Why the Great Wealth Transfer Matters for Next-Gen Heirs

The Great Wealth Transfer refers to a historic movement of assets from older generations to spouses, children, and grandchildren. Millennials are projected to inherit the most over the next 25 years at roughly $46 trillion.¹ However, seeing the Great Wealth Transfer as just money in motion misses the point.

The real issue is not what will be inherited. It is whether the people receiving it will be prepared for the responsibility that comes with it.

Inheritance Can Be Messy

Receiving an inheritance is rarely a clean handoff. It comes with decisions about investments, property, trusts, family businesses, and competing expectations. It requires legal, tax, and financial expertise. It arrives at the worst time possible. Grief and family transition are already in the picture, alongside the everyday demands of work, caregiving, and life.

Being named an heir is not the same as being prepared for an inheritance. Real readiness requires context, communication, and the chance to build confidence before decisions become urgent. Without that foundation, even well-intentioned estate plans can result in confusion and erosion of assets.

Ready or Not, You’re in Charge

Many next-gen heirs are expected to step into significant financial responsibility without real preparation. The data reflects this gap clearly. UBS research² from 2025 found that among women expecting a future inheritance from parents, nearly three-quarters anticipated at least one significant wealth transfer challenge.

• 43% had never seen their parents’ will.
• About one-third did not know where their parents’ assets were located, how they would be divided, or whether a formal plan existed at all.

Among women who had already inherited assets, the findings are telling.

• Nearly one-third had no prior conversations about the transfer before it happened.
• Four in ten inherited without any wealth transfer or estate plan in place.
• Eighty percent encountered challenges navigating the process.
• More than half faced a financial surprise, often related to taxes or timing.

Preparing Stewards

The Great Wealth Transfer matters because it will not only change who holds wealth. It will change who makes financial decisions at the household level and who the wealth management industry ultimately serves. For the next generation, the opportunity is not simply to inherit assets. It is to be prepared to steward them well.

Most wealth management firms offer some version of heir preparation: an article series, a checklist, a family meeting guide. The advice is generally sound. Talk to your heirs early and often. Align on values. Involve them before decisions become urgent. But a checklist is not a curriculum. Preparing a steward requires something closer to an apprenticeship: structured learning, trusted mentors, ongoing coaching, financial education, and a community of peers who are navigating the same terrain.

Firms like In Three Generations have built a dedicated model around exactly this, offering family wealth stewardship resources including peer groups for rising heirs. That kind of infrastructure matters. And while the details of managing significant wealth are specific, the underlying skills of financial confidence, communication, and values-based decision-making are learnable and applicable at any wealth level.

Preparation is not a one-time conversation. It is an ongoing investment in the people who will carry what you built forward.

Engagement Question: Are next-gen heirs in your family being prepared for future financial leadership, or simply expected to step into it when the time comes?

Sources

¹ Cerulli Associates, “Cerulli Anticipates $124 Trillion in Wealth Will Transfer Through 2048,” December 5, 2024.

² UBS, “UBS Survey Shows Wealthy Women, and the Next Generation, Feel Unprepared for the Great Wealth Transfer,” May 7, 2025.

About the Author: Stacie Hoffmeister is an enterprise operating executive with 20+ years of experience leading growth, transformation, and organizational performance across wealth management, consumer brands, and advisory environments. She writes about the strategic and market shifts reshaping wealth management, including the Great Wealth Transfer and the rise of women and next-generation investors.