Guest Post: Key Wealth Planning Trends for 2025

When we put together our annual Wealth Planning Trends, we try to find topics and stories that financial advisors can discuss with all the different types of clients they serve. In past years we’ve talked about how golf carts might allow for more holistic financial planning conversations or how insect migration patterns might prompt a review of a client’s asset allocation.

This year, we’re going to discuss the Super Bowl, asset values, and the so-called “silver tsunami.” Read on to find out how advisors can use these topics to engage with clients throughout the year and help them stick to their financial plan.

The Super Bowl

You may assume I’m referencing the match between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles and the estimated 100 million Americans who watched the game on February 9. However, the “super bowl” we’re referring to here is the Super Bowl of Tax.

Approximately 153 million people file tax returns annually, so this might be the biggest game in town.¹ The showdown in this “Super Bowl” stems from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) and its scheduled sunset on December 31, 2025. If the TCJA is allowed to sunset, it has been estimated that taxes could increase for 62% of Americans.²

We have already seen a number of ideas and proposals related to the TCJA from the Trump administration as well as the House Ways and Means Committee. A few of the most interesting (in my opinion) include:

• Change, repeal, or eliminate the State and Local Tax (SALT) cap/deduction
• Eliminate the home mortgage interest deduction
• Eliminate the deduction of interest on student loans
• Eliminate tax on tips
• Eliminate the estate tax (referred to as the “Death Tax” in this case)
• Lower the corporate tax rate to 20% or 15%

It remains to be seen which, if any, of these proposals make it into the final tax bill, but it is important for advisors to be aware of how these potential changes could affect their clients’ tax situations. If nothing else, the “Super Bowl of Tax” provides advisors with the opportunity to have more in-depth conversations with clients about tax goals and tax efficiency. It also serves as a good reminder that they are thinking holistically (including taxes) when creating investment and financial plans for clients.

Asset values

Given that the estate and gift tax exemption for 2025 is $13.9 million per person, the vast majority of American families don’t have to worry about a federal estate tax bill (see the chart below showing how this has changed over time). While that is the case, since January 1, 2017, when the TCJA went into effect and the exemption amount was doubled, the S&P 500® Index has increased by 162% in value. This is of course good news for clients’ investment portfolios, but it may also prompt several other conversations for families regarding the transfer of wealth.

So, while the number of families that have to worry about the federal estate tax is still miniscule, the increase in asset values and the fact that the majority of wealth transfers fail³ may provide families with more urgency to act.

For advisors, that may mean sitting down with clients to discuss and better clarify legacy goals. That discussion could include answering questions such as:

• Who will receive their wealth (whatever the amount)?
• What sorts of assets will be left to the next generation? (Cash, a house, heirlooms, etc.)
• How do they want to divide assets within a now blended family?

Finally, with asset levels being elevated, advisors have the opportunity to discuss a number of different gifting ideas that may allow families to meet their tax, transfer, and/or charitable goals. In fact, slide 19 of our Wealth Planning Trends report covers best practices for donor advised funds and gifting strategies, which several advisors we’ve spoke to have found valuable.

The Silver Tsunami

The number of Americans turning 65 every day has now swelled to 12,000. This “tsunami” of older Americans means there are a number of financial planning issues advisors will need to provide guidance on in the coming years.

Even though there has been significant discussion of our aging population, there are several steps investors are not taking to be better prepared for retirement. These include everything from Social Security, withdrawal strategy, and income needs. In fact, less than half (41%) of the retirees in a 2024 EBRI Retirement Confidence Survey had even thought about how much money to withdraw from their retirement savings and investments in retirement!⁴

Luckily for advisors, several pieces of legislation and IRS guidance have taken effect over the past several months that will allow them to broach these subjects. For example, the Social Security Fairness Act affords advisors the opportunity to discuss changes to benefits for public sector workers that may be receiving a pension.

Along with the three topics covered above, we discuss a number of other ideas in this year’s Wealth Planning Trends. Whether it’s income taxes, wealth transfer, behavioral finance, investor sentiment, or income planning, our goal is always the same: To provide at least one idea that helps advisors have a conversation they know they need to have with their clients. And ideally, we hope the ideas we present will help advisors bring value to their client base throughout the year.