With more assets to protect, high-net-worth (HNW) individuals tend to have more advisors than the average investor. According to a recent study from Bank of America Private Bank1, nearly two-thirds of wealthy individuals work with multiple advisors—including financial advisors and planners, accountants, estate attorneys, and private bankers—who manage their investments and financial landscape.
Financial advisors have a unique opportunity to gain a competitive edge by connecting the dots across a client’s financial life. While other financial professionals may handle individual pieces, the financial advisor who brings all these services together becomes the one the client turns to for more.
Long-term financial planning is critical for helping HNW individuals meet their goals and protect their legacy. Advisors who take the lead on financial planning have an opportunity to increase their value, deepen relationships with clients and their families, and open the door to greater wallet share.
What are high-net-worth clients concerned about?
While HNW individuals have a number of financial concerns, their #1 concerns are surprisingly straightforward: “Am I going to be ok in retirement?” and “Can I maintain my current lifestyle in retirement?”
But the questions don’t stop there. Beyond retirement, HNW clients are focused on how to:
- Protect wealth amidst economic volatility
- Minimize tax exposure with sophisticated tax management
- Plan for philanthropic goals
- Navigate complex family dynamics and generational estate planning
- Prepare for reductions in the estate tax exclusion
- Preserve their legacy
Research shows between 2017 and 2023, HNW clients have shown increasing interest beyond retirement planning. Many of these concerns can be mitigated by working closely with HNW clients and using rapport-building techniques to get a better understanding of their needs and goals. With this deep insight, financial advisors can craft a plan that addresses their concerns and unique circumstances and builds confidence in their financial future.
Legacy planning is about relationships, not just transfers
"Death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate."
–Ambrose Bierce
When generational wealth is involved, there needs to be a plan to make sure everything transfers smoothly and without conflict. While many HNW individuals tend to have good relationships with their advisors,1 only 60% of practices have a relationship with the client's spouse, and only 45% have a relationship with children.2 So it’s not surprising that studies show 90% of most children and heirs will leave their parents’ advisor upon receiving their inheritance.3 This presents both a gap and an opportunity.
Building relationships with many generations can help advisors understand generational goals. Those relationships can help advisors facilitate timely conversations between the HNW individual and their heirs to help make the transfer process smoother.
While family dynamics and challenges may be exasperated by wealth, there’s a lot that can be done from a planning perspective to help HNW individuals avoid leaving a legacy of conflict. Tools like Legacy Studio from Envestnet Wealth Studios can help show what the transfer of wealth looks like between generations, the impact of establishing trusts, and the potential benefits of various gifting strategies. It’s well worth exploring these estate planning strategies and building relationships with investors’ families now to make the most of the years to come.
The financial planning lifecycle for high-net-worth individuals
Successful HNW financial planning unfolds in stages, beginning with foundational goals and gradually incorporating more advanced planning strategies. This structured approach allows advisors to build comprehensive wealth strategies that align with clients' priorities while adapting to their evolving needs over time.
Start with lifestyle, not legal documents
When working with HNW individuals, it can help to start with goals-based planning that addresses investors’ lifestyle and goals instead of focusing on legal documents like wills or trusts. Keeping it simple and focusing on what truly matters to clients can keep clients engaged. It can also uncover gaps and surface hidden assets that might otherwise remain undiscovered.
Envestnet’s MoneyGuide Goal Plan (formerly MoneyGuidePro) can help translate clients’ lifestyle objectives into concrete financial strategies. Even ultra-affluent clients benefit from seeing a probability of success for their goals—it makes the abstract feel real.
Transition to cashflow and scenario planning
For many high-net-worth clients, a high probability of success doesn't mean the planning work is done—it means it's just beginning. Once a client’s goals are defined and their basic retirement picture is in focus, that’s your cue to go deeper.
Cashflow and scenario-based planning are critical next steps. You can use Lifestyle Studio from Envestnet Wealth Studios to model real-world events like market declines, Roth conversions, and tax sunsets to show their potential long-term impact. This interactive approach can help HNW individuals become co-creators in shaping their financial future.
Time to factor in estate planning
Estate planning is complex, but Legacy Studio can help advisors and clients get a better handle on estate planning strategies. Using Legacy Studio, advisors can visualize estate transfers, simulate first and second death scenarios, and model complex trust strategies while quantifying the potential impact on heirs, taxes, and charitable outcomes. Unequal distributions can cause conflicts, and built-in fairness planning features can address prior gifts and sibling dynamics to help families navigate sensitive conversations about these topics.
By providing clear data visualization of different scenarios, advisors can help clients balance financial optimization with family harmony in their wealth transfer strategies.
Transform planning into an ongoing partnership
Family dynamics evolve, laws shift, and charitable priorities change. That’s why MoneyGuide is designed to help advisors seamlessly update plans. The idea is to make planning your service model—not just a one-time event—to strengthen relationships with your clients and their heirs.
As the solid foundation of a comprehensive wealth management relationship, successful financial planning extends beyond investment management to encompass a client's entire financial life.
Neither Envestnet, Envestnet | PMC nor its representatives render tax, accounting or legal advice.
Automate tasks. Prioritize relationships.
By leveraging technology to streamline routine processes and customize investment approaches, advisors can dedicate more time to the meaningful personal connections. With Envestnet | MoneyGuide, advisors can deliver the sophisticated, personalized service that high-net-worth clients expect while building deeper relationships across generations.
Comprehensive planning for mutual success
For advisors serving high-net-worth clients, comprehensive financial planning is a win-win. While helping clients achieve their goals, it simultaneously unlocks opportunities for greater share of wallet through asset consolidation, builds competitive differentiation in the marketplace, and enables intergenerational wealth retention that benefits both advisors and the families they serve.
To take a test drive of Envestnet | MoneyGuide, visit www.moneyguidepro.com/ifa/Home/Trial
