“Deciding how and when to pass wealth on to future generations can be difficult to navigate.” So it is that Credit Suisse, in drily understated Swiss fashion, frames the immensely complex challenge of how to successfully transfer wealth from one generation to the next.
Wealth transfer and succession planning are two sides of the same coin. Without enough of the latter there is too little of the former. And while it might seem easy for wealth to be passed from parent to child, it is a lot harder than you would think.
As the bank notes, 70% of families fail to transfer wealth successfully to the next generation. Even so, just 57% of primary wealth-holders say they have drafted any kind of plan to ensure wealth isn’t lost or frittered away by the next generation on inheritance.
All of this matters.