Every advisor knows the old formula: people do business with those they know, like, and trust. No know, no like, no trust — no relationship, and no assets. It is obvious. What is less obvious is how early that trust has to be earned.
Research on affluent investors has consistently found that roughly 60% chose their first financial advisor before the age of 45. Sit with that. By the time many heirs inherit — often in their 40s, 50s, or later — they have already selected the advisor they trust. And it is usually not the one who managed their parents' money.
This reframes the whole challenge. The competition for tomorrow's inherited wealth is not happening at the moment of inheritance. It is happening now, while future heirs are in their 20s and 30s, forming the financial relationships they will keep for life. An advisor waiting to be introduced at the reading of the will is not early. They are roughly two decades late.
Look at the generations in play. Gen X, now in their 40s and 50s, will inherit the most wealth of any group over the next ten years, and for many of them the window has already closed. Millennials, now in their late 20s to early 40s, are the largest inheriting generation over the next quarter century, and their window is closing fast. Gen Z is right behind them — advisor adoption among that cohort jumped from 28% to 42% in a single year. These are not passive prospects to be found later. They are choosing advisors right now.
So how do you build know, like, and trust with people who are not yet clients and may hold few assets today? You demonstrate value before you ask for business. You provide education that meets younger family members where they are. You show up at the milestones that matter. You make yourself useful on the questions they actually have — student loans, first mortgages, workplace retirement plans, a growing family — long before there is an account to open.
And you do it on their terms. Younger generations expect digital access, mobile-friendly communication, and content that respects their time. Trust with a thirty-year-old is not built the way it was with their parents. It is built through consistent, relevant, low-pressure engagement across the channels they already live in, and through genuine interest in their goals rather than their eventual inheritance.