Financial advisors who serve high-net-worth (HNW) investors devote significant time to estate planning. But new research suggests many are missing one of the most impactful ways to add value: helping clients reduce taxes.
According to Blackrock’s inaugural Advisor Trends Survey, there is a clear disconnect between what advisors prioritize and what HNW clients actually want. Advisors cite estate planning, customized retirement planning, charitable giving, intergenerational planning, and concentrated stock solutions as the top services they provide to affluent investors. Yet when clients are asked what matters most, tax-related concerns rise to the top, from capital gains taxes and estate tax planning to tax-efficient investment management and income tax liability.
Why Growth Is Harder Than It Looks
The gap matters more than ever as wealth continues to concentrate upmarket. HNW clients represent a significant growth opportunity for firms today. Tax optimization is no longer a “nice to have.” It’s become a baseline expectation across generations, alongside demands for complete customization.
At the same time, advisors face a mounting reality check. According to the U.S. RIA Marketplace 2025 report by Cerulli Associates, advisors spend nearly 20% of their total time on investment management tasks alone. Despite that effort, organic growth for most firms remains stuck at 2-3% annually. Operational overhead is a direct drag on growth, margins, and client relationships.
Traditionally, firms feel boxed into an impossible trade-off. They can outsource investment management to a Turnkey Asset Management Platform (TAMP), risking what makes their practice distinctive. Or they can attempt to build everything in-house and absorb higher costs, additional headcount, and increasing complexity. Neither option fully supports the personalized, tax-aware experience HNW clients want.
But that false choice is starting to break down.
A Smarter Way to Deliver Tax-Aware Investment Management
Our latest eBook, The Investment Management Paradox, explores how a modular approach to investment management services enables firms to outsource what slows them down while retaining control over what sets them apart. This model creates capacity without forcing firms into rigid workflows or all-or-nothing decisions.
With modular investment management services and tools built natively into the SS&C Black Diamond® Wealth Solutions ecosystem, firms can:
Optimize the management of taxable wealth by delivering tax-smart strategies.
Access institutional-quality portfolios without added overhead by browsing, customizing, and implementing professional-grade model portfolios.
Win more business faster by creating sophisticated investment proposals in minutes, not hours.
This approach gives firms the flexibility to scale smarter, simplify operations, and meet growing client expectations, without having to learn new systems, rebuild workflows, or migrate data.
For HNW clients, this translates into what they care about most: portfolios tailored to their tax situation, values, and long-term goals. For advisors, it creates space to focus on deeper planning conversations and stronger relationships.
Ultimately, the next phase of wealth management will separate firms that can deliver tax-saving strategies at scale from those that cannot. Growth will favor advisors who modernize how they deliver investment, planning, and retirement outcomes by rethinking how work gets done, preserving control where it matters most, and scaling without compromise.
Download The Investment Management Paradox to discover how modern RIAs are scaling investment management without giving up control. Then, to learn how our team can support your unique advisory firm, request a personalized demo, call 1-800-727-0605, or email info@sscblackdiamond.com today.
