Having a plan isn't enough: family conversations drive wealth transfer readiness

Wealth and paperwork alone are not enough to make families feel prepared for the future with only 37 percent of older adults with significant assets reporting high peace of mind about their overall planning, even among those who have completed key estate, retirement, and healthcare documents.

The findings from a Fidelity Investments report are drawn from the 2026 Transition Ready Family study conducted through the Fidelity Center for Family Engagement, and highlight how the planning conversation must extend far beyond documents and investment accounts.

"Creating a plan is only part of preparing families for future transitions," said Timothy Habbershon, managing director and founder of the Fidelity Center for Family Engagement, in a written statement. "For families to have peace of mind, it requires ongoing conversations and a shared understanding so family members can confidently carry out those plans."

The study surveyed 654 married or partnered U.S. adults aged 55 or older with a total net worth of at least $500,000 and at least one adult child. Research was conducted between November 2025 and January 2026 by Publicis Sapient.

Wealth doesn't solve the problem

The study reveals that financial success provides only a limited buffer. More than four in 10 respondents with over $5 million in net worth reported only moderate or low peace of mind. Wealthier households were no more likely to have lower anxiety about their planning than less affluent peers.

Even among those who had completed their planning documents, more than half still lacked peace of mind. The study found that 51 percent of people who finalized plans, without communicating them to family, still reported insufficient confidence. Those who shared completed estate plans with their adult children, by contrast, were more than three times as likely to report high confidence in their planning.

The implications for advisors are significant. As InvestmentNews has reported, why leading firms are building their practices around estate planning rather than portfolio management alone is becoming a defining differentiator, particularly as demand for guidance on wealth transfer accelerates.

Communication gaps put transfers at risk

The research reveals a series of persistent gaps between what families have planned and what they have actually shared. Only 21 percent of parents said they had communicated a completed estate plan to their children. Just 18 percent had shared their retirement plans, and 13 percent their healthcare plans.

Meanwhile, about one-third of parents say they have never had an open dialogue with their adult children on any planning topic. The top reported barrier: they felt the matter had already been discussed and required no further conversation. For those who had never had any planning dialogue at all, the most common obstacle was simply not knowing how to start.

These patterns matter not only for families but for advisory practices. Research from Cerulli Associates has consistently shown that asset retention drops sharply when wealth moves to the next generation and how advisors can put families first to retain next-generation clients has become one of the industry's most pressing practice management questions.

Amanda Lott, head of Financial Planning and Advice Products at Fidelity Investments, underscored the opportunity in a written statement: "For many families, preparedness isn't just about having a plan in place. It's about ensuring loved ones understand that plan and are ready to carry it forward when needed."

What transition readiness actually looks like

The Fidelity study introduces the concept of "transition readiness" - a measure combining financial preparation, family conversations, and shared understanding of future roles. Families with high transition readiness were four times more likely to have high peace of mind than those with lower readiness. They were also five times more likely to have high confidence specifically in their estate and end-of-life planning.

Notably, the highest net worth households were no more likely to score highly on transition readiness than those with more modest assets, reinforcing the idea that dollars on their own do not confer preparedness.

While 66 percent of parents said their adult children would play a significant role in executing their plans, nearly one-third of those parents had never spoken with their children about what that role would involve. Parents who had discussed future roles were more likely to have completed and communicated their plans, and to have had open dialogues across all three planning areas.

A health event did not change these patterns. Despite identifying a major health incident as the top reason they would become more transparent with adult children, parents who had experienced such an event were no more likely to have open dialogues or share planning details than those who had not.

The advisor's role in starting the conversation

The research points to an opening for advisors willing to move beyond investment management into the harder, more personal conversations that families routinely avoid. As Habbershon put it in Fidelity's statement: "Families today are navigating increasingly complex financial and life decisions." Helping clients move from having a plan to ensuring their families can carry it out represents a meaningful expansion of advisor value.

As one recent InvestmentNews contributor argued, the great wealth transfer is fundamentally a trust transfer and the advisors best positioned to capture it are those who have already built relationships that extend across generations.

The Fidelity Center for Family Engagement offers tools, coaching, and conversation guides to help advisors facilitate these discussions. The full 2026 Transition Ready Family report is available through the Fidelity Generations Project website.