Consumers are unprepared to deal with the largest wealth transfer in history and could use the help advisors even for small transfers, said FIS , a financial technology firm, in a report released Wednesday.
Only 10 percent of the 1,788 banking consumers in the United States surveyed think they are inheriting money in the near future, which is unrealistically low given the wealth transfer that is about to take place, FIS said. Thirty trillion dollars will be transferred from the older generation and baby boomers to Gen X and millennials in the next decade, FIS said in the 2018 Performance Against Customer Expectations (PACE) report.
“This gap suggests consumers may be poorly informed about how wealth transfers–even small ones–work,” the report said.
Less than one fourth of the participants who were surveyed plan to use services of a financial institution or advisor to handle an inheritance. Moreover, nearly half (48 percent) of Gen Xers would first turn to a friend or family member for inheritance advice and one-third of baby boomers would try to handle it themselves, the report said.
Only 29 percent of all respondents, and just 20 percent of Gen Xers, reported that they are currently working with a financial advisor. The top reason they said they do not have a financial advisor is because they do not believe they have enough personal assets to warrant one.
The study also found millennials are less confident about personal finance and investing than older generations, but most said they want to learn more about finances and often look for educational material.
Respondents across all age categories said their top priorities for using an inheritance would be saving for retirement or making financial investments rather than buying property or making a luxury purchase.
Brian DuVal, head of wealth and retirement for FIS, said, “The challenge [for advisors] is to do a better job of educating their customers on wealth and retirement topics. The opportunity is to engage with consumers now to help them get ready for the tidal wave of money and assets that are about to flow into their pockets.”
“In general, consumers have only one financial advisor, so once a customer signs up for advisory services, that advisor likely captures the customer’s total business,” the report said.