Sponsor: Ian Hunter – Thesis Asset Management
Moderator: Innes Miller, Scydonia Wealth Markets Consulting
- Inter-generational wealth transfer is a growing opportunity for advisers, but the key question was what the entry/engagement point should be. All the room agreed that it was important to keep the relationships alive within family but how to continue this was the main issue.
- How to get the next generation involved - Trying to engage families is a challenge. Younger members of the family have often been encouraged to join meetings but are often unwilling to engage with their parents’ adviser as they want to make their own choice.
- Some parents don’t want their children to attend the meetings as they want matters to remain private. The challenge is how to build trust with your client. Asking questions that naturally lead to access to the next generation.
- It is difficult for financial advisers to move into the Family Office market. Often they don’t have the skills, capabilities or critical mass of clients. Most Family Offices will the be point of contact for finding lawyers, tax advisers, supervising advisers and putting LPA in place etc. Often the difficulty is finding one person who is at the hub to receive all the information.
- Advisers should be engaging clients on the issue of inheritance tax, planning wills, trusts and pre-nuptual marriage arrangements. This can lead to good starting points for engagement with the next generation. It is important that traditional key questioning techniques are set out. Ultimately the right questions need to be asked so that the younger members of the family are involved in the answers. Ask clients what do they want to leave in their legacy – this often leads to clients thinking about younger members in the family and encourages them to get involved.
- Intergenerational financial planning can help advisers retain clients and their assets, helping to retain value in their business.
Suggestions
Ask your clients to provide a family tree outlining all the relationships so you have a clearer idea of how the family really works.
- The younger generation want something for ‘free’. Offer advice to younger family members to engage at an early stage. Often advisers suit their age group so encourage a younger adviser to deal specifically with the children.
- Advise children very early on that family wealth is staying within the family. State clearly the situation saving arguments in the future – individuals are happier if prepared.
What are the next steps they would like Owen James or one of our associates to take on their behalf?
Provide a white paper outlining how advisers can develop a simple intergenerational wealth advisory proposition through to intergenerational wealth planning services and family office services.
Recommendations:
For Family Office structure - obtain Smith & Williamson, The Blue Book, which is a great point of reference and outlines what is required by Family Office. Meet with the family, go through the book and create a plan.
Professional connections also have a key role to play and the adviser has the opportunity to take the lead in managing these relationships. By doing so, a premium can be applied to the fees being charged as it will ultimately save the client personal time and effort.
