From Fragmented to Fit: Building an Integrated System for Clients’ Financial Health

When people visit the doctor, they want health care that considers every aspect of their wellness and expect guidance based on an analysis of their overall health situation. A similar approach should apply to investment and financial planning. Advisors must take a comprehensive view of clients’ financial goals and how every component works together for financial health.

Yet many advisors still default to a patchwork approach. For instance, they may engage a CPA, estate attorney, and insurance professional only when the need arises for their clients. Or, too often, communication to these key professionals falls to the client. That lack of cohesion can have serious consequences for financial goals, such as in these common situations:

• A portfolio adjustment intended to reduce volatility triggers avoidable capital gains because tax consequences were not evaluated first.
• An estate plan is updated, but beneficiary designations and retirement income strategies remain unchanged.
• Insurance coverage addresses one risk while broader liability protection or business continuity planning is overlooked.

When advisors don’t provide clients with an integrated planning team, gaps can surface over time, such as higher taxes, unintended concentration, inadequate risk protection or plans that falter during retirement, a business transition or a family inheritance. If advisors want to remain competitive and offer the best services to their clients, they need a comprehensive team.

Out of many, one comprehensive plan

Clients take on increasingly complex financial lives as they gain wealth. For instance, they must manage retirement income, investment risk, tax and estate planning, insurance protection, and cash-flow, just to name a few.

Like our health, finances are inherently integrated. They often intersect in ways that are only noticed after costly mistakes occur. That’s why wealth managers should offer coordinated, multidisciplinary teams. The trends bear this out.

In a 2023 McKinsey survey, 47% of wealthy clients prefer holistic advice across their wealth management, up from 29% in 2018. Meanwhile, InvestmentNews reported that the number of financial relationships per household contracted to 2.4 providers last year from 2.7 in 2023. Both studies support the idea that clients want a more centralized approach to their wealth management needs.

What integrated wealth management means in practice

Integrated wealth management is a service model in which planning, investments, taxes, estate strategy and risk management are designed as one system with clear accountability. All aspects of financial health are laid out with clear ownership and responsibility so clients don’t need to second guess who’s handling what, how specialists coordinate, whether taxes are considered, or what happens when priorities or life changes. They can feel comfortable that their full financial picture is properly managed.

Clients can see four practical, cross-cutting benefits to integrated wealth management:

1. Tax-aware decisions: Evaluate tax impact before action—loss harvesting, charitable moves, Roth conversions and withdrawal sequencing—so taxes can support long‑term goals.
2. Income aligned with the plan: Social Security timing, Medicare, RMDs and spending are aligned with portfolio and tax strategy to help sustain lifestyle and legacy goals.
3. Estate execution that works: Titling, beneficiaries, trust funding, insurance ownership and liquidity are checked for consistency so plans can function after events or law changes.
4. Risk tied to realities: Insurance, liability, disability and long‑term care are integrated with cash flow and business continuity, not treated as isolated items.

A single coordinated team can reduce the costly gaps of unexpected taxes, concentration risk, inadequate protection and failed plans.

The expanding reach of family office-style services

While single‑family offices once served only the ultra‑wealthy, they are gaining in popularity and the model is evolving.

Deloitte estimates there are over 8,000 single family offices globally and projects the number will rise 75% to nearly 11,000 by the end of this decade. The firm also projects family office assets could reach $5.4 trillion by 2030.

Firms like Summit Financial are making family office-style resources—multi‑disciplinary professionals, centralized coordination, bespoke strategies and ongoing oversight—accessible to more advisors and their clients. These offerings give firms the best of both worlds: access to deeper planning and tighter coordination without the cost of building a full in‑house family office. Advisors can then meet the rising demand for comprehensive, high‑touch service.

A simple test for coordination

To evaluate whether the guidance and planning you provide clients is truly aligned with their goals, consider one question: When a major decision occurs do you and the client understand the consequences across investments, taxes, estate planning and risk?

Integrated planning doesn’t eliminate uncertainty, market volatility or life’s surprises. What it can provide is a clearer path forward and the reassurance that decisions are working together rather than in isolation. For many clients, this sense of alignment and peace of mind may be the most valuable outcome of all.

Stan Gregor is the Chairman and CEO of Summit Financial.

Summit Financial, LLC, a SEC Registered Investment Adviser established in November 2018, is the successor firm to Summit Equities, Inc. (registered with the SEC in 1991) and Summit Financial Resources, Inc. (registered with the SEC in 1983) for all of their investment advisory and financial planning business.