Octopus targets baby boomer inheritances with cheap will-writing
The multibillion-pound fund behind Octopus Energy is rapidly expanding its will-writing business amid a wave of wealthy baby boomers preparing to pass on fortunes to their children.
Octopus Legacy said it was fielding 'a massive interest in estate planning', as baby boomers begin to draw up wills to transfer their assets to younger generations.
Over the next 30 years, trillions of pounds is expected to be transferred to millennials and Gen Z-ers in what is expected to be the largest wealth transfer ever recorded.
Sam Grice, the chief executive of Octopus Legacy, said: 'I think £5.5 trillion is going to be passing from one generation to the next.'
Research has suggested that those born between 1946 and 1964 are the richest generation in history, while figures from the Office for National Statistics show that households with people aged between 65 and 74 are 33 times wealthier than Gen Z-ers, with nest eggs worth £502,500 to be passed on.
Mr Grice said there was a growing interest in estate planning and will-writing as baby boomers became more aware of their own mortality and were looking for cheaper options to deal with their fortunes.
The cost of a simple will is typically between £150 and £200, while solicitors often ask for more than £500 for specialist wills. Octopus charges £100 for its online wills or £150 for will-writing with a phone call or home visit.
Mr Grice said many people getting in touch were also raising questions over the impact of recent Treasury changes.
In her October Budget, Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, altered both business property relief (BPR) and agricultural property relief (APR).
Under the changes, inherited farms worth more than £1m will be taxed at a rate of 20pc, having been shielded from the levies for decades, while a 20pc rate will also be charged on inherited business assets over £1m when someone dies.
Mr Grice said: 'When we have our consultations with clients, most of them have a question about inheritance tax.'
The rapid expansion of the estate planning arm comes three years after Octopus Group bought the will business, then known as Guardian Angel. It was later rebranded as Octopus Legacy and is now the second-largest estate planning firm in the UK.
The business reported a turnover of £245,280 from Jan 1 2022 to April 30 2023. It made a pre-tax loss of £1.22m during the same 16-month period. This week, it bought WSL Will Writing.
Mr Grice said Octopus Legacy was looking to mirror the success of the group's energy business Octopus Energy.
'We want to become the market leader in these services and be a really dominant brand ... Once you become a market leader, you have true ability to reshape an industry.'
'For us, that's things like driving fair pricing, being really transparent, focusing on the customer and also having a wider conversation about how you want to be remembered.'
Octopus Group was founded in 2000 by Simon Rogerson, Christopher Hulatt and Guy Myles after the trio quit their jobs in asset management in their early 20s.
The company is best known for launching Octopus Energy, which has grown from nothing in 2015 to serve almost 13m customers today. The provider has since been spun out of the group but Octopus Group remains the largest external shareholder.
Meanwhile, Octopus Group has expanded into a number of different sectors through its investment arm, which manages funds of roughly £10bn for more than 63,000 investors.
Earlier this year, Octopus also announced it was launching a new mobile network.
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