Taikang Family Office manages life, not just wealth in China’s longevity era

From wealth management to integrated family solutions

China’s wealth management market is undergoing a structural shift. As HNW families accumulate wealth and age simultaneously, demand is moving away from advisory-led models towards solutions that can be delivered, experienced and sustained over time. Traditional family office  offices, whether product-driven or advice-led, have played a critical role in  wealth preservation, growth and intergenerational transfer. In the longevity era, however, these priorities are being reframed. Families are increasingly concerned with how wealth supports long-term health, quality retirement, orderly governance, and the continuity of values across generations. The central question is no longer how assets are managed, but how family outcomes are secured.

Within this context, Taikang Family Office has emerged as a distinctive model. By responding early to demographic change and embedding services alongside financial tools, Taikang has set a new reference point for the industry. With such approach, Taikang Family Office was awarded Best Insurance Backed Multi Family Office in China under the Wealth and Social Awards Programme. The following analysis examines the strategic logic behind this model, its service architecture and its implications for the future development of family offices in China.

Strategic Foundation: An ecosystem  shaped by longevity

Taikang Family Office is built on Taikang Insurance Group’s early recognition of longevity as a force reshaping both client needs and economic structure. As China’s population ages at scale, health and retirement are becoming the most significant and enduring areas of demand for affluent families.

In response, Taikang moved beyond the traditional life insurance framework that separates liabilities and assets. Services were introduced as a third structural dimension, creating an integrated model that connects payment capacity, service delivery and long-term investment. This closed loop aligns financial planning with real-life outcomes rather than treating them as separate objectives.

Taikang Family Office  extends this model from individuals to families and,multi-generational structures. Insurance and financial instruments establish future payment capacity, proprietary healthcare and senior living networks ensure service certainty; and the group’s asset management capabilities support long-term capital preservation and growth.

As a result, Taikang Family Office operates as a solution platform rather than a product distributor, with finance as the entry point and physical services anchoring  long-term value. What clients gain is not simply a policy or portfolio, but access to a system designed to support family well-being across the full life cycle.

Core architecture: The Tian, Di, Ren and He framework

Taikang Family Office has systematised its services into a four-parted structure, forming a coherent and comprehensive value framework. Together, these four pillars map client needs across the full family life cycle, from capital formation to long-term governance.

Tian Xing Jian¹: Wealth preservation and growth

The Tian Xing Jian pillar reflects Taikang’s investment and asset management capabilities. Supported by Taikang Asset Management, it focuses on long-term investment stewardship designed to manage volatility and extend value across market cycles.

Member services include designated private wealth managers, onshore asset allocation, offshore advisory support and segregated fund mandates. Through closed-door investment briefings, strategic asset allocation, and customised portfolio management, institutional investment capabilities are translated into sustainable outcomes for family clients. 

Di Shi Kun²: Health and retirement planning

The Di Shi Kun pillar represents Taikang Family Office’s most differentiated competitive advantage. It encompasses family health management, retirement planning, bespoke policy structuring and enterprise health solutions.

At its centre is a “1 + N” private physician model, supported by Taikang’s five medical centres and an extensive healthcare partnership network. Services span more than six medical disciplines and include multidisciplinary consultations.

In retirement planning, Taikang introduced the Family Retirement Confirmation Letter, extending access to senior living communities to siblings, grandchildren, grandparents and other extended family members. Combined with tailored legal arrangements, this approach aligns personal protection with enterprise risk management and strengthens long-term client engagement. 

Ren Chang Jiu³: Wealth protection and intergenerational succession

The Ren Chang Jiu pillar addresses  succession planning through a diversified trust framework covering retirement trusts, family values trust, charitable trusts and real estate trusts. Family values trust integrates financial incentives with family governance mechanisms  to promote cohesion and continuity. To date, Taikang’s insurance trust assets under management have exceeded RMB 50 billion ($7.1 billion), reflecting sustained innovation in safeguarding and transmitting family wealth. 

Using trusts as the central mechanism, Taikang has introduced scenario-based innovations tailored to Chinese family realities. Its pioneering direct-payment insurance trust for senior living enables trust assets to pay retirement community fees directly, addressing concerns related to incapacity and cognitive decline.

He Zhi Yuan: Family governance and capability building

He Zhiyuan addresses non-financial dimensions of family continuity, including culture, education, governance and networks. Services include family charter formulation, art education and collection services in partnership with China Guardian Auctions, next-generation development programmes, and curated access to elite business communities such as the Yabuli China Entrepreneur Forum. Together, these offerings support the cultivation of family identity and durable governance capacity. 

Core strengths and market positioning

Taikang Family Office’s competitiveness rests on several structural advantages.

First, Taikang’s ecosystem is built on long-term commitment, supported by sustained investment in  a nationwide healthcare and senior living network that is difficult to replicate. The deep integration of finance and services ensures consistency, service quality and client loyalty.

Second, the Happiness Assurance Programme has accumulated more than 250,000 mid- to high-net-worth  clients, providing a strong internal client base and reducing acquisition costs while reinforcing trust.

Third, innovation is driven by concrete client needs. Products such as direct-payment retirement trusts and family values trusts respond directly to concerns around ageing, health and succession.

Finally, Taikang has invested heavily in professional capability building, including structured training for investment advisers, integrated legal and tax platforms, and the systematic development of health and wealth planners. Together, these form a durable professional moat.

Aligned with China’s ageing society and the generational transition of first-generation entrepreneurs, Taikang Family Office occupies a distinctive and sustainable position in the market. 

Conclusion

Taikang Family Office has redefined insurance-based financial tools from instruments of risk coverage into an ecosystem that connects present and future, wealth and health, individuals and families, and material security with long-term values.

Its experience points to a clear direction for China’s wealth management sector. As financial products become increasingly standardised, the ability to integrate finance with proprietary, service-based ecosystems is emerging as the decisive source of competitive advantage.

Through its Tian, Di, Ren, and He framework, Taikang Family Office not only delivers comprehensive solutions for the longevity era but also sets a distinctive benchmark for the evolution of multi family offices in China. It demonstrates that family office services can move beyond products and contracts to become embedded in the family life cycle and governance structure.

Looking ahead, Taikang’s continued exploration will shape not only its own development, but also the future definition of the Chinese family office model and the sector’s transition from wealth management to integrated wealth and life management. In this context, the future of family offices in China will be determined less by financial sophistication than by their ability to deliver real, long-term life outcomes.

• ^1.“Tian Xing Jian” literally means the unceasing strength/movement/vigour of the Heaven, first appeared in I Ching and traditionally associated with leadership, governance, efforts, creation and growth.
• ²“Di Shi Kun” literally means the devoted, receptive support of the earth, first appeared in I Ching as well and commonly represents support, morality, caring, inclusiveness, patience and nourishment.
• ³“Ren Chang Jiu,” a modern neo-classical expression with roots from Dao De Jing and The Analects of Confucius, expresses continuity, endurance, longevity and moral transmission.