3. Counsel, don’t advise
Do you really want the $28,000 account from your client’s 26 year-old son? It’s hard to say no? What else might you say? Are there alternatives? What risks do you run? Remember ... if you take their $28,000 and ignore them, you are toast if and when they get serious money.
4. Help Gen 1 better connect
One of the biggest challenges Gen 1 clients have tends to surface in their comfort with really talking to their children, especially when it comes to issues surrounding money. Many advisors have been successful in connecting by role-playing difficult conversations with their older clients. A far easier approach is found in inspiring Gen 1 to plan a fun family retreat on a cruise, a dude ranch or perhaps even tied to a philanthropic cause of family interest. This is a wonderful way to get Gen 2 and Gen 3 to really fall in love with you, particularly in families where the culture is NOT to spend money, but to instead, “take care of them after we are gone.”
5. Lead “transparent” estate planning process
So often, estate planning is handled in the privacy of an estate planning attorney’s conference room with Gen 1. Advisors who help Gen 1 grapple with difficult decisions and help them communicate those decisions prior to their passing do their clients a wonderful service and can favorably become discovered as Gen 2 advocates.