October 2021
Wealth Transfer: Prepare – EMEA
How are you preparing your practice for the future?
Practical issues to consider
As you prepare yourself and your practice for the great wealth transfer there are several practical issues that need to be considered. When thinking about your service model and engaging with your clients and your clients’ children you need to consider whether or not you as the advisor, particularly if you lead a team, if you have the time and the inclination to sit down with a 25- or a 30-year old. You need to ask yourself, “”How am I going to incorporate services that might better serve working with my client’s children? Who on my team would be a good fit to take on these clients and do they have the bandwidth?” And not only do they have the bandwidth but particularly if they’re younger team members, there may be more of a connection just simply because they’re of the same age or of the same generation.
Another practical solution that we need to come to terms with is this: For the most part our industry isn’t necessarily set up for you to work with younger people whose net worth comprises their human capital. Our industry is set up to generally work with people who have had very successful careers and whose primary net worth is their financial capital. For the average person, they start out with a lot of human capital and that declines over time as they approach retirement. Along the same lines, one’s financial capital starts out very low and begin to increase over time until they reach their peak earning years, so the practical consideration for many of us is that our expertise and the way that we’re set up is to help manage people’s money so that we’re able to help them use that money to do the things in life they want to do, whatever those things may be.
Best Practices for Introducing Legacy Planning Conversations
- Introduce topic as an agenda item in an annual/regular meeting.
- Clearly articulate your value proposition to clients, i.e., as a resource to the couple and the next generation. Focus on communication of family values, health care and end-of-life directives, as well as financial training and preparation for the next generation.
- Coach and educate about the importance of legacy conversations for the success of a wealth transfer.
- Use a customized, client-centric approach in the meeting. Tie your value proposition to the clients’ family circumstances using specific examples in the meeting.
- Set a date for the family meeting and act as an accountability partner.
This article is intended for use in Italy