Passing on wealth is easier than preparing heirs to manage it, Sun Life Asia study finds

• Whether beneficiaries are ready to manage what they inherit is the biggest concern among those worried their wealth won't survive, cited by 52%, ahead of market volatility (49%) and family conflict over assets (44%).
• 70% worry their wealth won't survive the next generation, even as documented plans have doubled since 2025. 
• Nearly three-quarters (74%) of families planning a financial legacy intend to pass on values, knowledge or life lessons alongside financial assets. 
• Asia's wealthiest families worry less about family conflict and more about investment risk, tax complexity and trust in their advisors.

HONG KONG, Sept. 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- New research from Sun Life Asia reveals that the biggest threat to preserving wealth across generations may not be market volatility or family conflict, but whether beneficiaries are ready to manage what they inherit. While legacy planning is becoming more common across Asia, only one in five people say they feel fully prepared to pass on their legacy today. 

Sun Life Asia's latest Passing the Torch: When legacy means more than money report found a significant shift in how people across Asia think about the legacy they want to leave behind. Nearly three-quarters (74%) of people surveyed intend to pass on values, knowledge or life lessons as part of their legacy plan alongside financial assets. At the same time, 70% worry their wealth may not be preserved beyond the next generation and only 20% say they feel fully prepared to pass on their legacy today, reinforcing the growing recognition that a lasting legacy depends not only on what is passed on, but whether future generations are equipped to manage it.

The study also found that legacy planning continues to gain momentum across the region. The proportion of people with a fully documented and communicated legacy plan more than doubled from 10% in 2025 to 22% in 2026, while the proportion with no plan at all fell from 31% to 15%.

David Broom, Chief Client and Distribution Officer at Sun Life Asia, said: "A legacy plan is not complete simply because it's been written down. It needs to give families a shared understanding of what the wealth is for, what principles should guide its use, and how the next generation can carry that responsibility forward. That is how planning on paper becomes something that can endure in practice."

Legacy means more than money

For most families, legacy means more than money. Skills and education (33%), family values (32%) and life lessons (31%) rank among the things people most want to leave behind, alongside money and property. Providing opportunity through education carries particular weight, ranking among the region's top three legacy priorities overall (48%). Even among those planning to leave financial assets, funding education (45%) sits just behind providing financial support to family members during their lifetime (50%) and essential family needs (52%).

What families want their wealth to achieve tells the same story. Six in 10 (61%) want it to create long-term opportunity for the people they love, and 52% want it to cover essentials such as housing and healthcare. The money still matters, but increasingly as a way to pass on security and possibility rather than as the legacy itself.

Planning is developing faster than confidence

Planning is becoming more disciplined, but confidence has not moved with it. The number of people with a fully documented and communicated plan has more than doubled in a year, from 10% in 2025 to 22% in 2026, while the share with no plan at all has fallen from 31% to 15%. Confidence hasn't moved at the same pace, as only 20% of people feel fully prepared today, almost unchanged from 19% a year ago. Professional advice is closely associated with greater preparedness, with nearly half of those surveyed (46%) having sought professional legacy planning advice, up from 37% in 2025. Among them, 79% feel financially prepared for their legacy, compared with 44% of those who have not sought advice but would like to.

Anxiety is highest among those with the most time to plan. Three-quarters (76%) of Gen Z and Millennials worry their wealth won't last, against 66% of Gen X and 59% of Baby Boomers. Yet younger people are also the most optimistic about the reach of what they leave, with 65% of Gen Z and 67% of Millennials believing their wealth will have a lasting, multi-generational impact, compared with 51% of Baby Boomers.

Each generation tends to credit the other with better financial literacy. More than half (58%) of Gen X and Baby Boomers think the younger members of their family are more financially literate than they are, while 61% of Gen Z and Millennials say the same of the generation before them.

That mutual regard sits alongside a real worry about readiness. Whether beneficiaries are ready to manage what they inherit is families' single biggest concern, cited by 52% of those worried their wealth won't last, ahead of market volatility (49%) and conflict over assets (44%). More than a quarter (27%) name a lack of financial literacy in the next generation as one of the greatest risks to preserving family wealth, and a further 25% worry the next generation will lack the confidence to manage what comes their way. Advisors are increasingly helping families start these conversations. Four in 10 people say communication with the next generation has taken place, at least in part, through a financial advisor, up from 15% in 2025.

David Broom added: "Passing on wealth can be a straightforward decision, but preparing someone to manage it is a much longer process. Families that involve the next generation early can use those conversations to build financial judgment, clarify expectations and reduce uncertainty before responsibility changes hands. A trusted financial advisor can help families navigate those conversations with greater confidence and turn good intentions into a plan that everyone understands."

For wealthy families, managing complexity matters more than managing conflict

For Asia's wealthiest families, the picture looks different. Where the general population worries most about family readiness and the risk of conflict over assets, high-net-worth individuals are far less concerned by the prospect of a family falling out. One-fifth (20%) see disputes as a major threat to preserving wealth, compared with 34% across the general population surveyed. Their concerns lie instead with the fundamentals of preserving wealth: making the right investment decisions, managing tax and legal complexity, and having confidence in the institutions that manage it.

Poor investment decisions are seen as a risk by 37% of high-net-worth respondents, compared with 24% of the general population, and 29% point to tax or legal complexity, against 18%. Among those who are worried that their wealth may not be preserved beyond the next generation, 40% cite confidence in the advisors or institutions managing their wealth, versus 25% of the wider group.

More than eight in 10 (83%) of high-net-worth individuals surveyed believe advisors should play a role in legacy planning, and 63% think advisors should take the lead, playing a far more central role compared to the general population. For these families, preserving wealth across generations has become as much a question of governance and trusted counsel as of family harmony.

Sujoy Ghosh, CEO of Sun Life Private Wealth, said: "Preserving wealth for high-net-worth families is not simply about avoiding family conflict. Having confidence in the decisions that shape that wealth, from investments to how it is structured for the next generation, is equally important. That makes trusted advice critical. Families increasingly need advisors who can bring the right expertise together, navigate complexity and help them make sound decisions across borders and generations."

Across every wealth tier, the research points to the same underlying shift: that families are increasingly considering not just what they will pass down, but whether the next generation is ready to receive it.

The full report is available here.

About this survey

This is Sun Life Asia's second annual legacy planning survey, following 2025's Passing the Torch: Building Lasting Legacies in Asia. Fieldwork was conducted in August 2026 across six markets – Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam – gathering responses from 3,073 people across wealth levels and generations.

About Sun Life
Sun Life is a leading international financial services organization providing asset management, wealth, insurance and health solutions to individual and institutional Clients. Sun Life has operations in a number of markets worldwide, including Canada, the U.S., the United Kingdom, Ireland, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China, Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and Bermuda. As of June 30, 2026, Sun Life had total assets under management of $1.70 trillion. For more information, please visit www.sunlife.com.

Sun Life Financial Inc. trades on the Toronto (TSX), New York (NYSE) and Philippine (PSE) stock exchanges under the ticker symbol SLF.

Note to editors: All figures in Canadian dollars

SOURCE Sun Life Asia