The Legacy Planning Gap: Why 75% of Business Families Lack Written Plans
When Geoff Badger's phone rang with devastating news—a client was in the ICU and his wife was frantically searching through documents to understand their business operations—it crystallized a startling reality about family business legacy planning. Despite the best intentions, most families operate with their succession plans locked away in the founder's mind rather than documented and communicated.
This crisis call became a career-defining moment for Badger, who leads Badger Investment Group at Canaccord Genuity and is pursuing doctoral research on family legacy decision-making. His experience illuminates a critical challenge: while 70% of heirs switch advisors within two years of a transition, only one in four business families have any written legacy plan.
The ICU Wake-Up Call
"His legacy plan was in his head, and it was in serious jeopardy of not being executed," Badger recalls of that harrowing phone call. The client's wife faced an immediate crisis—managing rental properties, business operations, and investment portfolios while her husband fought for his life. "She was spending her time in the midst of his recovery, or his crisis, health crisis, just trying to wade through documents, agreements."
This scenario plays out across business families daily. Founders carry intricate knowledge about their operations, relationships, and succession intentions, but fail to formalize these critical details. The gap between intention and documentation can devastate families during their most vulnerable moments.
From Technical Expertise to Family Legacy
Badger's 31-year career evolution mirrors the broader shift happening in wealth management. After building technical expertise through his CFA designation and various roles at major financial institutions, he recognized that families needed more than investment management—they needed comprehensive legacy planning.
"My greatest passion in my life is family. It's my number one value," Badger explains. "Most of the families that I deal with are extremely successful and are likely going to leave a legacy, [but] there weren't a lot of advisors who were focused on helping families really develop a proactive strategy or proactive vision for what their legacy should look like."
This realization led him to pursue the Family Enterprise Advisor (FEA) designation, which fundamentally changed his approach to client relationships. Rather than working in isolation, the FEA framework emphasizes collaboration among advisors—bringing together legal, accounting, and wealth management expertise to serve families comprehensively.
The Moment of Decision
Badger's current doctoral research focuses on a deceptively simple but profound question: why do some families embrace facilitated legacy planning processes while others resist? His preliminary findings suggest the bottleneck isn't about family readiness for succession—it's about their willingness to engage in the planning process itself.
"I believe that all families, on some level, could benefit from working with an advisor that's really good at helping them identify their legacy goals and their legacy vision," he notes. Yet many families hesitate, sometimes for years, before taking action.
The research aims to provide empirical evidence rather than anecdotal observations about family decision-making. "I don't want it to just be my anecdotal advisory position," Badger emphasizes. "I really want to get that hard data to say, here's what families say about saying yes and saying no."
The Power of Proactive Planning
One case study demonstrates the value of structured legacy planning. Badger worked with a blended family where the patriarch had carried a draft will in his briefcase for a decade, unable to navigate the complexity of fairly addressing children from different relationships and circumstances.
"Within weeks of completing the legacy planning process," Badger recalls, "we had very effectively passed off the tactical work to write the will to another FEA advisor, a lawyer here in town, where we had laid out all the principles of the values of the family and kind of the vision for how they wanted to see things play out."
The lesson is clear: families will eventually have difficult conversations about succession and legacy. The question is whether these discussions happen proactively in a controlled environment or reactively during a crisis.
Building Collaborative Advisory Teams
The future of family enterprise advising lies in collaboration rather than competition among professionals. Badger advocates for a team approach where advisors work together rather than each trying to be the sole solution provider.
"I'm far more interested in being a smaller part of a much bigger client solution," he explains. This might mean referring clients to specialists in legal structures, tax planning, or family governance, even if those specialists work for competitor firms.
This collaborative mindset reflects broader changes in wealth management, where artificial intelligence handles routine analytical tasks while advisors focus on relationship management and strategic guidance.
Key Takeaways for Business Families
Start Before Crisis Strikes: Legacy planning works best when undertaken proactively rather than during emergencies. The complexity of modern business families demands structured approaches to succession.
Document Beyond Financials: Legacy planning encompasses more than asset transfer. It includes preserving family values, maintaining business relationships, and ensuring operational continuity.
Embrace Collaborative Advisors: Seek advisors who work collaboratively with other professionals rather than trying to handle everything independently. The FEA designation signals this collaborative mindset.
Move From Intention to Implementation: Many families have succession intentions but lack formal documentation and communication. Structured planning processes bridge this gap effectively.
The statistics are sobering—only 25% of business families have written legacy plans, and most heirs change advisors within two years of inheriting. But families who engage in proactive, collaborative legacy planning position themselves for successful transitions that preserve both wealth and family harmony across generations.
As Badger's research continues, one finding emerges clearly: families that embrace facilitated planning processes navigate transitions more successfully than those who wing it. The choice isn't whether to have difficult conversations about legacy—it's whether to have them proactively or reactively.
Hear the full conversation with Geoff Badger on ABFI Table Talk, available on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. Subscribe for insights from business family leaders and advisors navigating succession, governance, and legacy planning challenges.
