AssetMark Survey Finds High-Net-Worth Clients Expect Broader Wealth Services

Advisors see households with $1 million to $5 million as an important source of growth, yet many are concerned that clients could leave for firms offering a wider range of services. That tension sits at the center of AssetMark’s survey of 400 U.S. independent advisors and RIAs: investment management remains the main reason clients seek advice, but advisors say clients increasingly expect help across their financial lives.

In the survey, 72 percent of respondents said they already serve households with $1 million to $5 million, while 64% identified that client segment as a leading source of future growth. At the same time, 55% said they were very or extremely concerned about losing high-net-worth clients to large institutions or national brokerages. Another 52% expressed the same concern about clients choosing advisors with broader service offerings.

AssetMark released its 2026 Advisor Insights: Private Wealth report alongside the launch of AssetMark Private Wealth, a program for advisors on its platform. The offering combines financial planning and customizable portfolios with specialist support for tax management, private markets, cash and lending, and charitable giving. Those services align with several areas where respondents reported a gap between client expectations and what their practices provide.

Expectations span beyond investment management

Ninety percent of advisors said clients come to them for investment management. But 83% said clients also expect help with other parts of their financial lives. The difference matters for firms trying to retain wealthy families: managing portfolios may establish the relationship, while tax, legacy and charitable planning can shape whether clients view the advisor as a resource for the family’s broader needs.

Tax planning showed the widest gap among the services highlighted. Sixty percent of advisors said clients expect tax management and planning, but only 26% offer it as a primary service. For tax optimization, 52% said clients expect help, while 23% make it a core offering. The survey also found gaps in legacy planning, which 47% said clients expect compared with 23% who offer it, and philanthropy, at 30% and 18%, respectively.

These figures describe advisors’ views of client expectations and their own service mix; they do not measure client satisfaction or the effect of adding a service on retention. Still, the pattern suggests that a portfolio-centered practice may face a mismatch when clients want help coordinating tax decisions, family priorities and wealth transfer. A discussion of how investment returns and tax returns intersect offers further context for why advisors are paying attention to tax services.

Retention concerns grow with firm size

Advisors at larger practices reported greater concern about keeping wealthy clients. Among firms with at least $250 million in assets under management, roughly six in 10 respondents were highly concerned about losing high-net-worth clients to large institutions or brokerages, losing them to competitors with broader service menus, or seeing assets leave as wealth changes hands. At smaller practices, the share across those concerns ranged from 34% to 38%.

The survey also points to a difference in the client households firms already serve. Fifty-nine percent of practices with $250 million to $500 million in assets under management reported serving households with $5 million to $30 million, as did 65% of firms with $500 million or more. The share was 18 percent among firms below $250 million. That may help explain why 35 percent of smaller practices described households in the $5 million to $30 million range as a growth opportunity.

The report cites Federal Reserve data showing that the wealthiest 10% of U.S. households held nearly 69% of household net worth in the second quarter of 2026. With so much wealth concentrated among a relatively small share of households, firms’ efforts to serve and retain affluent clients carry particular weight for their growth plans.

Wealth transfers bring both opportunity and risk

Fifty-five percent of advisors said they were very or extremely concerned that assets would leave their practice when wealth passes to beneficiaries. Yet 68% saw heirs and the next generation as a growth opportunity. The paired findings frame wealth transfer as a relationship challenge: a client’s existing advisor may not automatically retain assets if beneficiaries choose different providers or have different expectations.

AssetMark CEO Michael Kim said building trust across a family involves understanding broader priorities and taking part in planning conversations before assets change hands. That view places family relationships alongside portfolio management as a factor in whether an advisory relationship continues across generations. Advisors who want to serve heirs may need to build familiarity with them before a transfer, though the survey does not specify which approaches are most effective.

Private markets remain part of the competition

Ninety-one percent of respondents said access to private markets matters for differentiating client outcomes, unchanged from another AssetMark survey from 2025. Among advisors who do not yet offer private investments, 42% said they were very likely to add them within 12 months, up from 25% a year earlier.

For firms already offering private markets, some reported challenges became less common: 36% cited high investment minimums, down from 50%, while 34% cited limited product availability, down from 43%. Liquidity remained a significant challenge for 35% of respondents. That mix matters because greater interest in offering private investments does not remove practical constraints around access and liquidity. Advisors evaluating these offerings will have to weigh their role in client portfolios against those reported limits.

A separate survey on advisors pursuing high-net-worth growth also described firms using tax management, private markets and customized portfolios to compete. AssetMark’s findings add a retention dimension: practices are seeking growth from affluent households while also worrying about whether their services are broad enough to keep those clients and their families. The clearest pressure points in the survey are tax support, family planning and the ability to address wealth transfers while managing the limits of private investments.