Legacy Planning Is Evolving — It’s No Longer Just About Wealth
July 2, 2025 — Visit Advocis for the full article
We’re proud to be featured in the July issue of eFORUM, where our founder shares how CONTEXT Studios is redefining legacy planning for high-net-worth families.
At CONTEXT, we believe legacy is about more than numbers — it’s about values, vision, and the life lessons that shaped your journey.
Our bespoke, cinematic documentaries help advisors elevate the legacy conversation by turning financial legacy into family legacy.
These films become: A bridge across generations, a statement of identity, and a lasting gift of memory.
For families, it’s not just a film — it’s their story, preserved for generations.
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How a bespoke documentary can elevate legacy planning for HNW clients
With Baby Boomers in Canada holding an estimated $1 trillion in assets set to transfer between generations in the coming years, the Great Wealth Transfer is transforming the landscape of financial advising. For high-net-worth (HNW) clients, legacy planning is no longer just about tax strategies and trust structures — it’s about ensuring their stories, values, and life philosophies endure.
A high-end documentary of someone’s life or business offers a powerful way to preserve this emotional legacy, helping families stay connected to their roots while deepening trust across generations. For advisors, it’s an opportunity to move beyond numbers and position themselves as stewards of the whole person.
Deepening the client–advisor relationship
Recommending that clients create a documentary allows advisors to step into a more meaningful, human role — one rooted in empathy, legacy, and trust. It shows genuine interest in clients’ stories beyond the balance sheet, strengthening emotional connection and long-term loyalty. When clients feel truly seen and understood, they are more likely to stay, refer, and engage across generations. This isn’t just legacy planning. It’s relationship-building at the highest level.
Here are 10 ways your clients may benefit from creating a documentary to preserve their legacy.
1. Legacy preservation beyond numbers: A documentary captures the essence of the person behind the wealth: an individual’s journey, life lessons, and vision. It turns a financial legacy into a living legacy. Your wealth is what you leave behind, but your story is how you’ll be remembered.
2. Deepening generational connections: A documentary allows clients to share their life philosophy and family values directly with future generations, humanizing wealth and grounding it in purpose. It’s a way to guide heirs and prevent entitlement.
3. Emotional return on investment: HNW individuals often appreciate experiences and meaning over material things. A professionally produced documentary offers a personal and emotional return on investment.
4. Personalized, meaningful gifting: The final product can be gifted to children, grandchildren, partners, and close friends. It’s deeply emotional and completely bespoke.
5. Luxury with purpose: For clients used to investing in luxury — cars, watches, art — a documentary is a luxury that lasts generations, offering personal, social, and emotional utility.
6. Enhancing family governance and communication: Shorter versions of these films can be created and used at family meetings, retreats, or estate planning sessions to spark conversations around shared goals, philanthropy, succession, and family dynamics.
7. Aligning with philanthropic and impact goals: If a client supports charitable causes or has set up a foundation, a documentary can spotlight the “why,” creating a compelling tool to inspire next-generation engagement and public storytelling.
8. Mitigating the “shirt sleeves to shirt sleeves” risk: Stories of resilience, sacrifice, and character help bridge the gap between generations, reducing the chance wealth will be misunderstood or squandered. A documentary gives emotional context to the client’s legacy.
9. Capturing the entrepreneurial or family business journey: For clients who built or inherited a business, a documentary honours the origin story, pivotal moments, and leadership evolution. This is valuable not only for family but also for future family members, partners, employees, and even brand storytelling. It becomes a powerful asset that celebrates legacy while anchoring the business’s values and culture.
10. A timeless digital legacy: In a world flooded with fleeting content, a documentary stands apart as a timeless, high-quality narrative. It’s a lasting digital artifact — crafted with cinematic care — that can be passed down, revisited, and shared for decades to come. It ensures your client’s story is not only told, but remembered with clarity, elegance, and heart.
How to initiate conversations about legacy preservation
During legacy or estate planning conversations, you may say, “You’ve done a great job ensuring your financial legacy is protected. Have you considered preserving your personal legacy — the stories, values, and wisdom that shaped all of this — for future generations?”
In the context of holistic planning, you may say, “We’re building a plan that reflects every part of your life, from your investments to your impact. There’s a unique way to bring all of that together: a high-end documentary that captures your journey, values, and what truly matters to you.”
Around a milestone event, such as a birthday, anniversary, exit, or succession, you may say, “With your milestone coming up, I’ve seen other clients commemorate these moments with something extraordinary — a documentary that brings their life’s work, values, and wisdom to life.”
As a family meeting enhancer, you may say, “At your next family gathering or legacy retreat, what if you had something truly meaningful to share, such as a beautifully produced film that tells your life story in your own words?”
To present this as an act of love, you may say, “Imagine your unborn great-grandchildren watching this 50 years from now, hearing your voice, seeing your face, and understanding your life story. That’s a powerful gift of love.”
To demonstrate you interest in fostering lasting family bonds, you may say, “The families I work with often tell me that, beyond the numbers, what they want most is to be remembered — by their children, grandchildren, and even future generations. I know a way you can make that happen.”
A one-day time commitment to create a powerful story
With more than two decades of experience helping CEOs, entrepreneurs, and multigenerational families craft powerful personal brands and narratives on LinkedIn through Broad Reach (the public relations agency I founded), I launched CONTEXT Studios to create cinematic, high-end documentaries that preserve both individual and business legacies with impact, emotion, and authenticity.
After capturing a client’s story in just one day, our award-winning editors craft premium documentaries that weave in personal photos and videos, seamlessly bringing that story to life. Hosted securely on a private streaming platform, these documentaries are available anytime, on any device — just like your favourite streaming series. Based in Toronto, we travel worldwide to capture the stories that matter most.
For advisors guiding clients through the Great Wealth Transfer, partnering with CONTEXT Studios is a unique opportunity to elevate holistic planning and provide families with a meaningful, lasting gift: their story, beautifully captured and preserved for generations to come.
