Not so long ago, the wealth industry conundrum was how to effectively attract millennial clients. Now, the scramble is to recruit Gen Z clients. It is likely that Gen Alpha is next, and so on. 

The industry has come forward with a number of solutions for this problem: 

• Investments in digital strategies and growing online presence abound. New research from LinkedIn shows the presence of wealth managers on the professional networking platform has grown tenfold in a decade and more than three quarters (77%) are looking to improve their digital reach. 
• Upskilling advisers to account for alternative assets – think Bitcoin, gold, etc. – is a strategic imperative. The same LinkedIn research shows that almost half (48%) of millennials want to discuss alternative investments with their advisers.

While a common thread is a wealth industry upping its game as its audience, the tools they use and investments they want change, why is the search for the next generation of clients always so arduous? 

It is worth considering whether something more obvious than digital access and upskilled advisers is afoot. 

Amongst ultra high net worths (UHNWs), the vast majority (78%) include inheritance advice as a core service they need. We know there is a lot of wealth waiting to be handed to millennials and Gen Z, so what about these cohorts’ financial engagement? 

LinkedIn research shows that working professionals on their platform are likelier than average to engage in wealth services. While these individuals are not necessarily the inheritors of super-wealth, we can deduce they are more engaged because they have some wealth to engage with.

In that case, millennials and Gen Zers lucky enough to inherit wealth from HNWIs will probably engage, too. The core problem the wealth industry faces is that this audience is the few. For the majority, affluence feels rare and aspirations of affluence are distant. 

Engaging the majority is both the grand prize and a fiendish puzzle. If the wealth industry wishes to grow its millennial and Gen Z customer base it must assure the masses that, with the wealth industry, affluence in the future is attainable for them, not someone with richer parents. 

Through that lens, it is worth reconsidering the fact that people are really engaged in alternative investments. Bitcoin and, more recently, gold prices are “going to the moon”, and perhaps this is engaging because it gives us hope today that we may be rich tomorrow. To engage younger audiences, the wealth industry must convince us that with their help today we too may be rich tomorrow.