The Great Wealth Transfer is a significant movement of wealth from the Baby Boomer generation (1946 - 1964) passed down to the next generations, (generation x and millennials). Between now and 2050, £5.5 trillion worth of assets is expected to transfer to the later generations in the UK alone, prompting many accounting professionals to prepare for the changes and challenges they will have to face.

One substantial implication of the Great Wealth Transfer may be the huge rise in demand for estate planning and services. Accountants will see an upward trend of clients looking for trust, estate planning and tax advice for minimising liabilities and maximising the amount of inheritance they’re able to pass on. Additionally, with millions of people suddenly inheriting assets, estates, property and life savings, many will turn to estate planning professionals to ensure they are planning effectively for their future.

With all that in mind, Accountants will need to prepare for both the surge in demand and ensure that they are able to provide all the necessary estate planning advice and services to their clients. So what options are available to accountants right now to start preparing for The Great Wealth Transfer?

Expand your offering

One of the best ways Accountants can prepare for The Great Wealth Transfer is to start offering a wide range of estate planning services to their clients, including:

• Simple and complex Will and LPA drafting
• Setting up Trusts and Tax advice
• Drafting Letters of Wishes, Advance Decision and Severance of Joint of Tenancy documents

Training

There are many different training paths for accountants looking to incorporate estate planning into their offering.

One notable example is The Society of Will Writers (or SWW), a non-profit self-regulatory organisation that promotes advancement, education and ethical standards within the estate planning industry. The SWW offers regular training courses and educational development for professionals. https://www.willwriters.com/ 

Another example is the Institute of Professional Will Writers (or IPW), a professional self-regulatory body founded to promote ethical estate planning standards for consumers within England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The IPW also runs regular training courses offered to professionals. https://www.ipw.org.uk/ 

Software

Software plays a crucial role in delivering a consistent, efficient and outstanding service for your clients in today’s modern estate planning landscape.

One such software is WillSuite, a cloud-based software solution that provides estate planning professionals with the ability to create legal documents, manage cases and automate several key areas of their business.

Some of the advantages of using software like WillSuite are:

• An increase in overall efficiency (address book, questionnaire-based drafting)
• Reduced risk of double date entry errors (information only needs to be entered once across all areas of the system)
• System-wide automation including drafting, admin and client communication
• Wide range of customisation options for a tailor made software experience
• Modern features including a client facing portal, client relationship management filters and automatically generated commentaries.
• Managing clients is made a breeze through automated email/sms communication that can be setup in minutes
• The software is incredibly intuitive and responsive, making it easy to pick up for the first time

In relation to The Great Wealth Transfer, WillSuite can also provide crucial efficiencies when it comes to the potential client scenarios accountants will encounter.

WillSuite provides the following advantages to accountants:

• Tax-efficient charitable contributions within a Will can be setup in seconds using WillSuite’s charity database lookup
• Will based trusts can be efficiently produced within WillSuite’s dynamic questionnaire based format
• Accountants offering estate planning services for the first time can rely on the software’s up to date clause library and world class support team.

WillSuite is backed by an experienced and accredited panel of three TEP (Trust and Estate Practitioner) professionals who maintain and update its clauses on a regular basis, and is a partner of the ICAEW, Society of Will Writers and Institute of Professional Will Writers.

As time goes on, we speak to more and more accountants about estate planning and how software can play a huge role in a successful product portfolio, and the nearing of The Great Wealth Transfer may provide one of the biggest influences for accountants to diversify.

If you’re interested in learning more about how WillSuite can help you, or to discuss any of the matters explored in this article, get in touch via info@willsuite.co.uk and a member of our team will be more than happy to reach out.