When I was asked by my former employer to move to the US from Geneva,

Switzerland, they had pushed the idea of moving to Manhattan. However, an alternative opportunity arose within the bank to relocate to Florida. My family and I first looked at the

opportunity back in early 2013, there was no pandemic and we knew both places for short work trips or family vacations. In the end, we chose to move to Boca and later Delray Beach in South Florida.

We have been witnessing a Florida renaissance of late; the pandemic has pushed people to rethink where they live because the impact COVID had on their families, cities and businesses. Initially, many States went into a total lock down- shuttering businesses, hotels and restaurants, some of which will never recover.

Then came the murder of George Floyd and the rise of BLM. The demonstrations that ensued added asecond wave of mass exodus and people living in high rise buildings began to flee their cities in search of single-family homes. Apartment/condo buildings became synonymous with Covid-19 super spreaders. Couple this with high State taxes, a non-friendly business environment and continued lockdowns or restrictions: Manhattan, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago started to look less compelling.

In the past 6 months, South Florida has been inundated with announcements of people moving to the Sunshine State, such as Carl Icahn and Paul Singer. Companies like Citadel and Goldman Sachs have made similar overtures, with an expectation of more to come.

So what does this mean for UHNW and their single-family offices? In my opinion, we need to take thepandemic out of the equation, as there is an expectation that most Americans will get vaccinated by Juneand things will start to gently normalise as offices slowly reopen. The pandemic has taught us the ability to be able to dost effective meetings without being in person, where zoom has become part of our vernacular.

South Florida is fast becoming the centre of excellence for Family Offices; there is quality of life, good weather, comparatively lower salaries, lower taxes, plenty of office space at more affordable rates, businessincentives from local governments, an increase of start-ups and a business-friendly local government. As remote working has become part of the norm, the need to be in metropolitan city is less of a necessity.

Florida was always perceived as a place that lacks quality when it comes to medical services, but this has changed. Hospitals such as Boca Regional and Baptist have focused on attracting top talent, through the investment in their properties and technology. Financial institutions have focused on mobility; they are moving their top talent to South Florida in anticipation of an increase in migration, due to fiscal snowbirds.