Preparing the Next Generation Starts Before Succession
NOTES FROM AN EDUCATION ARCHITECT
Richard Ferguson
Founder and Director, GlobalEd Strategies, Monaco
A succession plan sets the date on which wealth passes to the next generation. It cannot set the date on which the next generation is ready to receive it.
Capital transfers on a fixed timetable; readiness does not. For wealth planning teams, that gap is where cross-generational wealth transfer comes under the greatest strain, and where the relationship with the family is most exposed.
One in five
Affluent investors who have already inherited say they would maintain the relationship with the managing adviser.*
What should a young person understand before joining a family council? How will they develop the confidence to question an investment proposal? Where will they learn to recognise an ethical dilemma, weigh competing arguments, and take responsibility for a difficult decision?
These capabilities take years to build, and they are built, or neglected, through education.
A roadmap for each heir
A family roadmap, a family constitution, and sound family governance set out what the family stands for. Each heir also needs a plan of their own: schools, continuity of curriculum across relocations, university, and the first steps into a career, chosen to reflect their strengths and aspirations.
That plan is what we build, and we call it Education Architecture.
Prevention, and recovery
Most of our work begins early, so that intervention is never needed. Some begins when a young person is already off course. In one family we advise, the two elder children needed a different approach, and both have since regained their footing. For the youngest, the planning began early.
The method is the same in both cases: secure the qualification early, change the environment rather than argue with the heir, and turn the young person’s own passion into something they own and run.
Working alongside wealth planning teams
1. Introduction. The wealth planner identifies a family where the next generation is a concern or a priority.
2. Assessment. We meet the young person and the parents, and define the question that matters most.
3. Roadmap. We deliver an Education Architecture roadmap for each heir, reporting progress to the family and, with their consent, to the planner.
The bank keeps the relationship. We carry the educational work alongside it.
A legacy people can carry
A family legacy needs people capable of understanding it, questioning it, and deciding how to take it forward. That preparation begins long before a formal succession process.
* Cerulli Associates, The Cerulli Edge: U.S. Retail Investor Edition, 3Q 2025 (press release, 3 September 2025). Survey of affluent US investors. Among those still expecting an inheritance, the figure was 27%.