By Frank McKiernan

Over the next two decades, the role of the wealth advisor will undergo a significant transformation, and I’m not talking about artificial intelligence. I’m talking about how we advise clients and how that advice is delivered. This transformation is a call to action: a chance for advisors to elevate their craft and rethink what it truly means to serve families across generations.

According to Cerulli Associates, an estimated $124 trillion is projected to transfer hands by 2048, largely from Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation to Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z. Of that, approximately $105 trillion will be passed to heirs, with another $18 trillion expected to support philanthropic causes. These numbers are significant, but the story goes far beyond the dollars. This moment marks a generational shift in values, expectations, and priorities that will challenge advisors to prove they are the best steward of a family’s financial well-being.

Over the past decade, I’ve had the privilege of working with individuals and families across the country. From those focused on securing a comfortable retirement to centimillionaire entrepreneurs navigating complex transitions. What I’ve observed is an increasing demand for advice that is independent of where their assets are custodied or how they are invested. They want advice that is comprehensive, strategic, and deeply personal. That’s why we’ve built a multi-family office model—one that integrates wealth management, trust and estate planning, tax strategy, and family office consulting into one client experience.

Advisors must ask themselves: How are you creating value beyond managing a portfolio of stocks and bonds?

We’re already seeing a shift in investment preferences. Clients are increasingly drawn to private markets such as seed-stage, venture capital, and late-stage growth equity seeking asymmetric returns in companies that align with their personal missions. This marks a clear departure from the traditional 60/40 public equity and fixed income allocations that once dominated high-net-worth portfolios. While each investment style has a role to play in a diversified strategy, it’s the advisor’s responsibility to strike the right balance between managing the client's risk appetite with longer-term return expectations, liquidity needs, taxes, and time horizon.

In this environment, there’s no shortage of funds or managers competing for capital. But identifying the right opportunities takes experience and discipline. Conducting thorough due diligence, questioning investment assumptions and fee structures, and evaluating the long-term alignment with a client’s objectives is time-consuming; however, it is essential. Providing this level of guidance is at the core of quality wealth advisory and must be a high priority.

Just as investment selection requires thoughtfulness, so does how this wealth is owned and passed on to heirs. Effective estate planning starts with intentional design by reviewing a family’s assets, details of the operating business, interpersonal dynamics, and long-term goals.

As wealth is transferred over the next two decades, it will require intensive discussions around how best to optimize for estate planning and taxes. For instance, transferring assets with high appreciation potential outside of a taxable estate can unlock significant tax savings over time. But those decisions must be weighed carefully against liquidity needs, family governance, charitable goals, and control considerations. Advisors must regularly revisit trust and estate structures to ensure they remain aligned with shifting laws, evolving family circumstances, and asset allocations.

In today’s world, clients are more attuned than ever to their tax exposure and rightly so. We’ve seen substantial shifts in lifestyle choices, including the migration to lower or no income-tax states, driven in part by the desire to reduce tax drag and preserve long-term wealth. We’ve also seen a growing number of strategies claiming to deliver tax alpha or greater tax efficiency. While in some cases this may be true, it’s not always the case. These developments underscore the importance of advisors staying educated and always doing the work to effectively assess which strategies are truly appropriate for their clients.

Tax strategy touches every part of a high-net-worth client’s financial life. Every investment, estate planning decision, and philanthropic strategy should be evaluated on an after-tax basis to assess its real value. In our view, too often tax planning is reactive and limited to an annual year-end meeting. The true value comes from proactive, ongoing coordination between the advisor, CPA, attorney, and client. In practice, this has been proven to be easier said than done. The advisor must carry the weight of execution on this because it is a significant value creator for the family.

This level of advice and planning requires time, coordination, and a deep understanding of each client’s personal and business situation. There are no shortcuts.

The next generation of wealth holders is asking for something different. They want more than traditional wealth management. They want a trusted partner. Someone who sees the full picture and understands their values, their family, their business, and their ambitions. They want advice that is not fragmented. They want integration of their investments, taxes, trust and estate strategy and philanthropic initiatives.

We see this shift happening every day in our work with families, entrepreneurs, and business leaders across the country. Our view is that next generation wealth advisors won’t be defined by who is at the largest firm or who delivers the highest returns in a given quarter or year. It will be defined by who listens well, rolls up their sleeves and creates the most value. Performance and great client experiences will follow those advisors who do this and will be the ones families turn to, not just today, but for generations to come.