If you want to acquire younger generations, you can’t ignore inheritance

If you’ve been to any credit union conference over the past few years, you’ve likely heard about a big topic in the credit union world: “How do we encourage younger generations to give us a shot?”

The data for credit unions is clear: members love them once they join, but younger generations seem hesitant to make the leap, often favoring flashier and larger brands. On the flip side, there’s been a lot of talk over the past few years about the great wealth transfer and what it means for credit unions. This is on the cusp of massive financial institutions like Charles Schwab announcing their own inheritance center, spending an enormous amount of time and resources to the project.

At first glance, the wealth transfer and acquiring younger members seem like opposing topics. One is about how to get younger generations to join, while the other is talking about an older generation’s field of assets.

Take it from me: these are not opposing topics.

In January of 2021, I lost my dad to pancreatic cancer. After a 12 month battle with the brutal disease, my father passed away surrounded by family. Since we had something a lot of people don’t – a heads up – we had planned for his passing and figured with all the Ts crossed and Is dotted, we were in a good shape for the logistical headaches that come with a passing.

We were wrong.

The next six months involved countless hours on hold with banks to receive even the most basic accounts. As soon as I received the account, I immediately transferred it over to the financial institutions I trusted as having a good customer experience. The one institution that provided a good experience, I stayed with, overjoyed with how easy they made the process. They hold 20% of my net worth today.

The lesson becomes clear. If you want to capture the next generation of customers, you can’t ignore estate services and inheritance center. If you make it awful for someone to receive their accounts at a time when they are most vulnerable, they’re more likely to forever stay away from your brand and your institution.

However, if you offer a full estate center, allowing your members to prepare for their passing and for the next generation to easily get onboarded and inherit, you’ll find that churn dramatically reduces.

Of course, not everyone has the resources of Charles Schwab. However, with software today, it’s easier and more affordable than ever to provide high quality experiences to members.

What does all this mean? Well, it’s great news for credit unions. There’s a holistic strategy on how you can become part of the greatest transfer of money in history, while capturing the next generation of members.

My prediction is over the next two decades, we’ll see credit unions who prioritized estate centers as having a younger customer base, larger account deposits, and higher overall growth than their peers.

At Ribbon, we believe we can help credit unions be part of that success story, where an inheritance center can be launched for a fraction of the time and price of doing it alone.

The great wealth transfer is happening now – it’s time to do something about it.