Connecting with Next Gen clients has long been a major challenge for financial advisors. That issue only gets even more complicated when clients from multiple generations are sitting at the same table and their retirement and other financial goals are often different from their parents.
To learn more about this issue and learn ways advisors can overcome such hurdles, Wealth Solutions Report spoke with Joe Buhrmann, Advisory Financial Planning Consultant for eMoney Advisor, which serves over 138,000 financial professionals.
WSR asked Buhrmann why so many advisors struggle with managing multiple generations, how advisors can use their planning technology to facilitate productive dialogue, how advisors can position themselves to bring Next Gen clients into the fold and when they should start that engagement, and what is the most compelling case advisors can make to wealth-preserving parents to convince them that serving their adult children is in everyone's best interest.
His responses follow.
WSR: What does the tension of advisors working with client families across multiple generations look like in a planning conversation and why do so many advisors struggle to manage it?
Buhrmann: In a multi-generational planning conversation, the tension isn’t usually dramatic, it’s deafeningly quiet and easy to miss. It shows up as hesitation, filtered answers or everyone nodding along but walking away with different interpretations. It’s not a conflict. Rather, it's a misalignment. Each generation is reacting to the same conversation in a different way – control, independence, fairness, legacy and most families simply haven’t built the muscle to talk about money openly.
Where forward-thinking advisors stand apart is recognizing their role isn’t just to deliver a plan; it’s to create shared understanding. Fintech can help by changing the dynamic. When you bring a clear, visual plan into the conversation, it becomes a neutral anchor. People start engaging with it together. Real progress doesn’t happen when everyone agrees. It happens when everyone feels seen, heard and aligned around what matters most.
WSR: When two generations at the same table have genuinely conflicting financial goals, how can advisors use their planning technology to facilitate productive dialogue?
Buhrmann: When two generations have genuinely conflicting goals, the breakthrough is helping each side see and react to the same reality. What’s typically occurring at the table is that one generation may be focused on security and control, the other on flexibility, lifestyle or opportunity.
Advisors can elevate the conversation by using planning technology to make those trade-offs tangible and visible, putting multiple scenarios side-by-side:
● “Here’s what happens if we prioritize legacy”
● “Here’s what happens if we prioritize current lifestyle”
● “Here’s that happens if buy the house on the lake”
Now the conversation can shift from position to perspective. It takes the emotion out of “you versus me” and turns it into “let’s react to what this actually looks like.” Once a family can see the impact of their choices together, the conversation becomes more productive and the solutions more collaborative.
“Once a family can see the impact of their choices together, the conversation becomes more productive and the solutions more collaborative.”
WSR: At a time when millions of young adults are graduating, heading to college or living on their own for the first time, how should advisors position themselves to bring these clients into the fold and when does that engagement need to start?
Buhrmann: The biggest mistake advisors make is waiting until these young adults have “real money” before engaging them. The relationship should start well before that, ideally while they’re still in high school, heading to college or launching their careers.
This is a perfect opportunity for advisors to deepen multigenerational relationships and provide education on financial literacy topics like budgeting, student loans, benefits enrollment, managing credit and saving. Those conversations may not generate revenue today, but they build trust that can last for decades to come.
Fintech can help make that engagement feel relevant. Planning tools can allow advisors to create simple, visual planning experiences that resonate with younger generations, meet them where they’re at and help them see the impact of decisions in real time to help them build confidence. If you become their first call for financial questions, you’ve already won.
If you become their first call for financial questions, you’ve already won
WSR: What’s the most compelling case advisors who aren’t yet established in the HNW family niche can make to a wealth-preserving parent that serving their adult child is in everyone's best interest?
Buhrmann: As firms scramble to capture assets amid the great wealth transfer, research by Capgemini showed eight in 10 younger HNW investors plan to replace their parents’ firm within two years after inheritance.
This group desires a new planning experience including:
Real-Time Updates: They expect their financial plan to update as quickly as their Instagram feed.
Scenario Testing: Next Gen clients love to ask, “What if?” What if I retire at 50? What if I start a side hustle? With scenario testing, you can show them what those paths look like.
Clear Visuals: Next Gen grew up with infographics, dashboards and color-coded everything. If a plan is 30 pages of text, they’re out. But give them a clean graph or a progress wheel, or better yet – a mobile app – and suddenly planning feels real.
Mobile Access: If it’s not on their phone, it basically doesn’t exist. They want to check in on their plan the same way they check the weather.
Jeff Berman, Contributing Editor and Reporter at Wealth Solutions Report, can be reached at jeff.berman@wealthsolutionsreport.com.
