Why do 70% of next-gen heirs plan to leave their wealth advisors? Webinar recap and key takeaways

The wealth management industry faces an unprecedented challenge: $20 trillion transferring to the next generation, with 70% of heirs planning to switch advisors. This webinar recap explores why next-gen clients abandon traditional wealth advisors and how firms can adapt their digital and AI strategies to capture this massive opportunity.

The numbers that tell the story

• 70% of heirs won't retain their parent's advisor. Not because of poor service. Because the experience doesn't match next-gen expectations.
• 96% of advisors now want Gen AI tools to help them be more effective. The resistance is gone.
• Firms implementing unified advisor experiences are seeing AUM per advisor increase up to 76%.
• Most AI projects fail to reach production. Not because of the technology. Because of scalability issues and data problems.
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The wealth management landscape is shifting

Wealth management is undergoing massive transformation driven by generational change and AI adoption. Firms must simultaneously serve digital-first next-gen clients while retaining existing relationships that demand personalization and advisor connections.

The pressure is real. Wealth firms face mounting challenges:

• Operational drag: Market consolidation creates complexity
• Rising costs: Manual processes don't scale with growth
• Technical debt: Legacy maintenance consumes innovation budgets
• Client expectations: Demand speed, consistency, and seamless channel movement

Modernization isn't optional anymore.

"The pace of change in wealth management right now is unlike anything we've seen in years. There's pressure coming from every angle - growth, cost to serve, regulation, expectations, and now every single conversation is involving AI." - Joe Sullivan, Senior Director of Strategic Accounts – Wealth & Private Banking

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The $20 trillion opportunity and risk

Over $20 trillion is passing to the next generation in the coming years. 70% of heirs won't retain their parent's advisor because the experience doesn't match next-gen expectations.

FAQ: Why do heirs change financial advisors?
Heirs switch advisors because they expect digital-first experiences, not because of poor service from the current advisor.

But here's the flip side. If you can meet them where they are digitally while maintaining trust, you can capture relationships that would otherwise walk out the door.

"This is definitely a risk because the next generation will change advisers, but definitely also an opportunity because it means you have 70% of clients who will definitely consider you as a potential alternative to their existing advisers." - Jules Bourdeaux, Principal Wealth Expert & GTM Lead

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Advisors are drowning in admin work

The current advisor experience is broken. Advisors are drowning in system complexity:

• Multiple systems: Five different logins to complete one task
• Productivity drain: Admin work replaces client interaction
• Talent retention: Next-gen advisors expect better tools

The good news? Advisors now want AI - 96% want Gen AI tools to help them be more effective. But it must be embedded in existing workflows, not added as another silo or login.

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"We like to talk about the 90 degree client view because very often you will have 90 degree here, 90 degree there. You're just jumping between your CRM, your portfolio management view, even sometimes the systems of record themselves, which are far from being user intuitive." - Jules Bourdeaux, Principal Wealth Expert & GTM Lead

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What good actually looks like

The best firms aren't patching fragmented systems. They're building on unified platforms.

The difference is stark:

• Fragmented approach: Separate channels with individual integrations, workflows, and data silos
• Unified platform: One orchestration layer powering every experience with consistent data and logic

FAQ: What are the benefits of a unified wealth management platform?
Unified platforms enable faster client onboarding, eliminate advisor system-switching, provide AI-powered insights, and automate meeting preparation.

When you unify this layer, a few things become possible:

• Faster onboarding. Digital, guided experiences that clients can complete themselves or with an advisor. Higher completion rates. Faster time to value. Better handoff to the advice stage.
• The advisor cockpit. Everything in one place. Insights, tasks, relationships, documentation. No more bouncing between systems. Advisors can do what they need to do and get back to conversations.
• Smart signals. AI analyzes client behavior and surfaces proactive opportunities. The relationship shifts from reactive to proactive. Advisors can reach out before clients do.
• Meeting prep powered by AI. Pull data from CRM, portfolio management, and behavioral signals to generate talking points in minutes. Every conversation picks up where the last one left off.

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Where AI makes the biggest impact

AI isn't theoretical anymore. It's happening now. Here's where it makes the biggest difference:

• Augmenting advisors. Pre-configured AI assistants embedded in the advisor portal. Meeting prep. Document summarization. Portfolio insights. All available out of the box, designed to be simple enough for advisors of all digital comfort levels.
• Revenue growth. Next best action recommendations. Churn risk identification. Using behavioral data to spot early warning signs and act before it's too late.
• Automation. Moving advisors away from manual tasks. Document extraction and validation. Automated compliance checks. Agentic workflows that handle routine processes end-to-end.
• Personalized client experiences. Tailoring dashboards, navigation, and offerings based on client segment. Scaling personalization without manual rules-based segmentation.

FAQ: How is AI being used in wealth management?
AI is augmenting advisors with meeting prep, document summarization, and next-best-action recommendations while automating compliance and routine processes.