Is Your Value Proposition Ready For The Great Wealth Transfer?
It’s called The Great Wealth Transfer and unless you’re a financial advisor that’s been living under a rock for the past half dozen or so years, you know exactly what it is and what it means. Over the next quarter century almost half the wealth in the United States will shift from older generations to subsequent ones and for financial firms and advisors, it is a historic event that will reshape the wealth management profession.
They Are Not Their Parents’ Investors
One thing certain in the coming years and decades is that it will no longer be business as usual for advisors and their clients.The reason change is inevitable is because the values espoused by generations that made the money and those set to inherit it will often be dissimilar and even contradictory. As such, the value proposition that resonated with an advisor’s older, current clientele may have diminished or negligible impact on their offspring.
Advisors that fail to adapt their value propositions to the evolving financial landscape will face perilous times. According to Cerulli Associates, over 70% of heirs are likely to fire or change financial advisors after inheriting their parent’s wealth. It is therefore imperative that advisors take a hard look at their current value propositions and begin rethinking ways to make it more meaningful to next-gen investors.
Be Relevant To Next-Gen Investors
Advisors seeking to retain management of assets across multiple generations need to bring a new lens and perspective to the table when meeting with next-gen clients. The old school approach of being just a competent, experienced service provider may have been sufficient with their elders, but it is not enough to earn and keep the trust of their children. The financial advisors that the next generations of investors want must provide services and advice that are in cadence with their unique values and overall vision of the world in which they live.
The relationships that advisors create with next-gen clients will be different from those of their parents. Younger generations want to be listened to and taken seriously, so never assume you know them just because you knew their parents. They will be highly educated, well-informed investors who are more apt to be actively engaged in the mechanics of wealth management. Keeping portfolio performance in line with objectives may be a shared value among all generations, but that is where the similarity typically ends. Today’s younger generations want to create a partnership with an advisor who they believe truly understands them and shares their values on finance and life.
Evolve Your Value Proposition
There is that word again: values. If you can communicate the unique value you bring to the new generations of investors, The Great Wealth Transfer is an event that will enable unprecedented opportunities for growth. Transforming your current value proposition to one that speaks to the heads and hearts of your clients’ children is not an option to consider. It is a mandate for success during The Great Wealth Transfer. It must explain to them in ways they clearly understand why you uniquely qualified to help make their world a better place.
As Bob Dylan sang, “the times, they are a-changin.” There may be no better example of this today than what is happening now and will continue to occur during The Great Wealth Transfer. Advisors that want to transform heirs into clients will need to do business differently than in the past. They will have value propositions that evolve with the times and tell a different story from the one their parents heard.
Reevaluate your value proposition regularly for its relevance to the realities of next-gen investors. Tell a story about you that they will want to listen to, remember and share with others in their professional and social circles. Explain to them why you are not just different, but better than other advisors seeking their business. If you can communicate to them how your understanding of the past can build the bridges to their future, The Great Wealth Transfer will be a time that changes your world and theirs for the better.
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