Estate planning varies significantly by net worth, with high-net-worth individuals requiring complex trust-based strategies to reduce estate taxes and control asset distribution, while mass-affluent clients generally need simpler documents like wills and healthcare directives. 

Because legal costs can be a barrier for these simpler needs, tech startups such as Wealth.com and Trust & Will have emerged to help financial advisors offer affordable estate planning at scale. Charles Schwab recently acquired a minority stake in Wealth.com to provide self-directed estate planning tools for its mass-affluent retail clients, potentially competing with RIAs that use Schwab as a custodian. 

While this move could delay when clients feel they need to hire an advisor, many RIAs haven’t widely adopted estate planning tech due to low client usage and unclear ROI. Some advisors view Schwab’s actions as retail encroachment, but others see minimal threat since clients rarely update estate documents and often don’t view the service as highly differentiating. 

Finsum: Ultimately, Schwab’s investment reflects a growing DIY market segment, raising strategic questions for advisors about how and when to compete—or collaborate—with such tools.