At a glance
- Trust administration followed at 40%, risk management and insurance at 39%, and estate planning at 37%.
- Specialized hires are hard to land: three-quarters of practice management professionals Cerulli surveyed called hiring quality staff a major challenge.
- Ensemble practices are more than four times as likely as solo practices to employ specialized staff, at 37% versus 8%.
Fifty-five percent of high-net-worth practices outsource tax planning, the most commonly outsourced service, according to Cerulli Associates research reported by InvestmentNews on Oct. 28. Trust administration followed at 40%, risk management and insurance at 39%, and estate planning at 37%. Practices outsource three to four services on average, Cerulli found.
Specialized hires are hard to land: three-quarters of practice management professionals Cerulli surveyed called hiring quality staff a major challenge.
Ensemble practices are more than four times as likely as solo practices to employ specialized staff, at 37% versus 8%.
Cerulli's Chayce Horton said scale sets the build-or-buy line, and firms below the mid-enterprise tier of roughly $5 billion to $30 billion in assets are best served holding a core specialty and partnering. For a principal below that range, the outsourcing decision is likely as much about staffing as vendor selection.
Tax planning is the most outsourced service
Share of high-net-worth practices that outsource each service, %
- Tax planning55%
- Trust administration40%
- Risk management and insurance39%
- Estate planning37%
Show as table
| Item | Value (%) |
|---|---|
| Tax planning | 55% |
| Trust administration | 40% |
| Risk management and insurance | 39% |
| Estate planning | 37% |
Reported by the RIA desk from InvestmentNews, Cerulli Associates and Private Wealth Daily archive. Published . Updated Oct 28, 2026 · 5:11 p.m. ET. Corrections