High-Net-Worth Clients Want All the Help They Can Get

Wait just a minute: Better put on your white gloves before you take that meeting.

Whether a firm is a family office or not, clients are increasingly looking for family office treatment. Expanded services are driving where high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients choose to park their assets, according to a report from Cerulli last week. The industry researcher also projects that by 2028, the total advisor-managed HNW industry will surpass $30 trillion in AUM. 

In a market based on survival of the fittest, firms with the broadest offerings are expected to come out on top. “As AUM grows, so does the complexity of our client needs,” said Jeremiah Barlow, head of wealth solutions at Mercer Advisors. “Firms that invest in technology, talent and a client-first culture will be best positioned to thrive.”

Special Treatment

Returns and portfolio performance will always remain central, but firms are expected to spend less time on day-to-day investment management and more on services, said Chayce Horton, associate director of wealth management at Cerulli. “They’re looking for ways to centralize portfolio construction and move it off the core advisor’s plate,” he told Advisor Upside.

The shift is already underway. In 2024, firms serving HNW clients offered an average of 12 services, up from 10 in 2017, Cerulli found:

• Trust administration and private banking jumped from 42% and 34% of firms, respectively, to 61% and 59%.
• Roughly three-fourths now offer estate planning, up from 56%.
• Tax planning climbed to nearly 40% of practices, from about 30% in 2017.

One offering that’s losing steam, however, is concierge service. “It’s everything that a client who has a bunch of money and doesn’t know exactly where to go might ask for,” Horton said, adding that it includes buying vintage wine and fine art, booking private jets and finding dog walkers. “As you can imagine, it’s very time-intensive,” he said.

No Free Lunch. Adding services raises two big questions: Who will deliver them, and who will pay? Staffing is often a balancing act, said Andrew Larsen, analyst at Cerulli. “We’ve seen practices take outsourced services in-house and hire, but also the opposite, where advisors realize they don’t have the bandwidth and outsource instead,” he told Advisor Upside.

On pricing, some firms are moving beyond traditional asset-based fees. “The amount of revenue from financial planning fees has grown consistently,” Larsen said. “It’s still not a large slice of the pie, but it’s becoming more important.”