Report suggests advisors must be more proactive in starting the conversation
As Canada stands at the edge of its largest intergenerational wealth transfer in history, new research suggests most Canadians are not adequately prepared, and financial advisors are missing a crucial opportunity to step up.
Research from online estate planning platform Willful that while Canadians recognize the importance of planning for the future, too few are acting on it, and advisors aren’t consistently driving the conversation.
The findings expose a critical gap in preparedness that could leave families vulnerable and advisors disconnected from clients’ heirs with only 51% of Canadians currently reporting having a will, falling dramatically among younger demographics with just 10% of Gen Z and 29% of Millennials have taken this step, compared with 83% of Baby Boomers.
Many younger Canadians view estate planning as something to deal with “later in life,” despite already managing mortgages, raising children, and carrying significant debt.
Additionally, almost one in four Canadians don’t have any documents outlining their end-of-life preferences which could mean families left scrambling at already difficult times.
Two out of five Canadians say they’ve never had an in-depth conversation with their family about end-of-life wishes or the location of important documents. Even among parents of adult children, one-third (33%) have yet to broach the subject. Just under half of Gen Z (47%) and just over half of Millennials (52%) report having such discussions, compared with 71% of Boomers.
Even within households only half of married Canadians say they both understand their partner’s wishes and have shared their own.
Overall, only 36% of Canadians have reached the stage where they both know their family’s wishes and have communicated their own.
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From the perspective of financial advisors, these trends represent both a risk and an opportunity.
Three-quarters of Canadians with an advisor say it’s important that estate planning is part of the service they receive, but 46% report that their advisor has never brought up the topic at all, rising to 65% among Gen Z clients.
However, nearly half of Canadians (49%) say they’re more inclined to work with an advisor who offers estate planning tools.
The absence of these conversations often translates into lost business with 40% of advisors admitting they’ve seen assets move elsewhere after a client passed away, largely because heirs had no relationship with them, and 25% of advisors say they have ties with fewer than a quarter of their clients’ heirs, while 40% say their connections extend to only half.
Advisors themselves acknowledge the problem but cite barriers with half saying they simply wait for clients to bring it up, while more than a quarter say they lack the tools or resources to provide robust estate planning services.
Another quarter find the topic uncomfortable while many don’t view it as part of their core business model. Despite these hurdles, 85% agree estate planning is key to building trust and retaining clients for the long term.
To help bridge the divide, Willful has introduced Willful for Professionals, a platform designed specifically for advisors to make it easier to initiate estate planning discussions, deepen client relationships across generations, and integrate legacy planning without requiring advisors to become legal experts.
