Modernization

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

15 December 2025
mins read
Growth pressures, rising costs, regulatory demands and AI dominating every conversation. Wealth firms are facing challenges from every angle. The pace of change is unlike anything we've seen in years. 
Joe Sullivan, Senior Director of Strategic Accounts – Wealth & Private Banking and Jules Bourdeaux, Principal Wealth Expert & GTM Lead broke down what's actually happening in the market. What good looks like heading into 2026. And how firms are scaling AI in ways that drive real business outcomes.

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.

The wealth management landscape is shifting

Wealth firms are running two growth motions at once.

They're attracting next-gen clients who expect digital-first, low-friction experiences. At the same time, they're working to retain and expand relationships with existing clients who need personalization, trust, and strong advisor connections.

When the experience is fragmented, growth slows. When it's unified, growth accelerates.

The pressure is real. Market consolidation creates operational drag. The cost to serve keeps rising. Manual compliance doesn't scale. Legacy system maintenance eats innovation budgets.

Client expectations? Higher than ever. They want speed, consistency, and movement between digital and advisor channels that actually works.

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

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. Not because the advisor did something wrong. Because the experience doesn't match what the next generation expects.

But here's the flip side. That same 70% will consider alternatives.

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

Advisors are drowning in admin work

The current advisor experience is broken.

Advisors are juggling multiple systems just to get basic tasks done. We've seen examples of advisors using five different systems to complete one task.

That kills productivity. It hurts morale. And it drives churn, especially with next-gen advisors who expect better tools.

The good news? Advisors now want AI. 96% want Gen AI tools to help them be more effective. They're no longer resisting it. They're asking for it.

But it has to be embedded in their existing workflows. Not another silo. Not another login. Built into where they already work.

"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

What good actually looks like

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

On one side, you have separate channels. Each project has its own integrations, workflows, and data. On the other side, you have one orchestration platform powering every experience. The data is unified. The logic is consistent. Both advisors and clients benefit.

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.

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.
About the author
Backbase
Backbase is on a mission to to put bankers back in the driver’s seat.

Backbase is on a mission to put bankers back in the driver’s seat — fully equipped to lead the AI revolution and unlock remarkable growth and efficiency. At the heart of this mission is the world’s first AI-powered Banking Platform, unifying all servicing and sales journeys into an integrated suite. With Backbase, banks modernize their operations across every line of business — from Retail and SME to Commercial, Private Banking, and Wealth Management.

Recognized as a category leader by Forrester, Gartner, Celent, and IDC, Backbase powers the digital and AI transformations of over 150 financial institutions worldwide. See some of their stories here.

Founded in 2003 in Amsterdam, Backbase is a global private fintech company with regional headquarters in Atlanta and Singapore, and offices across London, Sydney, Toronto, Dubai, Kraków, Cardiff, Hyderabad, and Mexico City.

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