Here's a troubling reality: only 33% of people who work with a financial advisor feel prepared to discuss their estate plan and end-of-life wishes. That's barely better than the 20% of people who've never worked with an advisor at all.
Think about what that means. Clients are paying for professional financial guidance, yet two-thirds still feel unprepared for one of life's most critical transitions. This opens up significant risk for financial advisors in asset retention and client engagement.
The problem here isn't that clients don't value estate planning: it's that most digital estate planning tools focus on creating documents rather than the key moments that shape a family's financial future. Documents alone can't help families feel prepared, navigate loss, protect wealth for future generations, or build the trust that holds families together during tough times.
There is a better approach. The right digital estate planning solution doesn't just generate paperwork; it creates genuine preparedness. When estate planning tools support the whole process—from building confidence through preparation to guiding families through loss and helping them move forward stronger—they become more than just a costly requirement. They become real advantages that protect assets, build lasting relationships across generations, and deliver on the promise of making families feel ready for what's ahead.
Why Traditional Digital Estate Planning Fails the Moment That Matters Most
Documents Don't Equal Strategy (or Support)
Most platforms offer templates for wills and basic trusts. Clients might start the forms, sometimes finish them, download the PDFs, and then nothing else happens.
This method overlooks what families really need: tracking digital assets like crypto wallets and online businesses, keeping beneficiaries updated across all accounts, and adjusting as life changes. The result is that most people give up, and the return on investment is low.
More importantly, it doesn't create the sense of preparedness that clients are seeking. A downloaded PDF sitting in a folder doesn't make someone feel ready to face end-of-life conversations or confident that their family will be taken care of.
The Path Forward: Supporting Families Through Life's Toughest Moments
The right digital estate planning solution can transform that 33% preparedness rate into a much higher rate. Firms and advisors who see real results have changed how they think about estate planning. They have shifted from just making documents to offering full support that builds genuine confidence and readiness.
Four Questions That Reveal Whether Your Approach Is Built for What's Coming
Whether you're an individual advisor or a firm leader, these questions cut through the noise:
1: Does Your Solution Actually Support People, or Just Generate Documents?
If it ends at "you now have a will," you're missing the value. Does it maintain living inventories? Capture digital assets with real specificity? Provide ongoing monitoring?
Most importantly: Does it make clients feel prepared? If your clients are still in that 67% who don't feel ready to discuss their estate plan, your digital solution, or lack of one, isn't working.
2: Are You Present at the Moment of Loss?
What happens when a client passes? Does your system provide structured settlement guidance? Do you have workflows that reduce the burden for both families and your team? Are you creating meaningful touchpoints during the critical 12-18 month period?
This is also where preparedness proves its value. Families who felt ready beforehand navigate this period with dramatically less stress and far more gratitude toward the advisor who helped them prepare.
3: Does It Build Multigenerational Relationships, or Just Serve Individual Clients?
Does your approach create natural reasons to involve spouses and adult children in conversations? During settlement, are you building relationships with the next generation? Are you creating value beyond paperwork processing?
Your long-term viability depends on converting one-client households into multigenerational family relationships.
4: Is It Integrated Into How Advisors Actually Work?
Does estate planning information flow automatically into your CRM and planning software? Can advisors see planning gaps without manual detective work? Does it make their jobs easier or harder?
Whether advisors use these tools is what distinguishes a real competitive advantage from a costly tool that goes unused.
What Best-in-Class Actually Looks Like
The firms that are making real progress—the ones moving that preparedness needle from 33% toward something far higher—are not using basic will-making tools. They use complete platforms that help families prepare, manage the process, and move forward with confidence.
These solutions combine:
Digital planning and organization that keeps strategies current as life evolves and creates genuine readiness
Loss and settlement support that provides structured guidance through the hardest 12-18 months
Multigenerational engagement that systematically involves family members and builds lasting relationships
Seamless workflow integration that enhances advisor effectiveness without adding burden
Holistic client management with clear reporting on opportunities and client preparedness
This is what Empathy was created to provide. We began by rethinking life insurance standards, bringing easy-to-use technology and great experiences to a traditional field. We tackled the challenge of loss with clear guidance, expert help, and real care when families need it most.
We help you solve the 33% problem. Empathy LifeVault™ was designed to help wealth management firms and financial advisors close the estate planning and preparedness gap. When you are truly there for families—not just with documents but with real support—you do more than keep assets. You build trust that lasts for generations, create stronger relationships, and help families become more resilient.
The Moment Is Now
Bringing on a digital estate planning platform is worth it when it covers the entire process, not just document creation, and when it measurably improves how prepared clients feel.
Tools that fall short:
Treat estate planning as one-time paperwork
Disappear at the moment of death
Serve individual clients instead of building family relationships
Can't prove business impact or improvements in client preparedness
Approaches that transform:
Support ongoing planning and coordination that builds genuine readiness
Provide comprehensive guidance through loss and settlement
Create systematic opportunities to engage the next generation
Integrate seamlessly into advisor workflows
Drive measurable improvements in retention, growth, efficiency, and client confidence
The great wealth transfer is happening now. Over the next twenty years, $105 trillion will transfer to heirs. Families are facing some of the hardest times in their lives, and relationships are being tested and changed.
But here's what matters most: only 33% of clients working with financial professionals feel prepared for these moments. That's not good enough. Not for them, not for their families, and not for your business.
The firms and advisors who show up with real support—who use the right digital estate planning solutions to make families genuinely ready for what's ahead—will build something that lasts. Not just retained assets. Not just satisfied clients. But genuine resilience. Multigenerational trust. Relationships that grow stronger through life's toughest moments. And families who actually feel prepared, confident, and cared for.
The question isn't whether digital estate planning is worth it.
The question is whether you're ready to move beyond documents and deliver the preparedness your clients are seeking.