Why Legacy Work Isn’t Reaching Most Clients

Legacy planning and family legacy services are becoming more important—not just for ultra-wealthy families, but for any client asking deeper questions about their story, values, and impact. Yet most wealth firms still don’t have a scalable way to offer this work.

Legacy services go far beyond financial planning, trusts, wills, and estate planning. Those are different conversations altogether, and there are a number of wealthtech platforms and UHNW experts to help with them. 

But that’s not what we’re covering today.

The kind of legacy services we’re talking about has little to do with money— and everything to do with meaning. Before we walk through the framework used by top wealth firms across the country, let’s take a look at what legacy delivery looks like today.

Most advisors don’t need to become family coaches—but they do need to understand what’s possible, and who to partner with.

What are Legacy Services?

Legacy services help families honor their past and inspire their future. They often include:

• Improving communication and family interactions
  

• Facilitating family meetings
  

• Defining family values and purpose
  

• Writing legacy letters or messages to loved ones
  

• Capturing family history in written or video form
  

• Creating tools like family mission statements, constitutions, or guiding principles
  

This type of work is often referred to as family dynamics or family governance, but based on feedback from thousands of HNW and UHNW families, we don’t really use those terms anymore.

How Firms Are Delivering Legacy Work Today

1.Internal Experts

Many of the best firms in the country have hired internal experts—individuals or teams—dedicated to legacy services. Examples include Cresset’s Family Governance and Education team, led by Whitney Webb, and the Merrill Center for Family Wealth at Merrill Lynch.

Pros:

• Full-time staff are embedded in the client experience and advisor workflow
  

• High consistency and strong relationship-building over time
  

• Opportunity to develop proprietary frameworks and research
  

• Strong correlation with loyalty and referrals
  

Cons:

• Scalability: these teams often serve less than 1–2% of clients
  

• Perceived as non-revenue generating, so often cut when budgets tighten
  

• No tech to capture or share deliverables
  

• Limited access for clients with lower AUM
  
  

2. External Consultants (Facilitation)

Other firms outsource legacy facilitation to consultants—expert facilitators with backgrounds in clinical psychology, estate law, or family systems work. Many are authors and speakers. Some of the best known include James E. Hughes and James Grubman, both of whom have inspired our work and joined us on the Visionary Advisor Podcast.

Pros:

• Deep expertise and credibility with UHNW families
  

• Bring proven frameworks (no need to build from scratch)
  

• Self-sufficient: does not require advisor delivery
  

• No need to hire full-time staff
  

Cons:

• Great consultants are often booked out months in advance
  

• Engagements typically start at $50K and can go up to $150K
  

• No software to capture or extend the work
  

3. External Consultants (Advisor Education)

Some firms focus instead on training advisors to lead legacy work themselves. Examples include Legacy Capitals, Heritage Institute, and Kinder Life Planning. These founders are also thought leaders and speakers and sometimes work directly with families.

Pros:

• No new hires needed
  

• Skill development for advisors
  

• Builds credibility with clients
  

Cons:

• Advisor engagement varies—not all are interested
  

• Advisor bandwidth is limited
  

• No digital tools to capture or scale deliverables
  
  

4. Advisors Themselves

There are over 300,000 wealth advisors in the US— and many are already leaning into legacy work. We call these individuals Visionary Advisors. They understand that true wealth is not money but well-being. They understand the real “job to be done.”

Pros:

• No additional cost to the firm
  

• Leverages existing trust and relationships with clients
  

Cons:

• Limited time and capacity
  

• No software to create or track outcomes
  

• Must license frameworks or build their own
  
  

Why It Still Isn’t Reaching Enough Families

Despite growing interest and innovation, legacy work still isn’t reaching most clients. The barriers—cost, advisor capacity, lack of technology—remain real and persistent.

And the result?
53% of Americans can’t name all four of their grandparents.

That’s the outcome of failing to scale legacy services. 

The demand is there. The need is there. But the current delivery methods still exclude too many families.

For many firms, legacy work has become one of the most referenced reasons for client referrals. It’s also a proactive way to build deeper relationships with spouses and the next generation—two areas where traditional firms often struggle to connect.

What Clients Really Want

• Grandparents want to share the milestone moments of their life with younger generations.
  

• Parents want to use values to create a common language with their children.
  
  

• Entrepreneurs want to pass down the story behind their success.
  
  

Most of these people are not bringing $50 million with them. But they still want help.

Legacy services shouldn’t be gated by AUM. They are about human beings and their stories. And if your client wants to talk about the values or history of their family—your firm needs a way to support that.

The best advisors already know their clients deeply. Legacy work helps institutionalize that knowledge—so it doesn't get lost when families transition, inherit, or restructure.

If you don’t, they’ll take their trust, and their assets, somewhere else.