The Silver Tsunami: How to better prepare your team to serve an aging clientele

It’s a force so immense, so steady, and so transformational that it’s already begun to reshape everything – our economy, our healthcare system, and our entire industry. Yes, I’m talking about demographics. But before you start rolling your eyes and mumbling I’ve heard this all before, let me clarify that while it may not be a particularly new story, it has quickly become a VERY real story.

The demographic prophesies of Harry Dent back in the 1990s have come to fruition. I recently came across an old quote of his from Standard & Poor’s that stopped me in my tracks. It categorically stated, “No other force is as likely to shape the future as the irreversible rate at which the population is aging.”

Let that sink in for a minute. We’re living through what many call the silver tsunami. Others prefer the age wave. Whatever name you give it, it’s no longer on the horizon – it’s crashing onto the American shoreline. Just look at the numbers:

• Every single day approximately 11,400 Americans turn age 65
• By 2030, 1 in 5 Americans will be over retirement age.
• 80% of U.S. wealth is held by people aged 60 and older.

Nevertheless, most advisory firms are still operating like it's 2005 – overfocused on accumulation and underprepared for decumulation, longevity planning, legacy planning and family transitions. If you want to be the advisory firm of the future, the clock is ticking.

There’s no more time to delay. Your team must start to make the following three significant shifts right now:

It’s time to move beyond performance-based investment management and start answering the real questions your clients are asking:

• • What happens to my spouse if I die before them?
  • How can I best prepare the next generation, without creating a sense of entitlement?
  • Should we start running some ‘fire drills’ to test our planning for the possibility of something happening to both of us?

As you can see, these aren’t just financial questions. They’re personal, emotional, and strategic questions. And if your team isn’t equipped to answer them with empathy and clarity, you’re not adequately prepared to lead your clients into the future.

2. Build Capacity for Aging Clients

Longevity isn’t just about living longer – it’s about how we live longer. The U.S. significantly trails most developed countries in both lifespan and health span. According to the World Health Organization, Americans spend an average of 12.4 years in poor health at the end of life.

Typically, Medicare will cover somewhere around two-thirds of your clients’ retirement healthcare costs. According to the most recent HealthView Services Retirement Healthcare Costs Data Report, that means an average healthy 65-year-old couple can expect to pay $597,389 in out-of-pocket medical expenses during retirement. Add the potential costs of long-term care into the mix, and that number can easily quadruple.

In light of these potential life-altering expenses, it’s vital that your firm steps up its efforts to:

• • Upgrade your capabilities to ensure you can offer comprehensive elder care planning – including estate planning, healthcare directives, long-term care insurance options and retirement income strategies
  • Strengthen relationships with estate and elder law attorneys, health advocates, care managers and geriatric specialists to deliver a coordinated, holistic care offering
  • Encourage your clients to designate one or more trusted individuals (such as a professional fiduciary) to manage their financial affairs if they become incapacitated
  • Start cultivating relationships with adult children long before any disability event or parental wealth transfer occurs
  • Increase the frequency of your client contact as clients age. Circumstances and needs are likely to change more quickly, and staying on top of their situation will provide them with greater peace of mind
  • Similarly, consider modifying your communications (brief, more visual written materials that are easier to understand; shorter meetings; and user-friendly technology) to meet the needs of an aging demographic

Here’s the one stat that we know you’ve probably seen a hundred times, but it’s so sobering it should really motivate your firm to rethink its entire wealth transfer strategy: 70% of next generation inheritors and 80% of widows move their business to a new advisor after the wealth transfer occurs. That’s not just a retention issue – it’s a massive relationship issue.

3. Lead the Family Dialogue

The most enduring advisory firms aren’t just managing money. They’re architecting relationships across generations. That means:

• • Facilitating family meetings and navigating potential animosity between future inheritors – all while meeting your fiduciary duty to all parties.
  • Helping clients on their quest to document and transfer their values to the next generation, not just their assets.
  • Helping clients prepare their heirs (not just prepare for them) by providing next generation educational opportunities and access to your team members to pre-plan for inheritance and the challenges of managing considerable wealth.

If you're doing that, you’re in the money. If you’re not, someone else will.

As financial advisors, our opportunity isn’t just to serve the lives our clients are living—it’s to guide them through the long arc of the lives they might live. That’s where legacy is built.

The good news is you don’t need to solve all these issues overnight. But you do need to begin evolving – intentionally and urgently. Because the silver tsunami / age wave is here; bringing with it a host of logistical considerations as well as financial challenges. Also, keep in mind that as you become more top-heavy with aging clients, your business will gradually bleed assets through decumulation. So as more and more of your clients age, your efforts to drive organic growth through new client acquisition becomes increasingly important. The firms that most quickly and effectively adapt will be the ones that survive and thrive.

If this topic speaks to you, I recommend diving into the work being done by Stanford’s Center on Longevity and reading The Blue Zones by Dan Buettner. Both are rich with insight on living longer, and better.

Coaching Questions From This Article

1. What’s one concrete way our team is helping clients plan for their health span—not just their lifespan?
2. Are we modeling long-term care and out-of-pocket medical expenses in every financial plan? If not, why not?
3. Do we have a process for engaging spouses and adult children before the wealth transfers?
4. Does our value proposition resonate with both a 75-year-old widow and her 38-year-old daughter?
5. What strategic partners do we need to guide clients through longevity—not just market volatility?

About ClientWise LLC

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