‘Generational transfer of wealth is not a future problem, it’s a now problem’

Speaking on the latest episode of the ifa podcast, My Money Buddy and The Savings Squad podcast founder Adele Martin said as demographics continue to shift, advisers need to get a handle on the wealth transfer now.

“Why this is such a big issue is that first of all there’s now more Millennials than Baby Boomers. This is not a future problem, this is now a now problem and we’re seeing it impacting advisers,” Ms Martin said.

“I spoke to an adviser recently who, because of his client base, he had seven clients pass away last year. Which is really sad, they were clients for a long time, he didn’t retain any of that business so there’s $40,000-plus worth of revenue that went out the door.

“Now when you’re in a business that has rising costs and less revenue, even if he’s signing new clients, they weren’t at the rate to keep up with the rising business cost or with the clients that he is lost.”

Ms Martin explained because this is an issue impacting advisers right now, particularly mature practices, there needs to be a recalibration in mindset around younger demographics.

“There’s this misconception that Millennials are these broke people, that they don’t want advice, they want all the digital stuff and there’s nothing that the advisers can help them with,” she said.

“Having built a Millennial financial planning business that’s helped people in their 20s, 30s and 40s, having helped hundreds of people, I know that they do want advice and they’re happy to pay for it.

“The other misconception is that they don’t want to pay for it. My Millennial clients were paying a minimum of $5,000 a year and these Millennial clients, when you do it right, can be $10,000 a year clients.”

However, it is important to understand the difference between older clients and Millennials, not just in terms of their investment needs but also the way that they communicate.

“The first thing is we want to remove the friction and so often older clients might be happy to ring you up and book in their time to see you. Younger clients, Millennials, will do anything to avoid talking to you on the phone,” Ms Martin said.

“It is a Millennial-wide problem that most of them would prefer to do stuff quickly and not have to have those awkward phone call conversations.”

She added that, as is the case with any cohort of clients, advisers need to change their processes to make things as tailored as possible.

“These guys are time poor, they’ve got families, they’re working long hours. We have to make it easy for them,” Ms Martin said.

“The more we can do that by things like online calendar booking, by communicating with them how they want, so things like text or chat. This is why some of the new online portals I think are going to be good because they can have that chat functionality and so you can have those chat conversations in the app environment, or you can push it to text as well.”

According to Ms Martin, there are also massive differences in the focus and outlook between the older and younger generations.

“What I learned was the stark difference was that retirees, you’re taking away a fear, they have an immediate need. Millennials it is often more of a future thing that you’re creating. You’re not taking away fear, you’re painting the future and goals. So, it is slightly different in how you’re positioned to them,” she said.

“Millennial clients, if you do it well, are very sticky clients that will stick around long-term because as they get older their needs change. They’re going to get those inheritances, they’re going to want to upgrade their house, they’re going to want to maybe start their own business.

“They do really become quite sticky clients if you can paint the future for them and they don’t run out of future with you.”

To hear more from Adele Martin, tune in here.

Ms Martin will MC ifa’s upcoming Adviser Innovation Summit, where she will also host a session on how advisers can attract the next generation of clients with engagement and advice service models tailored to changing customer needs.

To find out more about the Adviser Innovation Summit, click here.