Amy Dietz-Graham from National Bank Financial Wealth Management speaks at Globe Advisor's Wealth Leadership Forum on June 8, alongside (from right) Kendra Thompson, Jennifer Mukherjee and Rudy Mezzetta.Jenna Muirhead/The Globe and Mail
Attracting the next generation of clients is no longer as simple as setting up a young adult’s first tax-free savings account.
That’s been the foot-in-the-door for advisors serving ultra-high-net-worth families, but it needs to go further, said Jennifer Mukherjee, managing director, region head and branch manager at CIBC Wood Gundy in Toronto.
“If we don’t anticipate what their needs are, we will find ourselves in trouble,” said Ms. Mukherjee, speaking on a panel at Globe Advisor’s Wealth Leadership Forum 2026 last week in Toronto.
Kendra Thompson, founder of Epok Advice, said she sees a shift in how advice is consumed today.
“This idea of advisors as experts and more powerful or more knowing has been challenged and will not go back,” she said. “What we’re seeing instead is the concept of advisor as partner, coach – as part of my network.”
Ms. Thompson added that the next generation has a different approach and value system when it comes to money.
“The concept of a career being lifelong or wealth being something you are always accumulating … are valueless within this group,” she said. “That doesn’t mean the money doesn’t matter, but often, it’s a shorter horizon. It’s much more about lifestyle, and the values have more to do with choice and flexibility.”
Ms. Thompson noted that younger investors may mention a bell-and-whistle investment they heard about at a dinner party. Her advice: resist the urge to be defensive and be collaborative instead.
“Think of the way they’re crowdsourcing all information,” she said. “Put yourself in the middle of those conversations and earn the primacy. Earn the right to be that partner.”
Amy Dietz-Graham, senior wealth advisor and portfolio manager at National Bank Financial Wealth Management in Toronto, said she likes to bring both generations of clients to the table together.
Rather than simply talking about the eventual wealth transfer, she emphasized learning about the value of the money and what it took for the family to earn and preserve wealth.
Ms. Mukherjee concurred, noting that most challenges arise when clients fail to communicate with heirs before the wealth transfer takes place.
“Then, all of a sudden, the next generation has no idea of the priorities that were important to the family,” she said.
Compounding versus dopamine hits
As investors get access to new products and ways to invest and spend their money, advisors will need to discuss platforms such as prediction markets.
Ms. Dietz-Graham said she learned about the growth of prediction markets and trading apps through mentoring young women. One mentee described the sensation of online gambling: how some students sit in class, placing bets worth thousands of dollars.
“It’s huge and I personally wasn’t aware of it,” she said.
Her advice about the merits of compounding can seem boring to younger investors who want to make money faster and crave a quick dopamine hit, she said.
Ms. Mukherjee said she recently met with a prospective client whose spouse lost more than $500,000 gambling online.
“If advisors are not aware of it, we can’t get ahead of it,” she said. “We need to make sure we’re educating ourselves about things like this that are happening.”
Ms. Thompson said advisors need to look at the issue from three layers. The first thing, she says, is noting a client’s high-risk financial behaviour, especially if they’re supporting a family.
“We need to be able to create the conditions for them to talk about it and be a part of those conversations,” she said. “Putting money at risk that you need is unhealthy.”
The second layer is about younger investors valuing things that “create quicker hits, more on demand, self-determination and risk-reward interaction,” Ms. Thompson said, noting the industry hasn’t listened to what a segment of investors has demanded consistently.
The final layer is about the next generation of products that will tap into these features, she said.
“It’s going to be more exciting to tell stories around things that are happening geopolitically and different people that are influencing the market.”
For example, advisors could discuss trends affecting specific industries and the client could invest in that area instead of betting on a football game.