Most advisors are sitting on a goldmine of advanced planning opportunities, but they just don't know where to look. Your best clients are probably being underserved, not because you don't care…but because the opportunities hiding in their financial lives don't look like traditional advisory work.
They look like tax planning conversations that never happened. Business succession strategies that got pushed to "next year." Estate plans that are collecting dust in a filing cabinet.
The problem isn't that these clients don't need help. It's that most advisors aren't trained to spot these opportunities. Even when they do, they don't always have the specialist relationships to address them. And that's revenue walking out the door. More importantly, it's value you could be providing to the people who already trust you.
Here are 5 planning opportunities that are almost certainly hiding in your client base right now…and what they're worth.
1. The Business Owner With No Succession Plan
What to look for: Business owner over 50, no clear exit strategy, hasn't valued the company recently.
Why it matters: Here's a sobering statistic: 70% of businesses don't successfully transfer to a new owner. Without proper planning, these owners face massive tax liability on any eventual sale, and often leave money on the table because they waited until they had to sell rather than planning for the optimal exit.
For many business owners, their company represents 80% or more of their net worth. Yet the conversation about what happens next gets pushed off indefinitely until health, burnout, or a market opportunity forces the issue.
What it's worth: Exit planning and business advisory fees typically range from $25K–$100K+, depending on complexity. But the bigger opportunity is downstream: when that liquidity event happens, you're positioned to manage the resulting assets. Advisors can turn business advisory conversations into multi-million dollar AUM relationships when the sale finally closes.
2. The High Earner Overpaying on Taxes
What to look for: W-2 + business income over $400K, frustrated with their tax bill, Accountant only doing compliance work.
Why it matters: There's a massive gap in the market: 92% of high-net-worth individuals say they want tax planning, but only 25% feel like they're actually receiving it. The reason? Most Accountants are focused on filing returns, not proactively recommending strategies like cash balance plans, captive insurance structures, or R&D tax credits.
Your clients aren't asking for this because they don't know what they don't know. They assume their accountant would tell them if there was a way to save $50K or $100K on taxes. Often, that's not the case.
What it's worth: The average tax planning engagement fee is $12,200 per deal. But there are much larger examples: a government contracting firm with 90 employees and $7.8M in annual net income. Through a combination of cash balance plan restructuring, expense mitigation, and risk mitigation, the client saved $460,000 in year one and $4.2M over nine years. The advisor and accountant who facilitated that engagement? They each earned $103,000 in fees.
3. The Real Estate Investor Missing Cost Segregation
What to look for: Owns commercial or rental property, hasn't done a cost segregation study, has capital gains exposure.
Why it matters: Cost segregation accelerates depreciation and can generate immediate, substantial tax savings. The problem is that many real estate investors either don't know it exists or assume it's only for large commercial properties. In reality, properties worth $500K or more are often good candidates.
This is low-hanging fruit. If you have clients who own rental properties or commercial real estate, there's a good chance they're leaving money on the table.
What it's worth: Cost segregation studies typically generate 5-8x ROI for clients. Planning fees vary by property value, but the conversation opens doors to broader tax planning, 1031 exchanges, and a better advisory relationship.
4. The Client With an Outdated Estate Plan (or None at All)
What to look for: Net worth over $1M, estate documents more than 5 years old (or nonexistent), no asset protection in place.
Why it matters: Tax laws change. Family situations evolve. Yet most people create estate documents once and never look at them again. Clients with unprotected assets face unnecessary estate tax exposure and potential legal challenges.
Many have a basic will but no trust structure, no asset protection strategy, and no plan for what happens if they become incapacitated. One advisor working with our Virtual Family Office helped a client eliminate over $400,000 in future estate tax while also putting asset protection in place, all from a single proactive conversation.
What it's worth: The real value is in the downstream opportunities: insurance products, AUM that comes from proper structuring, and the deepened trust that comes from being the advisor who actually addressed their legacy concerns.
5. The Business Owner With No Key Person Protection
What to look for: Business with key employees or partners, no funded buy-sell agreement, no key man coverage.
Why it matters: If a partner dies or becomes disabled, an unprotected business can collapse. Most business owners know they need this; they've probably thought about it for years. They just haven't done it.
This is one of those planning gaps that exists not because it's complicated, but because nobody has made it a priority. The advisor who finally gets it done becomes the hero.
What it's worth: Risk mitigation premiums and buy-sell funding represent immediate revenue. But more importantly, the business advisory conversation often opens doors to succession planning, tax planning, and other opportunities. One conversation leads to many.
The Bigger Picture
These 5 opportunities have something in common: they're all hiding in plain sight. Your clients aren't asking for help with succession planning or cost segregation because they don't know what to ask or they don’t know you could even help them in these ways. They assume someone would have mentioned it by now. They're waiting for their trusted advisor to bring it up.
The challenge is that most of these opportunities require specialist expertise that's outside the typical advisor's wheelhouse. That's where the Virtual Family Office model comes in: instead of trying to become an expert in everything, you build relationships with specialists who can help you identify and address these opportunities, while you share in the revenue.
The advisors who are growing fastest right now aren't the ones just adding more AUM clients. They're the ones who've figured out how to serve their existing clients more completely, capturing revenue they never even considered before.
Elite Resource Team works with over 1,200 advisors to help them identify advanced planning opportunities and connect with specialists who can help execute them.
