The wealth management business is on the cusp of an explosion.

But in their drive to capitalize on growth projected at 60 percent over the next 15 years, wealth managers need to be sure they’re not pursuing one generation at the expense of others.

Read: Who's socking away 15% of their salary?

That’s the message from the Deloitte Center for Financial Services, which projects that household assets will grow to more than $140 trillion by 2030, generating as much as $240 billion in wealth management fees.

But although wealth managers might be considering shifting their attention to millennials as they try to capture those fees, the research warns them not to be too hasty in abandoning current baby boomer and GenX clients in doing so.

That may not exactly be likely to happen—after all, advisors are almost legendary in their disregard of millennials, according to a Corporate Insight study, with only about 30 percent actively seeking millennial clients.

And millennials for their part are not exactly rushing to work with advisors. But it’s a caution that Deloitte nonetheless felt moved to provide—since, after all, millennials are a growing sector of the population.

But that doesn’t mean the Deloitte research sees millennials as the major source of wealth management fees in the immediate future.

Millennial wealth will grow the fastest, the research said, but the demographic will account for less than 20 percent of national household wealth in 2030. “Most millennials are therefore unlikely to become consumers of top-tier wealth services anytime soon,” the report said.

So where should wealth managers be focusing their attention?

Why, pretty much where they are right now: on baby boomers, with an eye toward GenXers.

The report forecasts that baby boomers will continue to be the wealthiest generation in the U.S. through 2030 and remain the largest fee pool for financial services firms during that 15-year expansion.

But things will start to change quickly after that, the research found, with boomers’ share of net household wealth peaking at 50 percent by 2020 and declining to less than 45 percent by 2030, “quickly tapering off thereafter as mortality rates escalate.”

GenXers will be taking up the slack as boomers wane, experiencing the highest increase in share of national wealth through the forecast period, growing from under 14 percent of total net wealth in 2015 to nearly 31 percent by 2030.

“In fact,” said the report, “firms that have not yet woken up to Generation X’s potential may be too late to the party.”

Still, advisors should be keeping watch on millennials, since they, together with GenX, will hold half of wealth in 2030.

Instant Insights /

Wealth management poised to boom&mdash;in segments

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