America's Most Advisor-Friendly Trust Companies 2024 - 3

2024 AMERICA'S MOST ADVISOR-FRIENDLY TRUST COMPANIES
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
W
e all hope for the best. Professional advisors plan
for the worst. Financial planning revolves around
making sure income matches expenditures
across a wide range of more-or-less hypothetical
scenarios. The goal is to keep cash flowing as long as possible
in an uncertain world.
SCOTT MARTIN
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Artificial Intelligence. After a year of
hype, it sounds a little expensive and
implausible to contemplate applying
the hottest technology in Silicon
Valley to the age-old challenges of
death and taxes, but that's exactly
why we decided to do it.
When you're dealing with a
traditional industry run by a lot of
rules, there's more opportunities to
create value through a little creative
disruption. And luckily enough, the
trust companies we choose to work
with are the ones where the people
have vision. They're open to the
power of new technology and new
ways to deliver expertise to families
that need support.
That's all the new Advisor-Friendly
Trust Companies really is. An
evolution in our platform, but the
mission remains the same: better
outcomes for your clients, better
relationships for advisors.
Estate planning happens when
we extend the calculations across
generations: birth, marriage and
death. On that time line, the
investment cycle smooths out. Taxes
and inheritance rules become a
bigger concern. The right planning
structure can preserve wealth
for decades, centuries . . . even,
theoretically, forever.
Surprises and shocks aren't
eliminated. Life in all its messy
unpredictability still happens around
the estate plan, forcing periodic
reflection and revision as your
clients' needs change. Opportunities
and threats emerge and recede.
In a transient world, a good estate
planner works hard to capture the
opportunities to shield client wealth
from the threats.
Every advisor can think along these
lines. If you aren't doing it already,
I guarantee that your strategic
competitors won't be too shy to
use it as a wedge between you and
your best clients. They know that
market moods ebb and flow . . . but
whoever manages the estate will
maintain the AUM and associated
fees for generations to come.
That's the prize at stake here.
You aren't just thinking about
your clients' posterity. Your own
professional legacy is on the line
as today's wealth creators inch
toward an exit to make way for a
new generation. A little care toward
structuring the inheritance creates
comfort that you'll remain in the mix.
3
THE ADVISOR-FRIENDLY
LANDSCAPE FOR 2024 AND
BEYOND
We love data. And nobody but us
tracks the way modern advisors are
integrating outside estate planning
resources into their traditional
investment-oriented activities . . .
which is why we keep polling our
audience of 350,000 investment
professionals to see what's really
going on out there.
Our latest survey revealed that
about half (48%) of advisors are
already working with a friendly trust
company to get clients the multigenerational
support they deserve.
That's huge progress. But it's still a
coin flip: 52% of your colleagues and
competitors haven't figured it out
yet. If you're reading this book, that's
your edge. They're behind the curve.
You're ahead.
When you're evaluating a partner,
cost is a factor but ultimately quality
wins. " Service and expertise " rule
this world with 79% of our advisors
making sure they work with a trust
company that can deliver. Exposing
your best clients to a second-tier
provider only raises the odds that
those clients will get enticed to trade
up . . . and away from you in the
process.
Nothing else comes close to service.
Technology is table stakes now. So
is long-term staying power. And
while " operational efficiency " is
nice for the trust company, it isn't
continued on page 5
America's Most Advisor-Friendly Trust Companies 2024

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