Fidelity Study Reveals Planning Documents Alone Fail to Boost Family Confidence — FMR LLC (Fidelity Investments)

Event summary

Fidelity's 2026 Transition Ready Family study found only 37% of older adults feel strong peace of mind about future plans despite having completed planning documents.
Families with high transition readiness are four times more likely to have high peace of mind than those with lower readiness.
Only 21% of parents have communicated completed estate plans to their children.
The study surveyed 654 U.S. adults aged 55+ with net worth of at least $500k and at least one adult child.

The big picture

Fidelity's research highlights a critical gap in traditional wealth transfer planning: the absence of meaningful family conversations. While financial institutions have long focused on document completion, this study suggests that true preparedness requires ongoing dialogue across generations. With $7.8 trillion in managed assets as of mid-2026, Fidelity's findings position it to potentially reshape industry standards for comprehensive family wealth planning services.

What we're watching

Communication Barriers: Whether Fidelity can help families overcome reluctance to discuss planning details with younger generations.
Wealth Transfer Readiness: How financial institutions will address the gap between plan documentation and family understanding of those plans.
Service Differentiation: The pace at which wealth managers integrate multi-generational conversation frameworks into their service offerings.