“There’s this perception that older clients won’t want to work with younger clients,” McManus says. “If an advisor can display empathy and demonstrate that they can understand an older client’s goals and concerns, the age gap can be bridged pretty quickly. Millennials are not shying away from working with older clients, but they need to find a way to break through the age gap and establish credibility.”
The roundtable participants envisioned themselves as the next generation of leaders. One participant suggested that firms need to “start thinking about (succession) 10 years in advance, or else by the time that you’re ready, you’re just not going to be in a good position.”
Firms interested in including millennial advisors in their workforce as part of a succession or transition plan need to make clear that they’re considering the junior advisor for leadership roles early in their tenure.
“The expectations are high with this group, we’re almost walking the line of an entitlement mentality with millennials,” McManus says. “The point is that millennials want a clear path to the opportunity to become leaders in their firm. There should be some sort of conversation about what that path looks like.”