Trillions of dollars are shifting generations, and financial advisors must be prepared to provide support with trust services, estate planning, and philanthropic strategies. Partnering with an advisor-friendly trust company can help. When choosing an advisor-friendly trust company, consider subjective factors like shared mission, adaptability, and collaboration. The vetting process can include asking how many accounts each trust officer assigns.
Creating Sticky Assets
Achieving financial security often seems unattainable, especially during challenging times. When that happens, it takes non-financial traits like resourcefulness and perseverance to stick with the plan.
A top advisor friendly trust company is a trusted partner that can help clients navigate successor trustee situations by offering innovative ideas and strategies for preserving wealth across generations. They can also assist advisors with existing trusts, providing ideas on how to move them under the financial planner’s management — while handling the heavy lifting of changing the trustee.
When choosing a trustee partner, consider subjective factors demonstrating the company’s commitment to working seamlessly with an advisor, including a shared mission and values, flexible services, adaptability, and collaboration. You can also ask potential trustee companies how many accounts they typically assign to each trust officer, as this provides insight into the level of service that can be expected.
Multi-Generational Client Retention
Taking the time to understand your clients on a human level—not just generationally but financially, can help you build trust that lasts across generations. It also helps you create long-term client retention, especially as families pass wealth to the next generation.
One of the most important things you can do is communicate clearly with multiple family members and ensure you speak a language they understand. Avoid industry jargon and complex financial terms. Listen to their concerns and goals and provide personalized advice to their situation.
It’s also important to get younger family members involved in planning meetings and communications as much as possible. This could mean arranging to meet with them in person or using technology such as a family-advisor intranet. It also helps to assign members of your firm to mentor younger family members or bring in outside professionals as needed. This will help ensure all family members are on the same page and understand their roles and responsibilities.
Tax Planning
The old saying says that in this world, “only two things are certain: death and taxes.” But smart tax planning can minimize those taxes. This can include taking advantage of deferring income, maximizing Roth accounts, and using tax loss harvesting.
Financial planners can also help clients save on taxes through efficient investment strategies. For example, they can suggest using a directed trust company. These companies separate the investment advisory fee from the corporate trustee fee and offer a transparent fee structure that gives clients greater insight into what they’re paying for.
Advisors should ask prospective fiduciary services how many accounts they typically assign to each trust officer so their clients can receive personalized attention and responsive service. This is a great way to ensure their client’s assets are handled with the same expertise.
Investing
The investment management of trust assets has always been challenging for financial advisors. Conventional trust companies have sought to take over the investing process, funneling the assets into their proprietary products, often stealing clients from existing advisors and competing against them in the same client pool.
A new breed of agile and efficient trustees prioritize collaboration and work with advisors to meet client needs. The best “advisor-friendly” trust companies are willing to share their expertise and resources with their partners, creating a seamless collaboration that benefits everyone involved.
When selecting a trusted partner, consider subjective factors like a shared mission, adaptability, and collaboration to ensure you and your clients will thrive together. Choose a company that offers directed trusts, which bifurcates trust administration from investment management, allowing asset managers, insurance professionals, and family offices to retain control of the investments (and fees) while delegating the administrative and relationship responsibilities to the trustee.
