Business 4 min read By Arthur Ellington
Wealth executives see $124tn transfer and women's earnings as a 'perfect storm'
Women are set to inherit $52tn by 2048 as part of the $124tn Great Wealth Transfer, and rising female earnings are adding to the opportunity, wealth executives said at Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit.
Women are poised to inherit $52tn by 2048 as part of a $124tn transfer of wealth between generations, and their growing earning power is creating what one wealth executive calls a «perfect storm» of financial opportunity. The scale of the shift was set out by Cerulli Associates and discussed by financial services leaders at Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit, where executives said the industry is already preparing for the change.
Anna Maria Nekoranec, chief executive and co-founder of Align Private Capital, said women are accumulating significant fortunes as they win in business and take over boardrooms. She described it as her «personal mission» to help women who are stepping into wealth make sound decisions with their money, arguing that «we can change the world with it».
«We have a perfect storm because it's not just this wealth transfer,» Nekoranec said during a discussion with leadership editor Claire Zillman. «What we're seeing is this acceleration of super talented women reaching higher levels of organizations, getting higher comp, and getting stock. These windfalls need to be planned for.»
Mitra Best, founder and chief executive of fintech firm Avvra, said the rise of artificial intelligence is accelerating the growth of women's net worths. As an investor and AI scientist, she said she had seen how the industry's wealth is «imbalanced» because decisions are made by a select few at the top, and she decided to move into financial services to help women invest in «where the future is going to be».
Best wants Avvra to act as their eyes and ears on which companies are getting funding, which technologies are drawing money and which problems are being solved. «Who writes the checks funds the future,» she said.
The executives also urged women to take a more active role in managing their own money. They acknowledged that life can be busy, with women often working full-time while shouldering the majority of housework and family responsibilities, but said building wealth requires making time for it.
Karla D'Alleva Valas, head of private wealth management at Fidelity, advised women to make their financial futures a priority by setting aside meetings to actively manage their money. McKinsey & Company estimates that 53 per cent of women's assets are currently unmanaged by professional advisers, compared with 45 per cent for men. That represents a $10tn market opportunity for wealth managers and a chance for women to take greater control of their finances.
«All of us need to measure ourselves on our level of engagement. Meeting with your financial advisor — if you have one — one time a year, that's your choice,» D'Alleva Valas said. When women put in the effort and set a financial strategy, she added, they can «optimize their blood, sweat, and tears» to turn paychecks and investments into fortunes.
The discussion points to a broader shift for the wealth management industry, which has traditionally courted male clients and now faces a generation of women who are both inheriting assets and earning more of their own. For firms, the unmanaged assets represent a substantial pool of business. For women, the message from the panel was that the transfer of wealth will only translate into lasting financial power if they engage with it directly.
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