The wealth protection and intergenerational wealth transfer will become one of the key client issues for advice professionals in 2018, according to the Institute of Public Accountants (IPA) Victorian vice president and Australian Wealth Solutions (AWS) principal Sam Zervides.
According to him, Australians were on the threshold of the largest intergenerational wealth transfer in history with $3 trillion expected to change hands over the coming decades.
At the same time, leaving financial legacies for the future generations was a major priority and concern for senior Australians.
Therefore, discussions around this subject should commence as soon as possible with clients indicating that intergenerational wealth transfer was an objective, he said.
“It requires an alliance of planners, accountants and solicitors to address the very personal and unique issues and aspirations of individual clients – many of which can be extraordinarily complex to navigate – especially the family and interpersonal issues,” Zervides reminded.
“When it comes to intergenerational wealth transfer, there is no such thing as an off the shelf/ one-size-fits-all approach and solution.
“Clients are far more reassured when their advisory network is working together in concert to provide a more comprehensive and inclusive solution to achieve their desired outcomes.”
He also predicted that a stronger alliance of advice practitioners was needed and that this new trend was gaining momentum.
“The era of professional advice providers working in a collaborative framework to address the wealth accumulation. Protection and transfer requirement has arrived,” he said.
