America is standing at the edge of the most consequential financial shift it has ever seen.
According to a June 2025 report by Cerulli Associates, nearly $124 trillion in assets will change hands over the next 25 years, moving from Baby Boomers and older Americans to their heirs, spouses, and charities by 2048.
To put that in perspective, over $72.6 trillion is expected to pass directly to children and grandchildren, with another $11.9 trillion flowing to philanthropic causes. And by 2032, more than $1 trillion will be changing hands every single year.
Gen X will be the first major beneficiary wave, poised to inherit $14 trillion in the next decade alone. Millennials follow closely, on track to receive $46 trillion over the full transfer period.
Unfortunately, most heirs are planning to replace their parents’ wealth management firms. Advisors who can connect with and meet the needs of the next generation of wealth holders will be best positioned for long-term success.
The Trust Gap: Why Heirs Switch Advisors
The data is unambiguous. More than 70% of heirs change financial advisors after inheriting their parents’ wealth. A 2025 Harris Poll found that 43% of heirs of high-net-worth Americans over 55 plan to switch Advisors after receiving an inheritance, even when the relationship is good. Only 42% plan to stay.
The reasons heirs cite are telling: outdated investment styles, poor communication, and values that simply don’t align. And the digital gap is real. While only 5% of older investors expect digital interaction with their Advisors, 17% of younger investors do.
The switch rarely happens because of a bad Advisor. It happens because multigenerational trust isn’t there.
Understanding the Next Gen Inheritors
Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z investors have meaningfully different demands and expectations from their parents and grandparents.
Values-aligned investing is a non-negotiable starting point. Younger investors are not rejecting advice; they are redefining what good advice looks like.
Natixis notes that next-gen clients are more open to digital tools, AI-enabled support, private assets, and values-aligned advice, but they still want trust and crave personalization and human guidance. That means Advisors need to communicate in plain language, stay accessible, and show how planning supports the family as a whole.
This is also where legacy planning becomes bigger than documents. Legacy planning is about crafting a family narrative, not just distributing assets. That broader framing can help create deeper loyalty with heirs who care about purpose, stewardship, and continuity.
Five Ways to Build Multigenerational Trust Before the Transfer
The window to build these relationships isn’t after the assets move. It’s right now.
Here’s how forward-thinking RIAs and wealth management firms are approaching multigenerational planning:
→ 1. Engage heirs early and directly. Introducing yourself to a client’s adult children or spouse is one of the highest-value moves you can make. Frame it as a service to your current client — ensuring their wishes are understood and their legacy protected — not as a business development tactic.
Advisors who establish trust with heirs before any transfer occurs are far better positioned to retain those assets.
→ 2. Facilitate family wealth conversations. When heirs are brought into the planning process early, wealth becomes a tool for empowerment rather than a source of conflict.
Structured, facilitated conversations that include estate planning goals, values, and expectations help nurture a shared vision that outlasts any single generation.
→ 3. Build heir education into your service model. Capital Group’s research underscores that regular meetings and financial education are key to fostering a long-term legacy.
Empowering the next generation to understand complex holdings, investment philosophy, and estate structures builds both competence and confidence, and deepens their stake in the advisory relationship.
→ 4. Close the digital and communication gap. Younger clients expect seamless digital experiences, virtual meeting options, and frequent updates, not quarterly statements and an annual phone call.
Meeting heirs where they are, in terms of both communication style and technology, signals that you see them as clients in their own right.
→ 5. Align with values, not just assets. ESG strategies, donor-advised funds, charitable remainder trusts, and family foundations aren’t just tax-planning vehicles.
They’re entry points for meaningful conversations with potential new clients about legacy, impact, and purpose. Used thoughtfully, they turn a wealth transfer into a shared family mission.
The Women’s Wealth Angle
Women, particularly widows from the Boomer generation, will become chief asset managers for their families in extraordinary numbers, inheriting an estimated $40 trillion in spousal transfers.
Any strategizing around the Great Wealth Transfer should include women, because they are a major decision-making force in wealth transitions. Morgan Stanley calls it the SHEconomy.
Women are more likely to leave a financial advisor relationship. According to the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA), 70% of women fire their financial advisor within a year of their spouse’s death.
They often place extra emphasis on safety, understanding, and trust. Advisors who explain decisions clearly and build relationship continuity across generations are better positioned to retain both women clients and inheritors.
The Bottom Line: Trust Is Built Now
This enormous transfer of wealth is already happening. Every year, trillions of dollars are moving between generations, and with them, the potential to either deepen or lose the advisory relationships that families have built over the years.
Advisors and firms that thrive in this environment aren’t just lucky or particularly skilled. They’re the ones who have already invested in relationships with the next generation. Who know the heirs by name, understand their values, and have earned the kind of trust that doesn’t dissolve when circumstances change.
The Senior Advisor Transition Consultants at TERRANA GROUP are here to help you move the needle and forge a new path.
Embrace the future of wealth management — let’s start the conversation today!
