NEW YORK, May 08, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- InvestingChannel, the leading provider of digital media technology solutions for financial publishers and marketers, released findings today of its most recent study of professional financial advisors. Titled, “Mind the Gap: Understanding and Preparing for Intergenerational Wealth Transfer,” InvestingChannel surveyed more than 700 professional financial advisors across the U.S. The study’s findings suggest that in addition to leaving numerous potential fees on the table, financial advisors have done little to retain their clients’ assets as they pass to the next generation.
“Mind the Gap highlights some troubling inconsistencies between financial advisors and their current and future clients,” said Bob Verrico, Executive Chairman at InvestingChannel. “The key takeaway here is that the financial industry must quickly address this watershed moment to bridge these gaps with timely solutions like relevant messaging, product offerings, technologies, and educational and support materials aimed at helping professional advisors attract the next generation of wealth holders. Those advisors able to manage the wealth transfer through both retirement and estate planning will have a significant advantage in capturing a greater percentage of retained or transferred wealth.”
“Mind the Gap” findings include:
- After regulatory and pricing concerns, attracting new clients and maintaining current levels of assets under management are the most important components to the ongoing health of their businesses. Yet, on average, advisors have a wealth-transfer plan in place for barely a third of their clients (36%) if they pass away or become disabled.
- More than 90% of professional financial advisors rate their personal relationship with individual clients as crucial to the health of their businesses.
- 89% of participating advisors admitted speaking with their clients’ heirs less than twice a year, hardly enough to build the required relationships needed to maintain their businesses as the generational wealth transfer occurs.
- Although 90% of surveyed advisors provide retirement income planning to affluent customers, only two-thirds offer estate planning services to the same client base. This demonstrates considerable service for the older generations’ prosperity without much consideration for the best way to support the younger generation.
- Where the wealth under management resides currently, the baby boomer generation comprises the lion’s share of financial advisor clients at about 45%, followed by the Greatest Generation and GenX both at 23% and finally, millennials represent about 9% of the wealth under management.
Though personal relationships remain advisors’ bread and butter, to ensure satisfied clients across generations, they must leverage their position as trusted guides to the financial world in order to fill a financial education gap with younger generations. Experienced advisors with more resources tend to be better prepared, but the younger advisor of the future needs more support than just new technologies to evolve their business.
As the World’s most massive wealth transfer ensues, those advisors with the right mix of products, services, tools, and resources will be best prepared to successfully Mind the Gap. Otherwise, the existing financial services ecosystem could see significant disruption among custodians, platforms and investments that could create disorder among current asset management companies.
About InvestingChannel
InvestingChannel is the premiere provider of digital media technology solutions to financial publishers and marketers. With its portfolio of more than 150 specialized and expert financial publishers — it uniquely provides access to a monthly viewership of more than 25 million individuals that represent the most coveted audience for financial services advertisers. For more information, please visit media.investingchannel.com.
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InvestingChannel Inc.
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