Why Most Legacy Services Don’t Scale (And What Advisors Can Do About It)
A grandfather wants to pass down the story of how his family started their business.
A parent wants to write a letter about values to their kids.
An advisor wants to help—but isn’t sure where to begin.
Legacy services are gaining traction across the wealth management industry—but most advisory firms still haven’t figured out how to deliver legacy work at scale.
And that’s a problem.
Legacy Work Isn’t About Estate Planning
This isn’t about estate planning or wills.
It’s about helping clients talk about the things that really matter: stories, values, history, identity.
And despite strong client demand, this kind of legacy planning work is still only reaching a small fraction of families.
Why Most Legacy Services Don’t Scale
Most wealth management firms approach legacy work in one of three ways:
Hiring internal experts — full-time family governance professionals who end up serving less than 2% of households.
Bringing in external consultants — for six-figure engagements that only the ultra-wealthy can afford.
Training advisors to deliver it themselves — though not every advisor has the time, interest, or structure to sustain the work.
The result? 53% of Americans can’t name all four of their grandparents.
That’s not a data point about memory.
That’s a signal about connection — and what’s lost when firms don’t have scalable ways to help families capture and communicate their stories.
Why It Matters for Advisors
We’re not talking about billion-dollar families. We’re talking about people who simply want to pass something meaningful on.
Advisors tell us all the time:
“My clients love me. I already know them well.”
And they’re probably right.
But when it’s time to transition wealth or involve the rising generation, how much of that trust gets transferred—and how much fades away?
The truth is: most firms are great at building trust.
Very few have a strategy to carry that trust forward to the rising generation.
Even fewer have a system to transfer institutional knowledge to the next generation of advisors inside the firm.
That’s where scalable legacy services come in.
How Legacy Services Help Advisors Stay Relevant
Legacy services protect the relationships you’ve already earned — and help your firm stay relevant as families evolve.
They preserve family stories and values across generations.
They strengthen multi-generational relationships.
They turn deep client trust into enduring firm loyalty.
The rising generation is watching—and they’re not just inheriting assets.
They’re inheriting relationships, stories, and decisions.
Let’s help advisors be ready to lead that conversation.
