As wealth tightens at the top, financial advisors are increasingly chasing households with $20 million or more in investable assets — and for good reason. New 2024 figures show this tiny slice of American households controls a growing share of investable wealth, creating both opportunity and new responsibilities for advisers and the families they serve.
Scale and why it matters now
Research firm Cerulli Associates estimates roughly 442,000 U.S. households had at least $20 million in financial assets in 2024 — about 0.3% of all households. Collectively they hold around $22.5 trillion in investable assets, nearly a quarter of the total investable wealth in the country, up from roughly 10% in 2010.
That concentration alters the advisory landscape. For advisory firms, these clients can deliver long-term revenue and prestige. For families, the stakes are higher: tax rules, legacy planning, business transitions and complex holdings demand specialized counsel.
Not every advisor is a fit
Advising extremely wealthy clients often requires capabilities beyond portfolio construction. Experienced consultants say the role blends technical planning with strategic coordination across lawyers, accountants, trustees and sometimes family counselors. It’s as much about managing relationships and expectations as it is about managing money.
Put simply: working with ultra-wealthy households is a distinct discipline. Firms that succeed tend to operate as integrated teams or trusted aggregators of outside specialists so clients experience a single, coordinated service.
The central question for prospective clients
When interviewing advisors, ultra-high-net-worth families should first make their situation clear and then ask whether the advisor has handled similar cases. Households’ circumstances vary widely — from founders with concentrated company stock to multi-generational families with private businesses — and that variation matters.
One adviser aide summed it up this way: clients should assess whether the firm understands the particular complexity of their wealth and whether it has worked with clients in comparable situations.
Families should also be attentive to how the advisor positions them within the firm’s client roster. Many wealthy clients prefer not to feel like anomalies — neither the biggest nor the only highly complex account — and they want a firm that treats their affairs as part of a broader, stable practice.
Core services wealthy families expect
Outside of investment oversight, ultra-high-net-worth clients most often need help with:
- Tax and estate planning — designing structures that minimize taxes and preserve wealth across generations.
- Family governance — creating decision-making frameworks, educational programs for heirs and rules for shared assets.
- Business advisory — succession planning, liquidity strategies and deal support for privately held companies.
- Philanthropic strategy — foundations, donor-advised funds and gift structures aligned with tax and legacy goals.
These services frequently overlap. For example, an entrepreneur selling a business must coordinate tax timing, liquidity needs, trust funding and sometimes charitable pledges — all while preparing heirs to assume roles or benefit from distributions.
Experts stress that firms do not need to provide every specialty in-house. What matters most is a smooth client experience: whether services are delivered internally or through vetted partners, the handoffs must be seamless and professional.
Questions that reveal competence
Beyond the basic “Do you have experience with clients like me?” families should press on implementation and continuity.
- How do you execute complex tax and estate planning in practice? (Ask for process examples and typical timelines.)
- What is your succession plan for the advisory relationship? (Families will likely need service from the institution for decades, not just from a single advisor.)
- Can you coordinate multidisciplinary teams and communicate decisions to multiple generations? (Look for real-world case histories, not vague promises.)
How an advisor answers — and how comfortable they are with these questions — can be as telling as the answers themselves. Candidates who explain their methods calmly and provide examples demonstrate the professionalism families will need through complicated, emotional transitions.
At a time when a small fraction of households control a vastly outsized share of investable assets, the search for the right advisory relationship is not just about returns. It’s about trust, coordination and a plan that can outlast one generation.
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Jordan Keller specializes in analyzing the US financial markets. With concrete recommendations, he helps you secure and boost your investments by providing strategies that adapt to market fluctuations.