It is often said that planning and preparation are key to business success. For financial advisers, nowhere is this more true than when it comes to the great wealth transfer.

Indeed, as we stand on the brink of the biggest intergenerational wealth transfer in history, advisers are presented with an unprecedented opportunity to future proof their business. Those advisers making a concerted effort to build long-lasting relationships with the children and heirs of existing clients stand to reap rich rewards in terms of retaining assets and gaining new clients.

Conversely, those advisers that fail to engage with the younger generation or have no strategy in place to retain next generation clients stand to lose out.

And the sums are not small. According to a 2017 report issued by the Kings Court Trust, Passing on the Pounds, nearly £1 trillion is expected pass to the next generation in the UK over the course of the decade.

The ability to capitalise on the inheritance economy therefore represents both a key business risk and unique opportunity for advice businesses and perhaps the single-biggest driver of future success.

So how prepared are advisers for the impending wealth transfer?
CoreData’s latest research report, based on a survey of more than 500 advisers across the UK and US, gets to the heart of this very question. And the findings are far from heartening . . .