Women as Wealth Holders: What Will We Do?

It was early morning just a few weeks ago that I skimmed the news and came across this headline on the front page of the NYT: The Greatest Wealth Transfer in History Is Here. At last, I thought, someone is paying attention to what the transfer of capital from boomers to their rising generations will mean to women!  I read on only to find that yet again, I was mistaken.

The article is a solid bit of news. Reporter Talmon Joseph Smith correctly writes that $84 trillion is projected to pass from older Americans to millennial and Gen X heirs through 2045, $16 trillion of which will be transferred within the next decade. As he puts it, “An intergenerational transfer of wealth is in motion in America — and it will dwarf any of the past.” The article goes on to describe how this transfer of wealth will continue to increase the disparity between the top 10% of the population and everyone else. It is rich with charts illustrating the structural elements of boomer home ownership and tax codes that contribute to this widening.

But the reporter adds little to the national conversation on how to mitigate the gap or offer ideas for addressing the fallout we can expect as this transfer rolls on. And he never mentions the one statistic that could be a game changer: that by 2030, women are projected to hold 70% of that wealth. $11Trillion+ is not trivial.

I remember vividly the first time I heard that statistic--more than a decade ago. I was at a Hawaii Tax Institute Conference. And when the speaker shared the numbers, I looked around, sure the news would light up the room. But it was a big yawn. No one blinked an eye, even though last year CNBC reported that, “This is a wealth transfer of such magnitude that it approaches the annual gross domestic product of the U.S.”

And still, the news of this massive economic shift gets so little attention that I feel like Cassandra shouting into the wind: “Hey! Pay attention! When women are the economic majority a lot of things will change in this country!”

To be sure, many individual women already control significant capital assets. In 2022, there were about 95 female billionaires in the US. Many are invisible; others we know by their first names: Laurene, Oprah, McKenzie. And these women are making impact in a variety of important ways. Yet, here we are, speeding toward 2030 and facing a diminishment of safety and well-being for women that looks more like 1930 than 2030.  WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON???

Looking back, my experience at the Tax Institute was less yawn for the people in the room that day, and more warning. I don’t believe anyone left the Institute with a conspiracy to set women’s health, rights, and power back a hundred years. But I do think the prospect of women mobilizing around the potential of their collective economic power, is threatening.

Women have not been trained to think strategically about how to deploy capital. We think individually and do our best to make a difference-- individually. Women/2030 gatherings at The Unexpected Table is intended to explore issues and opportunities that will help women seize the opportunity to assure representation and safety; environmental repair, access to health care and education. The conversations are aimed at building a shared vision of the future for daughters, nieces, granddaughters-- all girls and boys--that is less dependent on which state you live in or how big a moat of protection you can build around your own house and more about how much we can do together.