Wealth managers risk alienating their clients’ heirs by “trying to show off how much they know” when meeting the next generation of clients for the first time, according to Ian Dyall.
The head of estate planning at Evelyn Partners said the conversation needs to be “both human and technical” when discussing the future with the heirs of high net worth individuals, but the risk is that they are “baffled by science” when having this conversation.
Dyall added that with people living longer, the nature of these conversations has changed over the years.
He said: “With clients living longer, perhaps into their 80s and 90s, the heirs could themselves be retired or have more money than they immediately need, and of course ascertaining that is important.”
Alan Kinnaird, business development manager at Walker Cripps, said his firm offered financial education courses, such as lunchtime seminars with the heirs of clients, potentially starting at 18 years old.
These can be in small or large groups, and he said: “It’s important to understand their level of existing financial knowledge of financial markets. These introductory sessions have proven popular over the years – especially where the exam season has finished at school and their offspring havesome spare time ahead of any gap year travels.
“Many younger clients now wish to start off their savings and investment on a firm footing and to have a sense of what good financial housekeeping may look like. For our part we can bring in specialists from our wealth planning, investments and pension departments to enable them to gain a holistic view of what a well structured financial plan may look like.”
Minesh Patel, an independent financial adviser in London, said the key for him was that the conversation with the next generation “doesn’t start too late”.
He said: “For inheritance tax planning continuous gifting is very important, whether that money is used to pay for university fees or a house purchase. If as an adviser you are able to have that conversation with the children or grandchildren at that stage it’s very helpful for the future, the next generation become familar with financial planning and may mean that in time they become your client in time as well.”
