Clients need you to bring your wealth transfer A-game, or they may switch

With anywhere between $80 trillion and $120 trillion set to transfer between generations in the years ahead, investors are getting nervous that they may not be prepared to take full advantage of their windfall.

Advisors who recognize and meet this demand are likely to be shown loyalty, but those who don’t could find clients leaving with large amounts of investable assets at stake. Most indicate that it’s likely they will use the same advisor but almost half only say this is “somewhat likely.”

Half say they are underprepared and 45% believe investment needs have become more complex in the last two years, but even though two thirds state the importance of being prepared for generational wealth transfer, just 28% have been adequately engaged with their advisor to take full advantage.

The findings are from a new survey of more than 3,600 investors from mass affluent to ultra-high-net-worth by EY.

The report shows that preparedness for the wealth transfer varies little between generations or between mass affluent and levels of high-net-worth individuals, prompting around half to seek additional advice on their investments and 44% to take more control of their own portfolios.

Jun Li, EY Global and Americas Wealth and Asset Management Leader, says that while the report shows that wealthy clients are generally happy with their wealth managers, the report reveals that there are some challenges.

“Clients perceive complexity around their wealth to be increasing, and many feel unprepared for market volatility, geopolitical uncertainty, and also critical areas like wealth transfer,” he said. “Wealthy clients across demographics and regions are now actively seeking more holistic guidance and advisor interactions. In the current climate, it is not enough to simply satisfy clients anymore. Wealth managers that can expand their scope to bring clients a combination of personalized products, advice and ancillary services will be the ones that can differentiate in a crowded market.”

The report also found that around a third of respondents hold digital assets such as cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and tokenized assets. This rises to almost half among millennials.

AI is viewed as important with six in ten expecting their provider to include the technology in their offering although data privacy is a concern.