Household Management Reimagined: Financial Services Cloud Features Your Team Will Actually Use
- Ohana Focus Team
- 1 day ago
- 10 min read
Walk into any financial advisory firm, and you'll hear familiar frustrations about household management: Advisors describe hours spent manually linking family members across accounts, operations teams explain their elaborate workarounds for tracking multiple addresses per household, and client service staff recount the confusion when high-net-worth clients prefer different communication channels—one spouse wants email, the other wants phone calls, and the adult children prefer text.
The typical response? "That's just how wealth management works. Family relationships are complicated."
But Salesforce Financial Services Cloud (FSC) approaches household management differently, not with theoretical capabilities that sound impressive in demos but prove impractical in daily use. Instead, it offers specific features designed around how advisors actually work with family groups—features that reduce manual effort, prevent errors, and surface insights that matter for client relationships.
The Traditional Household Management Problem
Most CRMs treat each person as an independent record. When a financial services firm wants to work with families or households, they're forced to build their own systems on top—custom fields, lookup relationships, naming conventions, reporting workarounds.
Consider a simple scenario: The Martinez family consists of Robert (primary breadwinner), Elena (stay-at-home parent managing the household), their adult daughter Sofia (recent college graduate), and Robert's mother Carmen (retiree receiving gifted assets). The family has:
A joint investment account for Robert and Elena
Individual retirement accounts for each working adult
A 529 education account with Sofia as beneficiary
A trust for Carmen managed by Robert
Three different residential addresses (primary home, vacation property, Carmen's senior living community)
In a traditional CRM, tracking these relationships requires the advisor to:
Manually link each family member through custom fields or lookup relationships
Maintain separate address records and remember which address applies to which family member
Create account ownership records individually, hoping the data entry is accurate
Run reports that pull data from multiple objects and hope the joins work correctly
Document family dynamics in notes because there's nowhere else to capture them systematically
The work is doable—firms manage it every day. But it's time-consuming, error-prone, and creates barriers to accessing information when it's needed most.
The Financial Services Cloud Household Object: More Than a Grouping Mechanism
Financial Services Cloud introduces the Household as a first-class object in Salesforce. Not a workaround. Not a custom solution bolted on later. A native component designed specifically for how financial services firms work with family groups. The Household object provides:
Automatic aggregation of assets across all family members
Built-in relationship tracking between household members with defined roles
Multiple address management tied to specific household members
Household-level activities, notes, and communication preferences
Consolidated view of all accounts, goals, and plans across the family
For the Martinez family, this means their advisor opens a single Household record and immediately sees:
Total household assets: $2.4M (automatically calculated)
All four family members with their relationships clearly defined
Every account with ownership percentages and roles (owner, beneficiary, trustee)
All three addresses with indicators of which family members use which
Recent interactions and upcoming activities for any family member
No custom fields. No lookup relationships. No manual calculations. It just works.
Relationship Groups: Because Households Aren't Always Families
Here's where FSC's design shows its practical understanding of financial services. Not every client grouping is a family household:
Business partners who maintain separate households but share investment strategies
Adult siblings managing a parent's estate together
Divorced couples who still co-own property or share custody-related financial responsibilities
Close friends who invest together in real estate ventures
Relationship Groups solve this by providing the same aggregation and visibility as Households, but without assuming a family structure. An advisor can create a "Thompson-Garcia Partnership" group that tracks shared assets, joint goals, and coordinated planning—while each person maintains their own household record for their family. This flexibility matters in practice. A wealth management firm might have:
300 traditional family households
45 business partnership groups
22 estate management groups (adult children working together)
12 complex multi-generational family structures requiring multiple households plus relationship groups
FSC accommodates all of these without forcing artificial structures or requiring extensive customization.
Role-Based Access: Who Sees What, When
Complex households raise a practical question: Who should have access to what information? In the Martinez family, Robert and Elena should see all household financial information. Sofia, now an adult, should see her own accounts plus any accounts where she's a named beneficiary. Carmen should see only her trust and her personal accounts. FSC's role-based access controls make this straightforward:
"Primary" roles grant full household visibility
"Member" roles provide limited access to personal accounts and shared accounts where they have ownership
"Dependent" roles restrict visibility to accounts where they're beneficiaries
Custom roles can be defined for specific situations (trustees, power of attorney, etc.)
When Sofia logs into her client portal, she sees exactly what she should see—no more, no less. Robert and Elena see the complete household picture. Carmen sees only what pertains to her. This isn't just about compliance and privacy. It's about reducing confusion. When clients access their portal, they don't wade through information that doesn't apply to them. They see their world, appropriately scoped.
Multiple Addresses: Solving a Seemingly Simple Problem
Address management shouldn't be complicated. Yet in traditional CRMs, it becomes one of the most frustrating aspects of household management. The problem is that high-net-worth households typically have multiple addresses: Primary residence, vacation homes, business addresses, children's college addresses, elder care facilities, and more. Traditional CRMs offer two equally unsatisfying options: Store multiple addresses in a single text field ("123 Main St, Anytown; 456 Beach Rd, Coastal City"), which makes mail merges impossible, breaks reporting, and creates data quality nightmares, or create related address records, which technically works, but creates complexity: Which is primary? Where should this correspondence go? Which family member uses which address?
Here's a look at FSC's approach:
Each household can have multiple addresses with clear types (Primary, Secondary, Seasonal, Business)
Addresses can be associated with specific household members
Preferred mailing addresses can differ from physical locations
Address validity periods can be set (useful for college students, seasonal addresses)
All mail merge and reporting functionality works correctly across multiple addresses
For the Martinez family, this means:
Quarterly statements go to Robert and Elena at their primary residence
Tax documents go to their accountant's business address
Carmen's statements go to her senior living community
Meeting invitations consider the vacation home during the summer months
The system tracks all of this automatically. No spreadsheets. No sticky notes. No asking clients "which address should we use this time?"
Rollup Summaries: The Power of Automatic Aggregation
One of FSC's most practical features receives less attention than it deserves: automatic rollup summaries at the household level. In traditional systems, calculating household totals requires either running a report that aggregates across multiple records, building custom formulas that attempt to sum related records, or manually calculating in Excel and entering the total.
Salesforce FSC calculates these household-level metrics automatically, including:
Total Assets Under Management across all accounts
Number of accounts
Revenue generated (fees, commissions)
Total number of household members
Combined lifetime value
These rollups update in real-time—when Sofia opens a new Roth IRA with a $5,000 deposit, the household's total assets increase from $2.4M to $2.405M immediately. When Robert's quarterly management fee is calculated, the household's revenue reflects it immediately.
This creates several practical benefits:
Advisor portfolio reviews become simpler. Instead of manually tallying which households are above or below AUM thresholds, advisors filter their household list by total assets. "Show me all households between $1M-$3M" returns accurate results instantly.
Fee calculations work correctly. Tiered fee structures based on household assets calculate accurately because the system knows the total across all accounts.
Client segmentation improves. Firms can accurately segment clients by household value, not just individual account size. A client with three $250K accounts is actually a $750K household—quite different for service model decisions.
Opportunity identification happens faster. When household assets grow significantly, workflow rules can automatically create tasks for advisors to review the household's service tier or suggest additional planning services.
Communication Preferences: Respecting Individual Choices Within Households
Even within a household, family members have different communication preferences. Robert Martinez prefers phone calls during business hours. Elena prefers email in the evening. Sofia wants everything by text. Carmen prefers phone calls with follow-up letters (she finds it easier). FSC tracks communication preferences at the individual level, even within household structures. When an advisor sends household communications, the system automatically acts according to each member's preference, respects individual 'do-not-contact flags, honors preferred contact times, and maintains separate consent records for different communication types.
This granular approach prevents common communication mistakes: The advisor doesn't accidentally text Carmen (who doesn't use text messaging); Sofia doesn't receive printed statements by mail (she's paperless), and Robert isn't called at 7 PM (outside his stated availability). These details seem minor until they cause problems. But respecting preferences builds trust—and FSC makes that respect automatic rather than dependent on an advisor's memory.
Activity Tracking: Complete Visibility Across the Household
Another practical feature in FSC is household-level activity tracking. When an advisor meets with Elena about estate planning, that meeting appears on both Elena's individual record and the household record. When a service rep handles Sofia's question about her 529 contribution, it's tracked at both levels. When Robert calls about a market dip, the household record captures it. This dual tracking creates situational awareness. Before an annual review meeting with Robert and Elena, their advisor pulls up the household record and sees the following information:
Elena's estate planning meeting three months ago
Sofia's 529 contribution question two months ago
Robert's market volatility concern last month
Carmen's quarterly trust distribution was processed last week
The advisor enters the meeting with complete context—not just about the specific clients they're meeting with, but about the entire family's recent financial activity. Questions can be asked: "Elena, did the estate attorney address your concerns from our meeting in November?" "Robert, you called about market conditions last month—are you feeling better about the volatility now?"
This level of preparation is what high-touch service looks like. FSC makes it possible without requiring advisors to dig through multiple records before every meeting.
Integration with Financial Planning Tools
FSC's household management becomes even more powerful when integrated with financial planning tools. Whether using MoneyGuidePro, eMoney, RightCapital, or other platforms, household-level data synchronization enables:
Automatic population of household member data into planning software
Account ownership and beneficiary information flow seamlessly between systems
Plan updates reflecting back into Salesforce at the household level
Goal tracking across the entire household, not just individual accounts
For firms using integrated planning platforms, this means less data entry, fewer synchronization errors, and more time actually advising clients rather than managing data across systems.
Honest Considerations and Trade-offs
FSC's household management capabilities are powerful, but they're not without considerations:
Initial Data Structure Decisions Matter
Firms need to think carefully about how they'll structure households from the start. Will business partners have shared households or relationship groups? How will blended families be structured? These decisions affect reporting and user experience downstream. While you can restructure later, it's easier to get it right initially.
Migration Complexity
Moving from a traditional CRM to FSC requires thoughtful data migration. If family relationships weren't tracked systematically in the old system, someone needs to define them during migration. This is time-consuming work—but it's also a one-time investment that pays ongoing dividends.
Role Definition Requires Thought
The flexibility of FSC's role-based access controls requires firms to think through their access policies. Who should see what? How do privacy regulations affect access? What roles need to be defined beyond the standard Primary/Member/Dependent? These aren't problems—they're opportunities to create clear policies. But they do require upfront work.
Learning Curve for Staff
Staff who've worked with households in older systems may initially find FSC's approach different. The good news is that once people understand the household-centric model, they typically find it more intuitive than their previous workarounds. But there's an adjustment period.
Not a Silver Bullet for Data Quality
FSC provides excellent tools for household management, but it doesn't automatically fix poor data quality habits. If your firm struggles with incomplete data entry or inconsistent relationship tracking, those habits can carry over. FSC makes good data practices easier—but the practices still need to be followed.
What This Means in Practice
Advisors spend less time managing data and more time advising. When household information is automatically aggregated and always current, advisors focus on strategy and relationship building rather than data gathering.
Operations teams field fewer "can you look this up?" requests. When advisors can quickly see household totals, address information, and relationship structures, they don't need to ask operations staff for help finding basic information.
Client service improves through consistency. When any team member can access the complete household context, clients receive consistent service regardless of who they're speaking with.
Compliance and documentation become more reliable. When family relationships, access controls, and communication preferences are systematically tracked, compliance reviews find complete documentation rather than scattered notes.
Business development identifies opportunities more easily. When household assets and relationships are visible, identifying households ready for wealth transfer conversations, estate planning, or additional services becomes straightforward.
Moving Forward with Financial Services Cloud Household Management
Start with clear structure decisions. Define how your firm will use households versus relationship groups. Establish naming conventions. Determine role definitions. These decisions create consistency that makes the system valuable for everyone.
Invest in data migration quality. If migrating from another system, take the time to properly structure household relationships during the migration. It's tedious work, but it's a one-time investment that determines how useful the system will be long-term.
Train thoroughly on household features. Don't assume staff will discover FSC's household capabilities through casual use. Provide specific training on household creation, relationship management, rollup summaries, and household-level reporting.
Establish clear data entry standards. Create guidelines for when to add new household members, how to handle complex family situations, and how address changes should be recorded. Good data practices make good tools effective.
Review and refine periodically. After several months of use, review how your firm is using household structures. Are there inconsistencies that should be addressed? Are there additional roles or relationship types that should be defined? Periodic refinement keeps the system aligned with your firm's needs.
Financial Services Cloud's household management recognizes that financial services firms work with family groups, not just individuals, and that CRMs should be designed around that reality from the ground up.
For firms tired of workarounds, spreadsheets, and manual aggregations, FSC offers a comprehensive approach to household management that actually works in daily practice. It won't solve every data challenge, but it will eliminate many of the friction points that currently consume staff time and create opportunities for error. That's not revolutionary. It's just practical—which, in financial services technology, might be the most valuable thing it could be.
Partner with Ohana Focus
Transform your firm's household management with expert FSC implementation.
Ohana Focus specializes in helping financial services firms implement Financial Services Cloud household management that works for their specific client base. We understand both the technical capabilities of FSC and the practical realities of wealth management operations. We bring:
Household structure design that matches your firm's service model
Data migration expertise that preserves family relationships
Role-based access configuration that balances access with privacy
Integration with financial planning platforms
Team training focused on practical daily use
About Ohana Focus
Ohana Focus is a certified Salesforce consulting partner dedicated to helping financial services firms leverage Financial Services Cloud effectively. We believe technology should work the way advisors actually work—not force advisors to adapt to inflexible systems.
Our FSC practice has helped dozens of wealth management firms, RIAs, and financial planning practices implement household management that actually gets used. We make complex family structures simple, accessible, and actionable.
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