They won't hold on to their wealth very long
Across Asia, a quiet contradiction is unfolding among the region's wealthiest families: they name wealth preservation as their deepest concern, yet fewer than one in three have taken the formal steps to ensure it. A Lombard Odier survey of over 390 high-net-worth individuals reveals that cultural taboos around inheritance, a lack of intergenerational dialogue, and a persistent sense that planning can wait have left many fortunes structurally exposed. As Asia's first-generation entrepreneurs age and a historic transfer of wealth accelerates, the distance between intention and preparation may prove to be the most costly inheritance of all.
- Asia's wealthiest families are approaching one of the largest intergenerational wealth transfers in history with nearly 40% having no succession plan in place whatsoever.
- Cultural taboos around death and inheritance keep critical conversations unspoken, leaving the next generation uninformed and unprepared to steward what they will soon inherit.
- Markets like Japan, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Hong Kong show the sharpest readiness gaps, where roughly half of respondents treat succession planning as either absent or irrelevant to their lives.
- Wealth advisors are sounding the alarm that without governance structures and documented plans, fortunes built over decades can fragment under the pressure of family disputes, taxes, and generational value shifts.
- The survey's most pointed finding is its irony: the families most vocal about preserving wealth are statistically the least prepared to do so when an unexpected crisis arrives.
A new survey by Swiss private bank Lombard Odier asked more than 390 high-net-worth individuals across Asia-Pacific what mattered most when thinking about passing wealth to the next generation. Nearly two-thirds named wealth preservation as their primary concern. Yet only 26.9% had a formal succession plan in place, and close to 40% had no plan at all.
Lombard Odier describes this as the "intention-implementation gap" — a structural vulnerability at the heart of Asia's historic intergenerational wealth transfer. As first-generation entrepreneurs prepare to hand businesses and assets to their children, the absence of governance structures, clear documentation, and open communication puts decades of accumulated wealth at serious risk. John Woods, the bank's Asia chief investment officer, was direct: families that haven't genuinely engaged with wealth planning won't hold onto it for long.
The problem is sharpest in Japan, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Hong Kong, where roughly half of respondents either lacked a plan or considered planning irrelevant — a dangerous posture in markets where family businesses often carry cultural legacy and support extended networks beyond the immediate family.
Culture itself is a significant obstacle. Inheritance remains a deeply taboo subject across much of Asia, and nearly 29% of respondents cited poor communication as a key governance challenge. Lombard Odier's head of wealth planning for Asia, Louisa Loo, noted that older family members — many of them Baby Boomers who built their fortunes from scratch — have largely failed to involve their children in governance conversations or even basic discussions about shared purpose. More than a quarter of Boomer respondents said their families had never addressed what their wealth was collectively for.
The cost of that silence tends to reveal itself only in crisis. A sudden illness, a market shock, a family dispute — these moments arrive without warning, and unprepared families find themselves scrambling precisely when clarity matters most. As Asia's wealth transfer accelerates, the gap between what families say they want and what they have actually built to protect it will grow harder to ignore.
Across Asia, the wealthiest families say they care deeply about one thing: keeping their money in the family. A new survey by Lombard Odier, the Swiss private bank, asked more than 390 high-net-worth individuals across the Asia-Pacific region—each with at least $1 million in investable assets—what mattered most when thinking about passing wealth to the next generation. Nearly two-thirds, 64.2%, named wealth preservation as their primary concern. Yet when asked about the machinery to actually make that happen, the picture darkened. Only 26.9% reported having a formal succession plan in place. Nearly 40% said they had no plan whatsoever.
This gap between intention and action is what Lombard Odier calls the "intention-implementation gap," and it cuts to the heart of a vulnerability now facing some of the world's richest families. Asia is in the midst of a historic intergenerational transfer of wealth, as first-generation entrepreneurs—many of whom built their fortunes from nothing—prepare to hand their businesses and assets to their children. The stakes are enormous. Without proper planning, fortunes that took decades to accumulate can dissolve in a generation or two.
John Woods, Lombard Odier's chief investment officer for Asia, put it plainly during a roundtable discussion accompanying the survey release: families that haven't seriously thought through wealth planning won't hold onto their wealth for long. "If the majority of the clients we surveyed haven't really given a major thought to wealth planning, they won't hold on to their wealth very long," he said. The concern isn't academic. It's rooted in the reality that without governance structures, clear communication, and documented plans, family wealth often fragments under the pressure of competing interests, taxes, and the simple fact that the next generation may not share the founder's values or business acumen.
The problem is especially acute in certain markets. Japan, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Hong Kong all showed particularly weak succession readiness. In these regions, roughly half of the respondents either had no succession plan or felt that planning wasn't relevant to their situation—a dangerous assumption in any market, but particularly in Asia, where family businesses often represent not just personal wealth but cultural legacy and employment for extended networks.
Culture itself is part of the barrier. Across Asia, conversations about inheritance and wealth transfer remain deeply taboo. Nearly 29% of survey respondents identified poor communication as a key governance challenge. Louisa Loo, Lombard Odier's head of wealth planning for Asia, noted that many families delay these conversations because of cultural sensitivities and a simple lack of urgency. The result is that older family members—often Baby Boomers who built the wealth—have failed to meaningfully involve their children in governance discussions or even basic conversations about the family's shared purpose. More than a quarter of Baby Boomers surveyed said their families had never discussed having a clear common purpose for their wealth.
The human cost of this silence becomes apparent only when something unexpected happens. A sudden illness, a market crash, a family dispute—these events often arrive without warning, and when they do, unprepared families find themselves scrambling. "When something unexpected happens, which often does, many families will be completely unprepared," Loo said. The irony is sharp: the very families most concerned about preserving wealth are the ones least equipped to do so. As Asia's intergenerational wealth transfer accelerates, that gap between what families want and what they've actually planned for will only grow more consequential.
Citações Notáveis
If the majority of clients surveyed haven't really given a major thought to wealth planning, they won't hold on to their wealth very long.— John Woods, Lombard Odier's Asia chief investment officer
When something unexpected happens, which often does, many families will be completely unprepared.— Louisa Loo, Lombard Odier's head of wealth planning for Asia
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why does a family that says wealth preservation is their top priority end up with no plan to actually preserve it?
It's partly about discomfort. In many Asian cultures, talking about money and inheritance feels taboo—almost like you're inviting bad luck or admitting you're thinking about death. So families avoid the conversation, and avoidance becomes inertia.
But these are sophisticated people. They run businesses, manage millions. Why doesn't that sophistication extend to their own succession?
Because running a business and planning a family succession are different skills. One is about markets and operations. The other requires difficult conversations, legal structures, and forcing yourself to imagine a future where you're not in control. That's psychologically harder than most people want to admit.
What happens when the founder dies without a plan?
The wealth often scatters. Taxes take a chunk. Siblings fight over assets. Professional managers may not understand the founder's vision. Within a generation or two, fortunes that took decades to build can be largely gone.
Is this just an Asian problem?
No, but Asia's particular mix of rapid wealth creation, strong family business cultures, and cultural taboos around discussing inheritance makes it sharper here. You have a lot of first-generation wealth, and very little infrastructure to pass it on.
What would actually fix this?
Honest conversations starting early. Bringing in outside advisors who can mediate. Writing things down—not just the legal documents, but the values and purpose behind the wealth. Making succession planning as normal as annual business reviews.