A survey of 1,000 individuals for Financial Planning firm Schroders Personal Wealth revealed that 78% had no estate planning in place.

Overall the survey revealed a low level of engagement on estate planning despite many people wanting to pass on wealth to their children.

Schroders said the survey “lays bare” the gap in Financial Planning when it comes to estate planning. 

The survey found:

• 78% have no estate planning strategy in place. 
• Most over 60s plan to pass on their wealth to their children after death (72%), with just 13% saying they would do so during their lifetime
• 43% admitted they never discussed later life planning with their children 

The survey also found people had a general reluctance to discuss wealth transfer with their children with 65% saying they rarely or never discussed inheritance with their children. 

Of the fifth (22%) that do have an estate plan in place, less than half (48%) say their children know exactly what the plan is and 11% say they’ve never spoken to their children about their plans in place.

The survey sought the opinions of 1,000 UK adults aged 30-59. Nearly a third (32%) said they were worried about the prospect of managing the finances of their parents if they were no longer able to do so and 22% said they were worried about disagreeing with siblings. Nearly 1 in 5 (18%) say they did not know anything about finance and would not not know where to start.

In terms of regional variations, the survey found that those who live in the East Midlands were the least likely to discuss the future of their finances with 60% admitting they never discussed later life planning with their children. This is followed by 46% of those who live in Yorkshire and Humberside. This compares to the national average of 43%.

East Midlands has the highest number of people – 82% - who do not have an estate planning strategy in place. Wales follows with 81%. The national average is 78% and only five regions fall below this: West Midlands (74%), South West (75%), London and Scotland (both 76%) and South East (77%).