Concierge for HNWIs: How to Hire and Limits in 2026

A concierge for high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) is a contracted service that handles the logistics of life for people with large wealth: travel, aviation, health, security, shopping and scheduling. It does not replace a lawyer, accountant or wealth manager. What decides whether the service helps or exposes you is the contract: scope, confidentiality, powers granted and who pays each expense.

What does an HNWI concierge actually do?

It executes and coordinates. It books flights and lodging, organizes a family's move, schedules appointments and oversees the routine of household staff, for example. In families with several residences and countries, it also acts as the bridge between suppliers and the professionals who handle the legal and tax side.

The limit lies in what the service does not decide: where tax residency is, who owns a property or an aircraft, and how the expense enters the tax return. Those choices remain with you and your advisors. Without that clear division, the concierge ends up signing and paying for things that should go through a contract and a tax review.

What is the difference between a concierge, a family office and a wealth manager?

The difference is in the function. The concierge handles day-to-day life, the family office coordinates the family's wealth and succession, and the manager decides on investments. The table summarizes the scope of each.

For the design of a family office, see the guide on offshore family office. For succession, the succession planning service handles the part the concierge should not touch.

How do you hire a concierge without losing control?

Hire in writing, with a closed scope and limited powers. The contract must say what the provider may buy on your behalf, up to what amount, with which documents, and how the accounting reaches your accountant. Avoid a broad power of attorney and a card with no limit, because spending without an invoice or without a recorded purpose becomes a problem when it is time to file your return.

Five points deserve their own clause: the scope and what is left out, confidentiality, the list of subcontractors, the duty to account and the way to end the contract. On price, there is no reliable table that applies to everyone. Ask for a written proposal, with what is included, what is passed through at cost and which fees apply to each purchase.

How do you protect personal data and the family's security?

The concierge knows your routine, addresses, trips and often health data. Brazil's General Data Protection Law (LGPD), Law No. 13,709/2018 (Lei 13.709/2018), treats health data as sensitive personal data (art. 5, II) and requires those who process data to adopt technical and administrative security measures against unauthorized access and leaks (art. 46). A processor that fails to comply with the law or the controller's instructions is jointly liable for the damages (art. 42, § 1, I).

In practice, ask the provider: what data it keeps, where, for how long and with whom it shares it. Require subcontractors to assume the same obligations in writing. The topic of wealth privacy is developed in asset privacy: legal strategies. For medical coverage outside the country, see international health for HNWIs.

Who should own the jet, the yacht or the artwork?

It depends on residency, use and the registration law of the asset, and the decision belongs to the lawyer and the accountant, not the concierge. Two examples show why.

In Brazil, ownership of an aircraft is acquired, among other ways, by recording the transfer title in the Brazilian Aeronautical Registry (Registro Aeronáutico Brasileiro) (Brazilian Aeronautics Code, Código Brasileiro de Aeronáutica, art. 115, IV). In the US, the registration rule of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requires the applicant to be a US citizen or a foreign resident, and when title is held in trust, the trustees must be citizens or residents (14 CFR § 47.7). In other words, "having a company abroad" is not enough to register an aircraft; the design must be checked case by case. The subject is covered in offshore private jet: structure, and art and luxury goods in luxury assets offshore and in alternative investments: art and wine.

Can an offshore company pay personal expenses?

This is the question that demands the most care, and the answer belongs to your accountant. For a Brazilian resident, Law No. 14,754/2023 (Lei 14.754/2023) requires reporting on the Annual Adjustment Return (Declaração de Ajuste Anual) the profits and dividends of controlled foreign entities, at a rate of 15% (art. 2). If the company pays a personal expense, the accountant must say whether it amounts to a distribution, how to document it and where to declare it. Paying without that analysis creates a liability that only shows up later.

The same law provides that the profit of the controlled entity is taxed on December 31 when it is in a favored-taxation country or has own active income below 60% of total income (art. 5, § 5). The law defines own active income as revenue obtained from the controlled entity's own economic activity (art. 5, § 6, I), so a company that only receives contributions and pays the owner's expenses does not fit that concept. For that reason, the concierge contract should provide for invoices to be issued in the name of whoever actually pays, and tax planning should be done before the company takes on the expense.

What reporting obligations arise with assets and accounts abroad?

Real estate, aircraft, artworks and accounts outside Brazil are Brazilian capital abroad. Law No. 14,286/2021 (Lei 14.286/2021) defines the term as funds, assets, rights and holdings of any nature held outside the national territory by residents (art. 8, I) and authorizes the Central Bank of Brazil to request information, defining those responsible, deadlines and criteria (art. 10, III). The current limits and deadlines are on the Central Bank's page for the Declaration of Brazilian Capital Abroad (CBE), which must be read in the year of the declaration.

The practical step is to keep a single inventory of assets and accounts, with the value, date and document for each item, kept up to date by the accountant. Whoever provides the compliance service uses that inventory to check the filings in both countries.