Preparing for the next generation of wealth

Guide your clients’ wealth to the next generation and beyond

For financial advisors, trust and estate planning presents a tremendous opportunity to strengthen and deepen their client relationships and grow their businesses. Legal considerations such as regulatory changes and tax implications, managing estate planning – all alongside financial planning and investment management – can be a challenge. That’s why Raymond James Trust has grown its range of fiduciary solutions, capabilities and reputation to meet evolving client and advisor needs.

The predicted wave of generational wealth transfer

Estate planning and financial planning naturally go hand-in-hand. As the baby boomer generation matures and more and more enter retirement, we’re witnessing a great wealth transfer as a result.

The burden of creating a seamless wealth transfer falls on the advisor during the transfer process. To not only capture and retain transferred assets, but also attract the next generation of clients, it’s crucial for advisors to articulate the need for a robust estate plan, which they as professional fiduciaries can provide.

To make assets “generationally sticky” for advisors, they need to connect with the next generation of clients early, often and with the tools to offer a tailored service. By enhancing the relationship with comprehensive estate planning resources, advisors have a clear opportunity to reach out, establish rapport and educate their clients about the trust and estate planning benefits the next generation can take advantage of.

A lack of planning is often the biggest error made regarding generational wealth transfers. Often, clients aren’t well versed in the variety of options available. That, or they choose to put planning off to a distant future date, and then unexpected life events catch them off guard, forcing them to put plans into place quickly.

A robust plan also helps clients consider the various interests at play, including tax mitigation, ensuring family harmony or long-term asset management. With the backing of Raymond James Trust, advisors can position themselves as the connective tissue between their client and a sound estate plan.

Raymond James Trust: an integrated partner in business

Today, over 3,000 Raymond James advisors have a trust account and/or a donor advised fund (DAF) through Raymond James Trust. Each client’s needs sit at the very core of the relationship between the trust company and an advisor. By design, no process exists to the exclusion of the advisor. Every advisor stays in complete control of their client relationship; Raymond James Trust plays an integral support role as a dedicated extension of an advisor’s practice. No rivalry for resources and no competition over clients.

Advisors also benefit from a team of designated trust officers and consultants who act as an additional touchpoint for clients with the same cultural values and approach. An advisor’s already-established value propositions and service models stay on course as Raymond James Trust plays a client service-enhancing role.

Raymond James Trust focuses on several strategic initiatives prioritizing the firm’s advisors. The goal is to provide more educational resources for advisors to expand and diversify their services in the trust and estate planning space, as well as refine support services to meet the specific needs of high-net-worth clients. Raymond James Trust continually seeks to explore new products and enhance existing ways to serve the firm’s advisors. Among them, donor advised funds and trusteed IRAs are two increasingly popular approaches advisors are adopting to strengthen their trust and estate planning offerings.

To help familiarize advisors with trust-related topics, Raymond James Trust offers educational series and national webinars on high-net-worth topics year-round. And twice a year, a team of trust officers and professionals host a six-hour deep dive into trusts and estate planning to educate advisors on helping clients get the most out of their advisor relationships.

Our commitment to our overall strategy and approach remains focused – completely – on serving the needs of the advisors affiliated with Raymond James and their clients. Although there is a wide variety of services that the trust company can provide to advisors of both private and institutional clients, we continue to make a very intentional decision to serve private clients, both individuals and families.

Raymond James Trust, N.A. is a subsidiary of Raymond James Financial, Inc. Raymond James & Associates, Inc. and Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. are affiliated with Raymond James Trust.