(National Advisors Trust) In today’s dynamic landscape, financial advisors face complex and multifaceted challenges in pursuit of organic growth, market share, and brand differentiation.
To succeed, you must address evolving client needs, navigate volatile financial markets and economic climates, and contend with intensifying competitive pressures amidst forecasts of substantial wealth transfer in the decades ahead. All while adapting to the digital revolution and managing its effects on your business, client relationships, and every aspect of how we work, live, and interact.
For many advisors, that’s a daunting challenge, as it can be difficult to handle day-to-day demands while embracing new lines of business, scaling operations, and building advanced marketing processes and infrastructure.
Viewing the challenge – and your value – through the lens of your clients can help. Understand what matters most to them – their family, purpose, aspirations. Think beyond traditional investment management and align relevant solutions to manage their complex and evolving needs for today and future generations (e.g., financial planning, retirement, taxes, estate planning and trust services). Be resourceful and find partners who can help you deliver as promised and add new value for clients and new growth for your business.
Big Gap, Big Opportunity
Industry experts estimate that $84 trillion in assets will change hands from one generation to the next over the next 20 years. That “Great Wealth Transfer” represents significant money in motion – and an opportunity for advisors to acquire multigenerational assets and relationships.
Estate planning and trusts services are critical to capitalizing on this opportunity, but these solutions continue to be overlooked by advisors and their clients.
In fact, the gap is significant as research indicates that upwards of 93% of clients expect to receive estate planning advice from their advisors, but only 22% are receiving it. In addition, only 38% of all advisors are comfortable talking about estate and legacy planning, and only 33% of advisor firms with over $1 billion in assets under management offer trust services.
As a result, it’s no surprise that 68% of Americans do not have an estate plan – subjecting their families to unnecessary probate, costs, taxes, and creditor claims.
Embracing estate planning and trust services can help expand capabilities, gain competitive advantage, and create enduring value for your clients and your business – and likely why 60% of advisors plan to add estate planning to their services.
The Advantages of Trust Services
Integrating trust services into your business can offer several strategic advantages:
- Building Enduring Legacies: Help your clients protect their loved ones, preserve and ensure the continuity of family wealth, and create a legacy for future generations.
- Strengthening Client Relationships: Become more equipped to manage long-term goals and build deep, multi-generational relationships.
- Expanding Service Offerings: Expand your value proposition, appeal to a wider range of client needs, and retain assets under management.
- Differentiating From Competitors: Gain an edge in the marketplace and position yourself as a comprehensive wealth manager who can address all aspects of a client’s financial life.
- Building Generational Wealth: Ensure that your clients' legacies are preserved and passed on to their heirs according to their wishes.
- Creating Enterprise Value: Cultivate deep relationships, sticky assets, and more complete offerings to drive significant growth and value for your business – a big plus in today’s M&A world.
Partners in Growth: Advisor-Friendly Trust Companies
Getting started means making the decision to either build your own trust company, buy an existing one, or partner with an expert like National Advisors Trust.
As building and buying require significant time, expertise, capital, legal, and regulatory management, you may be better served partnering with a professional trust company with the expertise, experience and infrastructure to empower you and your clients.
When choosing your trust partner, it is important to remember that many traditional banks and trust companies also offer wealth and investment services—making them your direct competitors. That is why it can be advantageous to choose an independent, “advisor-friendly” trust services partner who understands your business, puts your interests first, and offers conflict-free trust administration services.
National Advisors Trust is positioned to do just that. We are the nation’s premier independent trust services company focused on empowering advisors and the families you serve. We do not offer wealth management services, and we do not compete with your business.
Our focus on core trust services and commitment to being advisor-friendly has led to our growing network of 400 advisory firms, 6,000+ advisors, and $8B total assets. It’s also why we are consistently recognized as one of America’s Most Advisor-Friendly Trust Companies by The Wealth Advisor. Additionally, we’re dual-chartered – holding both a national trust charter and a progressive South Dakota state trust charter – which gives you and the families you serve the flexibility to develop a customized estate plan.
Seizing the Moment: The Time is Right for Trust Services
Life moves fast and can be unpredictable – so it is never too soon to establish an estate plan.
That said, there are key moments when estate planning will be top of mind to your clients -- creating natural opportunities to get started. These moments can be broken into three categories: personal motivators, advisor-prompted, and market conditions.
Personal motivators tend to be moments that remind people about the circle of life and the importance of protecting loved ones. For example, life events can include a medical diagnosis, purchasing a home, family changes (marriage, divorce, birth, special needs dependents), death of a loved one, selling a business, receiving an inheritance, and retirement. As a trusted advisor, these moments should emerge as part of your personal relationship with clients.
Advisor–prompted moments are the result of planning and knowing your clients. The reality is that every client in your book should have an estate plan, and many are likely ideal candidates for trusts. For example, do you have clients with assets or intellectual property they want to protect? Clients with blended families and children in multiple marriages? Clients with minor children or special needs dependents? A “yes” to any of these questions is an opportunity to introduce estate planning and trusts to your clients. That is why taking a complete and integrated approach to financial and estate planning can help you deliver greater value across every stage of life.
Market conditions encompass known and unknown moments, events, and trends in the industry or world. For example, federal estate tax exemption laws are scheduled to sunset at the end of 2025 – cutting current exemptions in half. That knowledge enables deliberate planning to take advantage of current exemptions to protect family wealth and minimize estate taxes.
We also know that there are big clusters of individual trustees in the marketplace—and likely among your clients. These are often friends and family members originally named as trustees out of convenience. However, many are not equipped for the role – and others may not want the administrative burdens, fiduciary accountabilities, and legal liabilities. Aligning your clients with a professional trustee like National Advisors Trust can ensure the successful management and execution of their trusts.
Market conditions can also include unknowns. For example, while nobody could have predicted the pandemic, it caused a surge in estate planning, especially for younger adults. Likewise, the rise of inflation had a greater impact on how younger adults viewed estate planning as compared to older segments. Keeping an eye on emerging dynamics and trends can help you gain new knowledge to allow you to pivot and pursue real-time opportunities with different market segments, including rising mass affluent and future high-net-worth individuals.
Conclusion
Incorporating estate planning and trust services into your business can be a game-changer – allowing you to expand your capabilities, guide clients through every stage of their financial journey, and build multi-generational assets and relationships.
The massive transfer of wealth is just getting started. Clusters of clients are being underserved on the estate planning and trust services front. Key moments (personal, advisor-prompted and market) continue to make this an ideal time to start estate planning and trust dialogue with clients and prospects.
National Advisors Trust is a proven, advisor-friendly trust partner who makes it easier for you to get started, embrace trusts, and unlock a new generation of growth and enterprise value. Learn more at www.nationaladvisors.com.
