From Financial Advisor Magazine, by Karen Demasters
Although the amount of money millennials are set to inherit from their baby boomer parents over the next decade is measured in the trillions of dollars, many individual millennials probably will inherit less than they are anticipating, according to a money manager for wealthy families.
That misunderstanding is bound to lead to problems, said Ken Eyler, CEO of Aquilance, a national financial services firm for high-net-worth clients based in Trumbull, Conn.
At the same time, many inheritors are ill prepared to deal with the money they do receive, Eyler said in an interview. Aquilance handles personal finances and bookkeeping for wealthy families, entrepreneurs, athletes, and individuals.
“Historically, significant wealth can be a source of disunity within a family, rather than unity,” Shawn Barberis, president of More Than Money 360, a consulting firm for financial advisors with high-net-worth clients, said in an interview. “If the transfer of wealth is to be successful, it has to involve discussions within the family of legacy and governance.”
“The creation and successful transfer of family wealth involves three steps: making the money, protecting the money, and preparing the family to inherit the money. The last step is the one many families miss,” Eyler added. Financial advisors can help clients make sure that do not miss the final step. Most estimates put the amount millennials will inherit over the next decade at approximately $68 trillion.
A successful wealth transfer revolves around communication and transparency, both executives agreed. The More Than Money 360 technology is designed to prepare and empower families for their family meetings to create that atmosphere of communication that leads to transparency around family wealth, Barberis said…
