Why Estate Planning Now Drives Advisor Growth

The past year handed advisors a familiar mix of headwinds: sticky inflation, market volatility, shifting trade policy, and clients who feel less certain about the future than they did a year ago. What is less obvious is where that uncertainty is pushing people, and it points to an opportunity most practices still underuse.

When Americans feel financially anxious, they look for the parts of their financial lives they can actually control. Increasingly, that means estate planning. In Trust & Will’s 2026 Financial Advisor Report, a survey of 1,500 U.S. adults, 54% said their financial anxiety rose over the past year, and half said economic conditions made them more motivated to get their estate planning in order. For the first time in our research, a near-majority is turning anxiety into planning intent rather than paralysis.

Clients also have a clear view of who should help. Sixty-one percent say financial advisors should offer estate planning as part of their services, and given the choice, more would now prefer to build a plan with a financial advisor (27%) than with an estate planning attorney (24%). Sixty-eight percent believe an advisor has a responsibility to flag an outdated or incomplete plan, often without being asked.

That expectation carries real retention stakes. Sixty-eight percent of advised clients say they would consider switching to an advisor who offers estate planning, rising to roughly eight in ten among advised Gen Z and Millennial clients. Those younger cohorts matter more than ever: advisor adoption among Gen Z jumped from 28% to 42% in a single year, overtaking Baby Boomers. The fastest-growing client segments are the ones most insistent that estate planning be part of the relationship.

The unmet need is largest where advisors may least expect it. Our 2026 Estate Planning Report found that 56% of Americans still have no estate planning documents, and Generation X is the least protected generation. As detailed in our Sandwich Gap research, Gen X is simultaneously supporting aging parents and children while holding the fewest protections of any group, an underserved segment sitting in the middle of the coming wealth transfer.

None of this requires abandoning the human relationship that defines good advice. It requires pairing it with better tools. Roughly four in ten Americans are now comfortable using AI to help create estate planning documents, but the preference is conditional: technology for efficiency, a human professional for anything complex. That is precisely the high-tech, high-touch balance advisors are built to strike, and digital estate planning workflows make it realistic to offer without becoming a law firm.

The payoff is measurable. In a separate Trust & Will study of 300 advisors, most who added digital estate planning reported higher client retention (56%) and satisfaction (59%), and roughly four in ten grew assets under management from existing and new clients alike. The benefit compounds for clients: our Peace of Mind Report found that people with an estate plan are markedly less likely to feel anxious day to day. In a year defined by uncertainty, helping clients complete the plan fully within their control is among the most durable services an advisor can provide.

The advisors who treat estate planning as core through year-end, rather than a referral to hand off, will deepen relationships, reach the next generation, and turn today’s anxiety into lasting client trust.

This article originally appeared in the Wealth Management 2026 Midyear Outlook report (pg. 203).