A perfect storm of market appreciation and demographics points to a progressive and sustained growth opportunity in the ultra-wealth business. Now that the time of great opportunity has arrived, how prepared are advisors to assume an evolving role based on the rapidly changing needs of family businesses and families of wealth in transition?
 

The reasons why include:

• Age of the Business Owner - Mid to large private businesses are still run by owners who have, up until recently, done their best to avoid retirement. In fact, 30% of owners are over 67 years old and more than two-thirds are over the age of 57.
   

Delaying the Inevitable?
Private Businesses: Age of Owner/CEO

• Valuations - The appetite for private investing has grown nearly three-fold suggesting that the value of private businesses may be peaking, which should add a sense of urgency for private business owners to monetize part or all of their businesses.
   

What they are looking for include:

• Increasing Need/Demand for Education – Education is the “glue” that can help hold a family together through generational transitions. Yet, good intentions around education are unfulfilled as according to the numbers an equal percentage (31%) are providing education to those who are “considering” education. There remains a sizable proportion (38% of families) that have no plans to educate family members.
   

Best Laid Plans?
Program For Educating Family Members in Place 

• As demand for service grows, families may look to their family office to do more. However, it is the rare family office that has enough resources to provide the full breadth and depth of services required for a family in transition.
• Collaborative Partners - Advisors that prove themselves to be a collaborative partner with families, their family office executive and other external advisors will be well-positioned to serve these clients as they approach a family transition.
   

Based on our in-depth research and discussions with some of the top wealth advisors here is what we found:

• Client concerns are changing and so their needs are growing. We have heard from wealth advisors that becoming more attuned to conversations that have a nuanced change in tone or keeping in touch with the client’s other advisors can help them better anticipate a pending transition. 
• Several MFOs we spoke with have begun to catalog their case study experience with families and/or family offices in transition. In turn, they use these experiences in training their teams, improving their processes and informing new clients of not just what they can do for their clients, but importantly how they go about it.
• Leading wealth advisors have re-adjusted their business model including pricing, hiring practices and marketing to accommodate what they see as a fundamentally different way of doing business with families of wealth in transition.