As family wealth is expected to change hands in the coming years, preparing for the next generation is an increasingly important responsibility for family offices. Yet recognizing the need for preparation and having a plan in place are two different things.
The 2026 UBS Global Family Office Report found that only 27% of family offices have a process to educate and prepare their heirs for future roles and responsibilities, with 29% citing insufficient financial or governance education as a challenge to involving them.
Developing future stewards takes more than explaining how family assets are managed. It means helping them understand the purpose behind those assets, the values that shaped the family’s decisions, and the responsibilities that come with them.
Start the Conversation Early
Preparation doesn’t have to begin with a discussion about inheritance. Wealth managers can gradually introduce financial concepts and family values, adapting the conversation as children grow.
Early conversations might focus on saving, spending, and giving. As children become teenagers, families can introduce investing, family business interests, and philanthropy. Young adults can begin learning how trusts, investments, and other structures fit together, eventually participating in investment or governance discussions.
The goal is to build familiarity over time so that responsibility feels like a natural progression rather than a sudden transition.
Recent research suggests the next generation itself sees value in starting early. UBS' 2026 Global Next Generation Report found that more than half of respondents believe conversations about wealth transfer should begin in childhood or adolescence, while 67% of North American respondents associate wealth transfer with taking on new responsibilities.
Pass Along Context, Not Just Information
Financial literacy is an important part of that process, but understanding a family’s wealth also means learning its history and purpose.
As our whitepaper, From Portfolio Manager to Legacy Architect | A Wealth Manager’s Guide to Multi-Generational Family Stewardship, explains, a family’s origin story is a legacy asset in itself. Understanding how and why the family built its wealth helps preserve that history for future generations.
Sharing that story can take creative forms, from custom coloring books that illustrate how a family built its wealth to legacy letters that articulate its purpose and the values behind it.
Consider questions such as:
Why did the family build its business?
What principles shaped its investment decisions?
What does the family hope its wealth will accomplish?
What lessons should carry forward?
These conversations and activities can help heirs understand their family’s wealth in ways that feel natural and age-appropriate.
Give the Next Generation a Role
Education becomes more meaningful when it leads to participation.
Family offices can gradually involve younger members in family meetings, philanthropic decisions, investment discussions, and governance. Over time, those experiences can train them for greater responsibilities, from participating on investment committees to taking on trustee or family office leadership roles.
For wealth managers, this also means building relationships with adult children well before a wealth transfer occurs. By involving the next generation in appropriate conversations and helping them understand the family’s financial picture, wealth managers can support a gradual transition from understanding the family’s wealth to taking an active role in its stewardship.
Download the From Portfolio Manager to Legacy Architect | A Wealth Manager’s Guide to Multi-Generational Family Stewardship whitepaper to explore how wealth managers can help families prepare the next generation. Then, to learn how SS&C Black Diamond® Wealth Solutions can support family offices, request a personalized demo, call 1-800-727-0605, or email info@sscblackdiamond.com.
