The Mistake That's Costing Advisors the Great Wealth Transfer

The Two Moments That Decide Who Keeps the Life Insurance Relationship

An estimated $80 trillion or more is projected to change hands between generations in the coming decades. For agents and agencies partnered with The Brokerage Inc., that statistic matters less than a simpler truth buried inside it: that wealth doesn't transfer all at once, and it doesn't transfer quietly. According to research sponsored by Protective, which surveyed future bequestors, future inheritors, and financial professionals, the entire relationship hinges on how well an advisor prepares for two specific moments — not on how often they talk about "the transfer" in the abstract.

Moment One: When the More-Involved Spouse Passes Away

More than half of financial professionals report that, with married or partnered clients, they primarily or exclusively deal with one spouse. That arrangement works fine while both partners are alive. It becomes a liability the instant the more-engaged spouse is gone, because the surviving partner is left without the relationship history, the context, or the confidence to keep working with the same advisor.

The fix is straightforward but requires intention: build genuine engagement with both spouses well before this moment arrives. One advisor in the study put it plainly — the goal is to have both partners present for at least one meeting per year, and to ask the quieter spouse direct questions in the room rather than letting one partner carry every conversation.

Moment Two: When the Estate Transfers to the Next Generation

The second moment is where relationships are lost for a different reason. The research found that 77% of future inheritors already have their own financial professional, and 71% of bequestors do too — yet only 6% of inheritors share the bequestor's advisor. By the time the estate actually transfers, the next generation has often already made their choice, and it usually isn't the parents' advisor.

There's also a quiet mismatch in expectations worth noting. Sixty percent of future inheritors expect to receive some or all of their inheritance while the bequestor is still living, but only 20% of bequestors have made or plan to make lifetime gifts. Add to that the fact that nearly half of future inheritors (49%) worry the inheritance itself could create family conflict — even in families the bequestor describes as close — and it's clear why financial professionals consistently name family dynamics among the hardest parts of this work.

Four Practices Worth Building Into Client Reviews

The research points to a handful of habits that separate advisors who retain these relationships from those who don't:

• Engage both members of a couple by design. Make a joint annual review non-negotiable, and document each person's goals individually — not just the household's.

• Make transfer readiness visible. Many clients believe their planning is complete long before it is. A simple readiness snapshot covering wills, beneficiaries, trusts, powers of attorney, and healthcare directives can surface gaps a verbal "you're all set" never would.

• Normalize contact with the future executor early. Most future inheritors (70%) expect to serve as executor and feel confident they can (89%) — but confidence isn't preparation. A day-one checklist, introduced while the bequestor is still healthy, makes that first contact feel natural rather than alarming.

• Build continuity before assets are ever in motion. Reviewing life insurance and annuity beneficiaries with both generations present is a natural, low-pressure way to introduce the next generation to the relationship, since these benefits are often the first to pay out.

Notably, just under half of financial professionals report having no formal plan at all for engaging clients' adult children, and only about a third consider their plan fully implemented. That's a meaningful gap — and an opportunity for agents who choose to close it early rather than reactively.

The two retention moments in the Great Wealth Transfer are predictable. Preparing for them is a matter of habit, not luck.

Want the full research? Download Protective's complete white paper, including methodology and the full data set.

Agents and agencies with questions about how life insurance and annuity products fit into multigenerational planning conversations with clients are encouraged to reach out to the Life Team at The Brokerage Inc.

This article is for general informational purposes and is not financial, legal, or tax advice. Data referenced is drawn from Protective's white paper, "The Two Moments That Matter: Financial Professional Strategies for the Great Wealth Transfer."