The face of wealth is changing: Increasingly younger, female, and openly queer people will control family fortunes as a result of the much-anticipated Great Wealth Transfer, writes UBS.
Studies have found that over the next 20 to 30 years, as much as $124 trillion will be passed down from older generations to their younger counterparts. The baby boomers—people born between 1946 and 1964—are the wealthiest generation in history. As these individuals begin passing on their fortunes, sums will go immediately to their Gen X, millennial, and Gen Z successors, and some cash will go to spouses.
According to UBS modeling, over the next two decades, some $80 trillion will change hands. The demographics of younger generations are different from those of their parents or grandparents, UBS’s Paul Donovan wrote last week.
“Wealth owners will be younger, more female—and more openly queer,” he said.
The economist highlighted new research from Gallup, which found that approximately 3% of Baby Boomers (aged 62 to 80) identified as LGBTQ+. That is significantly lower than Gen Z (aged 14 to 29), of which 23% identified as LGBTQ+, and Millennials, of which approximately 10% identified as LGBTQ+.
“Around 20% of the inheriting generation (predominantly Gen X) are either openly queer or have openly queer children,” Donovan wrote in the note titled“Wealth goes ‘woke’“. “The views and values of LGBTQ+ investors will become significantly more important in driving investment strategies and the global cost of capital.”
Women’s priorities regarding wealth will also become increasingly influential. In UBS’s 2024 Wealth Report, the European investment bank wrote that in the Great Wealth Transfer, $9 trillion of wealth will be transferred intra-generationally—or horizontally—between spouses.
It’s highly likely that wives in heterosexual married relationships are more likely than their husbands to be widowed and, thus, inherit the wealth. American women have an average life expectancy of 80.2 years compared to 74.8 years for men. So even if couples married at the same age, wives are more likely to outlive their partners.
Additionally, women are likely to be younger than men when they get married. According to Census Bureau data, the average age of a man when he first marries is a little over 30, whereas for women, it is around 28.
A fresh mentality for investment
The changing face of wealth has implications for managers helping these indivduals steward their fortunes.
Donovan points out that in his experience, “many LGBTQ+ investors’ reaction is ‘we’re no different.’ Sadly, that is not true in a world where prejudice persists.”
He highlights that more liquidity may be necessary for queer investors. Despite the fact that legal protections theoretically prevent discrimination, queer employees still have a higher risk of losing their jobs than their heterosexual counterparts.
Research from the Williams Institute at UCLA in 2024 found that of nearly 2,000 people surveyed, 47% of LGBTQ employees reported experiencing discrimination or harassment at work—including being fired, not hired, not promoted, or being verbally, physically, or sexually harassed.
There are also legal implications for queer investors, depending on where they are based. For example, while same sex marriage is legal in much of the Western world, including in the U.S., U.K., and Canada, it is still not recognized or defined as illegal in many nations in the Middle East and Africa.
“Legacy investing is also different,” Donovan noted. “Aside from preferences in philanthropy, queer investors have to consider the laws of inheritance. Many countries fail to recognize the legality of marriages or parental rights, requiring careful planning.”
The new wave of wealth wants to invest with new purpose, as Donovan alludes to. For example, a Morgan Stanley study in 2023 found that there is a growing demand to invest in equity and inclusion across a range of products and strategies, driven by demand from young investors (67% of Gen Z and 56% of Millennials) and LGBTQ+ investors (86%), as well as heterosexual investors with an LGBTQ+ household member (76%).
Likewise, women are also key to the discussion of philanthropy moving forward. In an article for the Stanford Social Innovation Review, authors Heather McLeod Grant and Jessica Robinson Love write that, in their experience of impact investing, single women tend to give more as a percentage of their assets and tend to give more broadly than their male counterparts, who focus on a smaller cohort of funds.
