western and Chinese platforms, and organised into the ideas that shape how wealth is held, passed on and put to work.
Wealth Office Insights
Essays drawn from what Wealth Office guests have said on the record. New essays follow every new episode.
News
Briefs on billionaires, family offices and private capital from Bloomberg, Forbes, the South China Morning Post and more. All news
Series architecture
Both series are filmed to the same production standard, in the same rooms, by the same team.
Editorial · Never sponsoredOne-on-one conversations exclusively with private capital-holding principals, authors and academics. The focus is their perspective, and how private capital is building the new world across business, technology, philanthropy and culture.
Exchange · Sometimes sponsoredTwo globally recognised leaders explore one subject where power, risk and long-term consequence intersect. Issue-led dialogue that stress-tests an idea or proposition.
Wealth Office X is where paid collaboration lives. It is always editorially led, never an advertisement in interview form.
The recurring questions
Ranked by how often each theme recurs across the episode library. Each theme has its own page that grows with every new episode.
In the chair
Every guest has a profile page drawing together their episodes, clips and the ideas they put on the record.
Behind the camera
The hosts, producers and strategists who make Wealth Office, in London, Hong Kong and Mumbai. Full biographies
From the comments
Real comments left under Wealth Office episodes on YouTube, quoted exactly as written. Collected weekly; a comment appears only after the team approves it.
Staging Twelve real comments selected for your approval. Commenter names are not shown.
Hosts
Based in London, Michael is a close adviser to some of the world's most ambitious private capital holders, with particular depth across Asia's major business families and family offices. His work sits at the intersection of media, reputation and the relationships shaping this era of private wealth. He is Principal Partner of Michael Macfarlane Associates, which produces Wealth Office.
About the seriesBased in Mumbai. Former South Asia Bureau Chief for the Daily Telegraph and host of The Diplomat's Beyond the Indus podcast, with over a decade advising UHNWIs and family offices across India and South Asia.
Based in Hong Kong. Moves between Western and Greater China circles in English, Mandarin and Cantonese, with long-standing relationships across Asia's family office and private client world.
Published in long, mid and short form
One filmed session becomes a long-form episode, mid-length clips and short-form cuts in English and Mandarin.
Collaboration partners
Wealth Office X places a firm's expertise inside a trusted, independent private client channel, with long-form authority, multi-platform distribution and content built for how AI now recommends people and firms.
Wealth Office Insights
Essays on private capital, family wealth and the forces reshaping the private client world, drawn from what Wealth Office guests have said on the record.
Episodes
Long-form episodes from both series, with an overview, key ideas and verified quotes for each.
Episode overview
In this Wealth Office X conversation, Michael Macfarlane is joined by Gary Hersham and Irina Gamagina to explore ultra-prime real estate and what property means when money is no longer the main constraint. Macfarlane opens with a thought experiment. If he had just sold his company and had $100 million to spend on a home, where should he buy? Hersham chooses London, and prime Belgravia in particular, arguing that conflict in the Middle East and a sense of insecurity in Dubai and Abu Dhabi are restoring London's standing as a safe haven. Gamagina notes that wealthy clients rarely have a single residence, and often hold homes in three or four countries.
The guests describe a market that runs on relationships and discretion. Hersham doubts that much business happens through so-called pocket listings, since properties shown privately are soon discussed over supper. Gamagina recalls Russian buyers at One Hyde Park who arrived through another agent while holding her own brochure. Both describe buyers who may fall for a property but are then disciplined by stamp duty, ownership structures and price, and who now seldom compete at the very top. Gamagina argues that limited stock in prime central London supports prices.
The conversation also traces how the buyer base has shifted, from Russian buyers in Hampstead and Swedish and Nigerian buyers in earlier periods, alongside constant Middle Eastern demand, to Chinese buyers moving from small flats to very large homes and to tech and crypto money today. Outside London, Hersham points to Madrid and Milan, and Gamagina to Zurich, Barcelona and Miami. Both describe purchases as decisions made by the family as a whole, shaped by schools, space and lifestyle, and Gamagina sees a younger generation that prefers new, practical homes to historic houses.
Asked where to spend a hypothetical $100 million on a home, Gary Hersham chooses London, and specifically prime Belgravia. He links this to conflict in the Middle East and a sense of insecurity in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. He also describes a long-standing flight of capital, in which people bring money to the UK to buy property or art so that their capital sits in a safe haven.
Hersham doubts that much ultra-prime business happens through pocket listings. Buyers may browse online, he says, but they call agents they have known for years, and properties shown privately are soon discussed over supper. Irina Gamagina agrees, recalling buyers at One Hyde Park who used another agent despite holding her brochure. What stays private is the identity of the buyer, which London agents rarely disclose.
Both agents describe buyers falling for a property before the costs come into view, including stamp duty and the question of whether a property is held in a company. Hersham says a buyer at £65 million or £70 million may refuse to go up by £5 million because he believes he has found the right price. At the very top, he says, buyers now tend to avoid competing.
Gamagina argues that prime central London will always be stock limited because high-rise building is restricted, which she says gives a measure of price security. Even after reviewing everything on the market, she sometimes cannot find the right property for a client. She acknowledges a few opportunities linked to the UK's economic situation, high stamp duty and new taxes, but believes prices are holding up steadily.
Hersham traces decades of change. Russian buyers favoured Hampstead in the late 1990s and 2000s, Swedish buyers arrived after a tax change, Nigerian buyers followed, and Middle Eastern buyers have been constant. Chinese buyers moved from small flats to very large homes. Gamagina's current clients include Saudi buyers, a British buyer of Indian heritage who decided against Dubai, and tech, longevity and crypto money.
Setting the $100 million budget aside, Hersham names Madrid as one of Europe's fastest-growing cities and points to Milan, which he links to Italy's arrangement allowing a fixed annual tax payment. He expects Paris to pick up soon. Gamagina describes young tech entrepreneurs moving to Zurich for its safety, taxes and lifestyle, and clients settling in Barcelona, Madrid and Miami.
Both agents describe purchases as family decisions shaped by children, schools and space. Gamagina sees families moving just outside London for schools with more room for sport. Among younger buyers she notes a preference for practical new homes with facilities, citing a young tech couple who chose a penthouse at Park Modern over an old house in Belgravia. History, she says, matters less than before.
There's no real secrets about what is available and what is sold in the top end of the residential market.
— Gary Hersham, Wealth Office
It's just basically all about your relationship with your buyer.
— Irina Gamagina, Wealth Office
So, I think London will always be stock limited, prime central London, because we're not allowed to build high-rises on every corner.
— Irina Gamagina, Wealth Office
But really, a buyer wants to feel safe in your hands.
— Gary Hersham, Wealth Office
They didn't buy a piece of history. They wanted triple ceiling height, park views.
— Irina Gamagina, Wealth Office
Quotes are taken word for word from the episode transcript.
Gary Hersham believes London is coming back as a true safe haven, citing conflict in the Middle East and a feeling of insecurity in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Irina Gamagina argues that limited stock in prime central London provides price security. Michael Macfarlane suggests that softer factors, such as schools, friends and local life, also keep people anchored in London.
Gary Hersham says not. In his view there are few real secrets at the top of the London market, and pocket listings of the kind common in California and Los Angeles are rare, because properties shown privately quickly become known. Irina Gamagina agrees that it is hard to keep properties off the market and says success depends on the agent's relationship with the buyer.
Irina Gamagina describes current clients including Saudi buyers, a British buyer of Indian heritage who decided against moving to Dubai, and buyers from tech, longevity and crypto finance, among them the founder of a large Austrian crypto exchange. Gary Hersham notes that Middle Eastern buyers have been a constant presence and that many younger buyers are drawn to Notting Hill.
News
Weekly briefs on billionaires, family offices and private capital, drawn from Bloomberg, Forbes, the South China Morning Post and other leading titles, with context for families and their advisers.
About
Wealth Office is an independent media platform built for the private client world, launched in September 2025 and produced in London.
What Wealth Office is
Wealth Office explores the structural forces reshaping the private client world: the rise of private capital, the globalisation of family wealth, the shift of ambition and innovation toward Asia, the psychology of intergenerational stewardship, and the responsibility that comes with significant capital.
The series speaks with the principals themselves: founders, inheritors and long-term holders of capital, together with the authors and academics who study them. It does not cover market commentary or portfolio management. It asks how private wealth is used, governed and passed on, and what it is building.
Wealth Office is hosted by Michael Macfarlane and produced by a dedicated team in London and Hong Kong. Full biographies follow below.
Ultra-high-net-worth individuals, business-owning families, family offices, next-generation wealth holders, founders, and the lawyers, trustees and advisers who serve them.
Michael Macfarlane, Principal Partner of Michael Macfarlane Associates, is the principal host. Joe Wallen in Mumbai and Stephanie Chen in Hong Kong join as hosts.
The Wealth Office series is never sponsored. Wealth Office X episodes may involve a paid collaboration partner and are always editorially led.
On YouTube at @wealthofficeofficial, with clips on Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Substack, RedNote and Bilibili (as 财富办公室), and audio on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music.
Hosts and team
A London-based team with deep relationships across Asia's family offices, and fluency in English, Mandarin and Cantonese.
Wealth Office XWhere paid collaboration lives. Always editorially led.
Collaboration partners
Firms that serve the private client world collaborate with Wealth Office to own a theme: credible, independent, long-form video in front of the audience that matters, in the format AI-driven search now rewards.
The full collaboration brief, packages and audience data. Approved partners receive a one-time sign-in code by email.
Open the partner briefFor collaborations, Wealth Office X, interviews and press, write to us. Tell us about your firm, the theme you would like to own and your timing.
Email [email protected]