Here’s what to know about the “great horizontal wealth transfer” where women across the world may inherit an estimated $9 trillion total.
Switzerland-based investment banking company UBS recently released its Global Wealth Report 2024, which made some intriguing revelations in the world of great fortunes—especially for women. According to the report, people over the age of 75 hold around one-fifth of the world’s overall wealth, and will likely pass down roughly $83 trillion within the next 20 to 25 years. Though the older generation typically transfers wealth to the next one (vertical), UBS predicts that a “great horizontal wealth transfer” will occur within the next few years, meaning that wealthy men will be transferring fortunes intra-generationally to their female spouses.
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A Woman’s Wealth
Data from the report is based on the varying life expectancy between men and women today, as well as the frequency of age gaps between spouses. The average age of those passing on wealth is over 84 years old, while recipients tend to be around 59 years old.
“The inheriting spouse will typically own and hold onto this wealth for an average of four years before passing it on,” UBS writes. The firm adds that while the horizontal wealth transfer is a global phenomenon, the biggest transfer—both horizontally and vertically—will take place in the Americas.
As for how much women will inherit, UBS estimates the total to be around $9 trillion. The company’s data suggests that women will be passing over 10 percent of the $83 trillion to the next generation.
What the Future Holds
A separate report from McKinsey & Company—a global management consultancy—also suggests that women will be the “new face of wealth” in the coming years, focusing on statistics in the United States.
At present, women control “a third of total US household financial assets,” which totals to around $10 trillion. “As men pass, many will cede control of these assets to their female spouses, who tend to be both younger and longer lived,” McKinsey & Company writes. “In the United States, women outlive men by an average of five years, and heterosexual women marry partners roughly two years older than they.”
The report adds that American women may control most of the $30 trillion in financial assets that baby boomers possess by 2030. There has also been a 30 percent increase in married women making financial household decisions over the past five years.
While another report from the Bank of America Institute also substantiates this data, it adds that wealth distribution will still be uneven in certain parts of the world. “Money will remain concentrated in wealthy countries and among wealthy families, even as it is spread more equally between men and women,” it explains. “Over 40 countries globally still lack gender-equal inheritance laws, and almost two-thirds of these are lower-middle and lower-income countries.”
Still, such numbers are hopeful indicators that wealth management—which has long been a male-dominated pursuit—will be giving women more opportunities in due time.
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