Ready or not, here it comes.
Women will be the biggest winners in the $124 trillion 'great wealth transfer' taking place through 2048, yet surveys show many women aren't prepared to inherit all that money.
About $54 trillion of the great wealth transfer is expected to first be passed through inter-spousal transfers to widows, of which more than 95% will go to women, consulting firm Cerulli Associates said. That'll help nearly double female-controlled assets to $34 trillion, representing about 38% of total U.S. assets, by 2030 consulting firm McKinsey forecasts. In 2023, women controlled about $18 trillion, or 34% of U.S. assets, McKinsey said.
Despite knowing a windfall is coming, most women are still unprepared to handle it. A 2025 Citizens survey
of 1,500 adults showed 84% of women said they lacked confidence in their ability to manage an inheritance or other financial windfall, compared to 73% of men. Nearly half (45%) said they felt confused or overwhelmed — compared to just 27% of men -- about managing their personal wealth, it said.
"In the great wealth transfer, a large part includes a dialogue about women," said Ami Doshi, director of business development at Hightower Signature Wealth. "Women outlive men, in general, and the wealth moves to the spouse first and then generationally to daughters. But there's a readiness gap. Many don't feel confident about decisions around wealth."
Why don't women feel confident with money?
Widows poised to inherit money are typically older and likely raised in an era when women took a backseat to men in money management decisions, financial experts say.
"Women are very capable, but 'boomer' women were not very involved, either by choice or not given a seat at the table," Doshi said.
Financial advisers are also guilty for not focusing on women, Doshi said.
"The industry is not historically built around women," she said. "Statistics say you may have a household of a husband and wife age 65-plus with an adviser, but the adviser's engaged with the Mr., not Mrs. As an adviser, this is where opportunity and risks are for the adviser. If you just pay attention to Mr., he will likely pass away sooner and when he passes away and she inherits money, she doesn’t know she is your client."
Seven of 10 widows end up leaving to go to a new adviser and "go to whomever can meet her where she is." Doshi said.
What's being done to help women prepare?
Ideally, financial advisers are including women early in the money management and estate planning process, advisers say.
"They need to engage both husband and wife," Doshi said. "Don’t have planning meetings unless both are there so, she has full clarity and input into building out their financial life. Address both husband and wife, not just who is responding. Speak to both, not just the loudest. Also, understand her relationship with money, what are her triggers?"
Studies show women are more likely than men to prioritize causes like education, healthcare, and poverty alleviation, which is expected to lead to significant increases in philanthropy. A prime example of that is Mackenzie Scott, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' ex-wife, who has donated more than $26 billion to various charities over the past several years.
Women also must learn how to accept inheritances. While U.S. data are scarce, surveys in Canada and the UK show women, more often than men, are asked and expected to administer estates and often do so without help.
More than half (53%) of Canadians name a woman as executor to administer estates compared with 47% who name a man, according to a study by Canadian online estate planning platform Willful. The difference also is consistent across generations, with women slightly more likely to be appointed in every age group, it said.
Meanwhile, 56% of women who participated in a YouGov survey said they had completed this work themselves, compared with 43% of men, wrote UK law firm Bennett Smith in a blog. "This gender disparity is alarming, because taking on estate administration while grieving adds to the emotional strain," it said.
Alexandra Mysoor, co-founder and chief executive of AI-powered, full-service estate settlement platform Alix. said "we need to enable inheritance. Just because you deserve the inheritance, doesn’t mean it's easy to get it."
Administering an estate, itself, is a huge task, much less doing so while grieving, Mysoor said. "It took me 900 hours and 18 months to help my friend’s mom settle an estate," which is one of the reasons Mysoor said she co-founded Alix to help women through "the largest liquidity event in life," she said.
Companies like Alix, Elayne and ClearEstate help people in estate administration to varying degrees. Alix provides a team of human specialists to take care of the entire process from start to finish, including filing final tax returns, while Elayne relies more on automation and ClearEstate provides guidance.
Women "can't be complacent," Doshi said. "There will always be a possibility they will have to manage life and all their assets without a partner. Be more curious and understand how all actions affect you 5, 10 years from now."
She added, "there's also a responsibility for advisers, who have the ability to have an impact on people’s lives. They can do a lot but need to be clued in on the dynamics and relationships."
Medora Lee is a money, markets and personal finance reporter at USA TODAY. You can reach her at mjlee@usatoday.com and subscribe to our free Daily Money newsletter for personal finance tips and business news every Monday through Friday morning.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Women to inherit $124 trillion in 'great wealth transfer.' Many aren't ready
