U.S. Trust Develops Web-Based Educational Resources for Young Adults Through Expanded Financial Empowerment Program
U.S. Trust Develops Web-Based Educational Resources for Young Adults Through Expanded Financial Empowerment Program
U.S. Trust today announced the expansion of its Financial Empowerment Program to include comprehensive online educational resources, interactive learning modules and self-assessment and planning tools. The program is designed for tech-savvy Generation X and Y young adults who are beneficiaries of wealth to help them develop financial skills to manage their financial futures as well as the responsibilities of family wealth.
The U.S. Trust Financial Empowerment Program, created to help the next-generation heirs of its clients, offers educational materials that address:
- Investing basics and leveraging credit wisely.
- Financial considerations of major milestones, such as marriage, buying a home, having a baby, and changing jobs, the heightened risk of identity theft and reputation risk that families of wealth often face.
- The practical aspects of sophisticated estate planning and wealth management tools, such as insurance, trusts and gifting, as well as the complex, multi-dimensional considerations of charitable giving and legacy planning.
The expanded program has been developed based on client feedback and the preference for online access and communication cited by younger clients and next-generation heirs. The 2011 U.S. Trust Insights on Wealth and Worth study found that high net worth parents are concerned about raising children of wealth. Only 34 percent of high net worth parents surveyed strongly agreed that their children will be able to handle the inheritance they plan to leave them. Two-thirds (67 percent) of parents agreed that their children would benefit from discussions with a financial professional.
“With the Financial Empowerment Program, we’re able to provide clients with a powerful tool to pass along the values that helped them acquire and preserve their wealth,” said Chris Heilmann, U.S. Trust’s chief fiduciary executive.
Clients and their children and grandchildren can get started in the Financial Empowerment Program through their U.S. Trust specialist who will work with them to identify values and goals and diagnose gaps in financial knowledge. Participants then receive a customized program that can be delivered online, in one-on-one sessions or in groups for the entire family.
Early evidence of the Financial Empowerment Program’s effectiveness comes through praise from such sources as the Corporate Executive Board’s VIP Forum, which profiled the program as a best-practice strategy for providing financial education to the next generation of clients.
Conducted in January and February 2011, U.S. Trust Insights on Wealth and Worth is based on a nationwide survey of approximately 450 wealthy Americans, with $3 million or more of investable assets, excluding primary residence but including retirement assets.
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