Why Women Are Central to the Great Wealth Transfer

While women are often discussed as a “segment” in wealth management, that framing is already outdated.

Women are not a niche within the Great Wealth Transfer. They are the centerpiece.

McKinsey reports that women controlled an estimated $60 trillion in assets under management (AUM) globally as of 2023, roughly 34% of global AUM. That share is projected to keep rising through 2030. In the US alone, assets controlled by women grew from approximately $10 trillion in 2018 to $18 trillion in 2023, and are expected to reach $34 trillion by 2030.¹

Several forces are driving this:

• Women are earning more and living more financially independent lives.
• Marriage patterns are shifting. Divorce remains common.
• Attitudes about women’s role in managing money, individually and jointly, are evolving.
• Women in Baby Boomer marriages are often the younger spouse and tend to live longer.

Many women will encounter the Great Wealth Transfer through widowhood. For many, widowhood is not just a personal loss. It is also a financial turning point. A UBS report shows that 8 in 10 widows face challenges when taking control of household wealth:²

• 40% said her partner did not have a wealth transfer or estate plan.
• 34% uncovered a financial surprise after her partner passed.
• 26% did not know where her partner’s wealth was held.

Expanded wealth does not automatically come with expanded preparation. That gap between the scale of what is coming and the readiness women bring to it is one of the most consequential stories in wealth management right now.

Preparation Is the Missing Ingredient

Many women find themselves inheriting portfolios, properties, trusts, and business interests that were largely managed by someone else. At the same time, they may be navigating grief, legal paperwork, family expectations, and new responsibilities they did not anticipate.

To grieve and administer an inheritance simultaneously is unimaginably difficult. When women have not been part of prior planning conversations, they often find themselves in a reactive position through no fault of their own. This is not a capability gap. It is a preparation gap.

That is what makes the Great Wealth Transfer such a meaningful lens for thinking about women and wealth. It reveals the gap between ownership and preparation. A woman can be the future steward of significant wealth and still not yet have been brought into the conversations that shape it.

The Practical Conclusion

When women are central to the future of wealth, there is real value in making them central to present planning. Earlier conversations and shared preparation benefit everyone involved: women, families, and the advisors who serve them.

The same is true for daughters. In many families, daughters will inherit significant wealth and significant responsibility. When they are brought into financial conversations early, they are better positioned to carry that responsibility with confidence.

The Great Wealth Transfer is already changing who will hold wealth.

The meaningful question is whether families and financial firms are ready to support women in leading it.

Engagement Question: Are women in your family being prepared for future financial leadership, or simply expected to take it on when the time comes?

Sources

¹ McKinsey and Company, “The New Face of Wealth: The Rise of the Female Investor,” May 8, 2025..

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.