Many advisors focus on attracting and serving high net worth individuals and families, and with only a limited number of such clients to go around, this can be a competitive space. The higher net worth that a family has, the more that an advisory firm has to stand out in order to gain them as clients. However, advisors who can speak directly to the concerns of this client niche can give themselves a unique – and differentiating – advantage to best serve this segment of the population!
In this ‘hybrid’ video-based article, Michael Kitces and John Bowen, CEO and founder of CEG Worldwide and CEG Insights (formerly Spectrem Group), dive into CEG’s extensive data on what ultra-high net worth (UHNW) families are really worried about and how advisors can serve this group more effectively.
The first major concern is macroeconomic risk. Nearly 80% of UHNW families worry about inflation, market volatility, and geopolitical instability. While they recognize that no advisor can control these forces themselves, most families expect proactive strategies, clear communication, and coordinated access to top-tier specialists who can help them navigate economic uncertainty. Many families seek bespoke guidance at a high level of service on topics such as alternative investments, charitable planning, and estate planning. At the same time, expectations for investment returns have moderated, with many clients content with ‘just’ 6%-8% returns on investment if their portfolio comes with strong principal protection. For advisors, the new challenge lies in clearly aligning their investment philosophy with a client’s concerns: Perhaps by maintaining a consistent strategic allocation or by making tactical adjustments, but in either case showing an awareness of what’s going on in the world and an understanding of how to manage to the current reality.
The second concern for these families centers on security and legacy. Beyond market risk, UHNW families fear threats such as litigation, divorce, and cyberattacks. Multi-generational wealth transfer raises the additional challenge of “will my heirs squander it?”: More than three-quarters of UHNW families worry about wasteful heirs and want advisors to engage their children and grandchildren early to prepare them for stewardship responsibilities. At times, this may even extend to creating governance structures (sometimes formalized as family constitutions) that define decision-making and preserve values. Cybersecurity has also emerged as a priority, with many willing to pay for specialized protection, which gives advisors who can connect clients with the right services the opportunity to provide peace of mind without necessarily being cybersecurity experts themselves.
The third concern is quality of life and significance. Many in this wealth bracket are older and acutely aware that without health, wealth is less meaningful. They want access to concierge health and longevity services, along with strategies to ensure that their wealth supports a purposeful, multi-generational legacy. Advisors in this space must think less like “family CFOs” and more like general managers, orchestrating vetted specialists across legal, tax, investment, insurance, philanthropy, and wellness. Importantly, these teams don’t need to be built in-house; clients simply want a coordinated, high-caliber network that works seamlessly on their behalf.
For advisors, moving into the UHNW segment is not a matter of scaling up existing mass-affluent practices or building out more and more in-house services. Instead, it requires fewer but deeper client relationships and robust external partnerships to connect clients with a vetted team of experts to meet their needs. Serving UHNW also demands a proactive, holistic approach that addresses not just financial needs, but also family dynamics, personal security, and quality of life.
Ultimately, the reward of serving UHNW clients is both financial and professional – commanding higher fees for delivering truly differentiated value in a space where 60% of successful entrepreneurs are open to changing advisors within the next two years. Advisors willing to embrace this shift can position themselves as indispensable partners in protecting fortunes, guiding families, and helping clients live lives of lasting significance!
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