There are growing opportunities for advisors to move into the high-net-worth space, which currently consists of about 22 million millionaires in the U.S., according to a white paper published by Concord, Calif.-based AssetMark.

Consultants say a key to serving this category of client is to adapt to their needs.

“Don’t let your client outgrow the advisor,” said Michael Kim, president of AssetMark. “Meaning as a client gets wealthier, their issues tend to get more complex.” 

That means advisors also need to be an estate planner, a tax planner, or whatever else the client needs them to be.

“At the end of the day, we want to be sure that the first call goes to that financial advisor,” Kim said. “So that advisor will continue to own the relationship and be the overall steward of the client’s financial goals.” 

Advisors also need to have a reliable stable of third-party professions that can be called upon to help clients.

“Part of our job here at AssetMark is to provide access to these experts that can be a part of the team to serve the client so they never outgrow the advisor,” Kim said.

High-net-worth investors are also looking to grow their wealth as much as they are looking to maintain it. They want unique investment opportunities through their advisor where they can achieve positive gains, and that has led many to private equity funds.

These funds have become far more enticing to investors as they have been outperforming traditional public funds in the last three years. Steve Brennan, head of private wealth solutions at Conshohocken, Pa.-based Hamilton Lane, said the two major obstacles for high-net-worth clients getting into this space have been a lack of access and education. 

Over the past three years, Hamilton Lane has been addressing the access issue by rolling out evergreen and feeder funds that require minimum investments ranging from $50,000 to $100,000, which is far lower than the average minimum for a traditional private fund, Brennan said. 

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