Financial Advisor Success
Financial Advisor Success
Michael Kitces
Ep 472: Going Deep Into Multigenerational Planning To Better Serve HNW Clients (Not Just Retain Their Assets) with Carli Smith
1 hour 27 minutes Posted Jan 13, 2026 at 12:00 pm.
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Show notes

Multigenerational planning isn't just about retaining assets after a wealth transfer. When done well, it becomes a powerful way to elevate service, improve family communication, and drive meaningful growth today.

Carli Smith, founder of Signal Wealth Advisors, has built her practice in part by engaging entire family units—not just individual clients. In this episode, she explains how she navigates the tax and estate implications of inherited IRAs and taxable accounts, invites aging parents and adult children into collaborative planning conversations, and combines family assets to serve clients who might otherwise fall below her $2 million minimum. She also shares how strategic partnerships with estate planning attorneys and CPAs fueled a 70% increase in AUM in a single year, why nurturing client promoters leads to higher-quality referrals, and how she made the decision to leave her previous firm after it was acquired and start her own business.

For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/472