Resource Center

The Why Behind Estate Planning

Estate planning is the missing piece in modern wealth management. Here’s why forward-thinking advisors are leaning in.

The inheritance tsunami is already rolling in

Roughly $124 trillion is projected to move from Baby Boomers to Gen X and Millennials by 2048, an amount larger than the current U.S. GDP. Cerulli projects that Gen X and Millennial wealth will quintuple by 2030, yet a staggering 81% of heirs say they won’t keep their parents’ advisor. If estate plans aren’t part of your process, you’re standing on the sidelines of the greatest wealth transition in history.

Clients are still unprepared, and they know it

Despite the looming transfer, 72% of Americans lack an up-to-date will, and more than one-third have already witnessed family conflict because a plan was missing. They recognize the risk. 52% of Americans say dying without a plan is “irresponsible,” but they need a guide who can turn intent into action.

Managing the estate planning process positions you as the financial “quarterback”

Advisors are unique in that they sit at the intersection of legal, tax, and family dynamics. When you coordinate those conversations and orchestrate attorneys, CPAs, and family decision-makers, you don’t hand clients off and hope the ball comes back to you. You cement your role at the center of a client’s wealth universe.

Because you’re the only professional with a full 360-degree view of legal, tax, and family dynamics, clients see you as the indispensable coordinator of their legacy strategy.

A proven growth lever: estate planning as a door opener, relationship deepener, and ROI driver

Talking legacy reframes meetings from performance to protection: 40% of investors would switch advisors just to access estate-planning services, and 71% of U.S. adults say finishing a plan would make them feel like a better parent or partner.

Once implemented, estate planning removes friction and builds multi-generational trust.

  • One per week: Archer Investment Management guided 35 clients through Wealth.com in the first 35 weeks of adding the service. Read the success story here.
  • Workshop machine: Fiat Wealth Management booked 579 prospects and captured $39M+ in new assets by hosting estate-planning events. Read the success story here.
  • Hidden opportunities: Estate reviews surface undisclosed assets and new planning needs, protecting AUM and revealing upsell paths.

From hand-off to hands-on: the integrated digital flow

The old “Here’s a lawyer; call me when it’s done” referral breaks the client journey. A modern, advisor-led workspace keeps everything collaborative, trackable, and branded to your firm. It also is exactly the level of service and guidance clients are looking for.  

A year-one roadmap you can steal today

Top firms plug estate planning into their service calendar: Diagnose → Document → Share → Maintain. Those four touchpoints alone can drive double-digit plan completions in 12 months.

Ready to act? Start tomorrow with three simple moves: segment your book, engage the best-fit clients first, and host a family-legacy meeting to meet the next generation.

Download our “Estate Planning Quick-Start Checklist,” a step-by-step reference that shows you exactly how to add estate planning to your firm and keep your advisor seat at the center of every family’s financial future.

Get the Quick-Reference Checklist here.

Wealth.com makes adding estate planning to your firm’s service offerings seamless. It provides an advisor-led digital workspace that is collaborative and trackable where advisors can create high-caliber estate planning documents in minutes with optional legal review. A real-time status tracker, secure document vault, and role-based access keep heirs, attorneys, and CPAs aligned, and estate planning shifts from a one-off project to a repeatable, revenue-generating workflow.

 See the Wealth.com platform in action at www.wealth.com/demo.

 


Share this
Related Posts

The Link Between Holistic Financial Planning and Estate Planning

Financial advisors know that the most effective client relationships are built on trust, foresight, and the ability to guide families through the full arc of their financial lives. But while investment management and retirement planning are often top of mind, estate planning is too often left siloed, delayed, or outsourced. The reality is simple: holistic […]

6 min read Aug 19, 2025
What’s New in Wealth.com: August 2025 Product Updates

August was an exciting month with the introduction of mobile notary services and Snapshot Reports, read on to see what features you and your teams should be trying next! Introducing Mobile Notaries! On-Demand Notarization, From Request to Signature Wealth.com now offers mobile notaries with our preferred provider, Sign Here Ink, giving your clients a white-glove […]

6 min read Aug 18, 2025
Side Letters in Estate Planning: How to Provide Trustee Guidance and Flexibility

Estate planning often involves a balancing act: providing support to beneficiaries without enabling dependency, establishing firm rules while preserving flexibility, and expressing intent without sacrificing efficiency. One tool that strikes this balance particularly well is the side letter. Though informal and typically not legally binding, a side letter accompanies a trust and provides the trustee […]

6 min read Aug 5, 2025