Sign in

Blog · Wallet share and penetration · Wealth managers

Held-away assets: estimating what a client keeps elsewhere from what they tell you

How a wealth management firm estimates each client's total investable assets and the share it holds, from the financial plan, the fact-find and the firm's own client base: the held-away figure per client with its source and date, the share of wallet that follows, the clients with the largest held-away balances whose plan the firm already writes, and the rule that keeps an estimate labelled as one.

The short answerHeld-away assets are what a client holds at other firms. The best source is the client's own financial plan or fact-find, which lists them with a date; the fallback is the norm from the firm's own clients of similar age, income and profession where the firm holds most of the assets. Share of wallet is assets here over assets here plus held away, and the consolidation list is clients with the largest held-away balances for whom the firm already writes the plan, because the trust is established and the assets are not yet here.

A wealth firm knows the assets it manages for each client to the dollar. What it knows about the assets it does not manage is in a fact-find in the adviser's file, and it is not in any report. This guide sets out held-away assets per client with a source and a date, the share that follows, and the consolidation list.

The measures

Per client:

Assets here = assets under management or advice Held away = from the plan or fact-find, dated; else total at norm − assets here, labelled Total investable = assets here + held away Share of wallet = assets here ÷ total investable Consolidation opportunity = held away, for clients where the firm writes the plan

The rows you need

  • Client master: client, adviser, age band, income band, profession.
  • Assets: client, assets here, date.
  • Fact-find extract: client, held-away total, source, date.
  • Plan register: client, plan written by the firm, date.

Client identifiers only.

The source hierarchy

Source Quality Ages
Financial plan with a full balance sheet High Yes: date shown
Fact-find High Yes: date shown
Norm from the firm's own fully-held clients Estimate Recomputed each period

Every client's held-away figure carries the source. A share of wallet computed on an estimate says so.

A worked list

Client Adviser Assets here Held away Source Date Share Plan by us List
2207 A-07 $1.4m $3.1m Fact-find 8 months 31% Yes Consolidation: $3.1m
4471 A-07 $2.2m $0.3m Plan 2 months 88% Yes
9034 A-12 $0.9m $1.8m Norm estimate 33% est. No Fact-find needed
1187 A-12 $3.0m $4.0m Fact-find 40 months 43% Yes Stale: refresh

Client 2207 told the firm eight months ago that two thirds of their assets are elsewhere, and the firm writes their plan. That is the first conversation. Client 1187's figure is three years old and the conversation is a refresh before it is a consolidation.

Rolled up

Per adviser: assets here, held away with a source, held away estimated, and the consolidation opportunity for planned clients. The share of the book with a fact-find under two years old is the adviser's data quality figure, and it is on the report.

Where it goes wrong

Held away never recorded as a number. It is in the file and in nobody's report.

Estimates presented as facts. A share of wallet with no source column.

Stale fact-finds. A balance sheet from before a liquidity event.

Consolidation list without the plan flag. Clients the firm barely knows ranked with clients it advises fully.

Every quarter, with the source on every line

Mapped once, the client master, the assets, the fact-find extract and the plan register produce held away, share of wallet, the data quality figure and the consolidation list every quarter. Covirage builds this from the exports as they are. The wealth managers page describes the setup, and the share of wallet calculation guide covers the three wallet methods in general form.

Questions people ask

Is the fact-find reliable?

It is the client's own statement, dated, and it is the best available. It ages: a fact-find from three years ago describes a different balance sheet. The report shows the source and the date per client, and a held-away figure older than a stated age is flagged as stale.

How is the norm fallback built?

Among clients where the firm holds nearly all the assets, by the fact-find, the median investable assets per band of age and income. Applied to a client with no fact-find, it gives an estimated total, labelled as an estimate, from which held-away is total minus assets here.

Does this need names?

No. Client identifiers, assets here, the held-away figure with its source and date, and the banding fields. The plan document itself never leaves the adviser's system; only the number does.